I recognize this is a wee bit late however conisdering our blog site has been down for an extended period as our server was updated amongst other things and the general running around the holiday brings I am just getting around to it.

Happy holidays to all and I wish you all a safe, happy, and prosperous New Year.

The year 2008 has certainly been an interesting one. My family moved back to Bedford in April 2007 after buying a home and spending a few months remodeling it. After roughly a year of getting settled in (there’s much more to do still) I found myself getting involved in MonroeTalks.com and from there began writing a blog for blogsmonroe.com titled Out of the Shadows of Woody and Bo (which I longer write). About the same time I began commenting on news and events happening right here in our township on the Chatter section of the Bedford Now. The chatter section is a place where I have likely made friends and for lack of a better term enemies. Then in the summer of 2008 I was asked by then Editor of the Bedford Now, Dan Shaw, to write a blog concerning all things Bedford which if you are reading this you have figured out I accepted.

It has been my involvement on the Chatter forum and through writing this blog that has made 2008 an interesting year.  It has developed a certain levelof name recognition int he township as from day one I have not hidden behind the anonymity shield of the internet. It has brought with it a level of responsibility as when I write I certain wish to not only share my opinion on certain matters but when writing I only hope to share fact. It has also brought with it a sort of burden that was unexpected … phone calls, anger, spite. The phone calls have rarely bothered me as they have largely come from respected and respectful individuals whom I have already known or wished to know. This past election certainly provided that opportunity as I got to speak with Aaron Wiens who ran for Trustee in the primary, Dennis Steinman during the primary race, and George Welling while he was campaigning against Bob Schockman in the Clerk’s race. I’ve got to speak to other concerned citizens through this blog, through the Chatter forum, and some have actually called the house. It has been a rewarding and unique situation. What hasn’t been rewarding and unique is those who wish me nothing but ill will. Someday I am certain that even those people will grow an appreciation for the fact that I only do all of this out of my immense pride in this community. A pride I think we all share while opinions we may not.

So it is my wish that 2009 become a more cooperative and civil year here in the township. We have some issues facing us that may cause spirited debate, however, without working together to solve these issues we will only fail to move forward. So Happy New Year to all and I wish us all the best 2009 possible.

General Election results are in for the township and a quick congratulations to all of the winners from yesterday’s election. Also, a quick thanks to all of those who ran for office - your dedication and love for this township is immensely appreciated.

Obviously there were no surprises in the race for Supervisor and Treasurer as those seats were uncontested. Walt Wilburn (Supervisor) and Sherri Meyer (Treasurer) will serve another four years for our township.

In what I won’t call an upset but perhaps a surprise Clerk Bob Schockman held onto his post for another four years. Mr. Schockman held off George Welling who ran a tough and spirited campaign for the Clerk’s office. Mr. Schockman won 9 of 14 precints but the clear advantage came in absentee ballots (I am guessing that is what the AV stands for on the pdf sheet) where Schockman picked up 525 votes over Welling; considering the total margin was 818 this was huge. Write in candidate Dennis Steinman reportedly garnered 15 votes.

In the race for Trustee I would say there were some surprises, serious surprises. Former County Commissioner Gail Hauser-Hurley ran away with the vote total and will serve her first term on the board as will former Bedford Public Schools Superintendent James Goebel (the big shocker). Both Larry O’Dell and Paul Francis will be holdovers from the previous board.

The surprise in the trustee race, to me, is the elimination of Rick Steiner from the board, and the selection of Goebel and not Tom Covrett who is the chairman of the Planning Commission. I do think that Mr. Covrett perhaps lost some votes over his handling of the PC meeting on the Whitman property rezoning. I had assumed that Mr. Goebel would struggle due to the notion that he did not effectively lead our schools. Maybe I am the only one surprised, maybe not.

Finally, for the first time in 28 years of township board will not feature a familiar face in Dennis Steinman. I hope that, regardless of how you may feel, that we will all take the opportunity when we have it to thank Mr. Steinman for the years and countless hours he has given to this community. Not only has Mr. Steinman given back to this community he has raised his family to do the same; Tim has given generously of his time and I know was recently involved in landscaping at the Pocket Part and Doug is a volunteer fireman at the Lambertville station. Allow me to be the first to publicly thank Mr. Steinman and his family for all they have done and I am sure will continue to do for our township, thank you.

What does everyone else think? Surprised, disappointed? Share your thoughts, thanks!

Civility is defined as polite and/or courteous behavior. Recently my father asked me what ever happened to civility, common courtesy, and respect for others. It gave me something to seriously ponder and think about and all I could muster was …. I don’t know.

I’m certainly aware that I am not always the most civil person in the world but it is something that I am certainly working on and strive towards being a more well rounded, positive, respectful person. I never mean ill will towards anyone but I have certainly not done the best job in decision making and word choices in the past.

But the issue doesn’t reside solely in me. I see this lack of civility everywhere I go. At work, at home, in the community, on the Bedford Chatter.

At work a few weeks ago I had a woman screaming at me that she was going to smoke in the rental, make sure her dog shed it’s hair all over the place, and not replace the fuel in the vehicle. All this because her car had broke down which is clearly NOT something I had anything to do with. Now granted she had every right to be frustrated because she has had mechanical issues with her vehicle but did this give her the right to act towards me this way? I didn’t build her car nor have I ever worked on it. Finally, I was able to get her into a vehicle (which she complained about the type of vehicle she was given) and she squawked the tires as she drove away. This is one example of many that have happened recently. I suppose what made this particular story great to me was that later that day I found out her car stalled and broke down because it was out of gas!!

At home I see things happen too. We’re a young family and we don’t see much of each other. My wife and I generally work opposite schedules so that one of us is always with the kids. Sometimes cooler heads don’t prevail. And having kids … well if they’re not behaving we all know our blood can boil a wee bit quicker. Every family goes through this and ultimately it makes you stronger. I love my wife and my children more than anything in this world and I wish and hope the best for them.

In the community .. this is something that bothers me more so than the others. My father was telling me that he had an opportunity to speak with George Welling, the republican running for Township Clerk. My dad informed him that we (as a family) were longtime friends of Bob Schockman, the democrat running for the same position, but my dad allowed Mr. Welling his opportunity to speak. One of the things that George shared with him was the countless horrible things he has been called on the campaign trail - words including m’effer and more. How disappointing and terrible. While I won’t be voting for Mr. Welling he deserves to be commended for his time and efforts and desires to be a part of our township government.

And finally I mentioned the Bedford Chatter. Perhaps its the anonymity of the internet which makes people ’stronger’. I don’t really know what it is. I have been repeatedly assailed on the forum itself. The newest member has a moniker of NOMOREKEITH. I have had my college degree compared to a worthless piece of paper, been told that because of the amount of time I spend on the forum I must not have a family. I even had someone, before I came out and announced who I am, figure out who I am and where I live and mail me township memos to my home; something I didn’t ask for.

I have seen people say unsavory things about public officials, other poster, folks in the news, etc. For what? Why? I don’t know and I don’t have an answer for it. I do know though that if I hadn’t grown up here its this type of behavior that may make me wish to move to a different community if I were looking for somewhere to live in this area. I love Bedford and that is a large reason as to why we moved back here. I know it to be a safe community, great schools for my kids, and it is a place I want to live and be an active participant within the community.   

To my community I want to let you know that I am trying to change my ways and lend my positive voice. I hope you’re noticing a changed tone when it comes to me. I will continue to challenge those that wish to challenge me and I welcome the opportunity at sprited and respectful debate. I hope that all of you will find it within yourselves to join me in leading the charge back to civility. We may not always agree and we may not always see eye-to-eye but I hope that we can at least chose to do so respectfully.

It has been roughly a week since the Primary election has passed and I just got around to printing off the unofficial results (I hate unofficial … I mean aren’t we all 99.9% sure the winners int he unofficial tally will still be the winner in the official tally, erg, I digress).

The biggest shocker was George Welling thumping Dennis Steinman in the Republican race for Clerk. We’ve all heard that the percentage tally was somewhere around 62% to 38% and a total of 450 votes. What came as more of a surprise is that Mr. Steinman only carried one precint, the 12th precint (which is where he resides and only by 6 votes). I think in my earlier post, An Open Letter to Dennis Steinman, I made my thoughts on the matter clear enough; these are thoughts I am sure are shared by more than a majority of Township residents.

Some other thoughts on the Republican side of the Primary:

• Walt Wilburn ran unopposed for Supervisor and will do so again in November. I am largely okay with this as it seems to me that Mr. Wilburn has done an excellent job leading this Township; especially through the Steinman-Schockman debacle (of which has been determined to be a politically motivated attempted Crucifixion of Mr. Schockman). While the orange barrels have been quite annoying the improved roads are something I surely appreciate.
• Sherri Meyer also ran unopposed for Treasurer and like Mr. Wilburn will also run unopposed in November. This I am not largely okay with. Ms. Meyer decided to join the fray in the Steinman-Schockman debacle on the side of Steinman and further joined in on the finger-pointing and partisan political blaming of one individual for all the problems going on in Bedford. Furthermore, Ms. Meyer, sat on information that was used in Mr. Steinman’s allegations for over 3 years before it was ever made public. If this doesn’t scream of politics I don’t know. While I appreciate Ms. Meyer’s years of service to this Township and everything she has done for us I feel like it is time for her to go; it’s unfortunate that this won’t be the year.
• For the four spots up for the General Election in November for Trustee I don’t think there were any surprises in who moved on. In order of vote totals moving on to the November ballot are: Paul Francis, Rick Steiner, Nancy Tienvieri (former Township Clerk), and Tom Covrett. Arnold Jennings, a former Trustee himself, and political newcomer Aaron Wiens were left on the outside looking in.
• At this moment in time I am supporting Paul Francis and Rick Steiner but am keeping a very close eye on Tom Covrett and what he says he will have to offer. I could see, if Mr. Covrett makes a compelling argument for his inclusion on the board, Mr. Steiner falling off my list and being replaced with Mr. Covrett.
• I don’t think Aaron Weins has anything to hang his head about. A complete political newcomer whose ties to one of the Township’s least popular residents (see: Walmart, Whitman Ford land sale) probably hurt his stock in this election. Aaron found himself running against five individuals who gave serious name recognition in this Township and at age 26 he has a lot to look forward to.

On the Democrat side of the Primary there is far less to talk about. The Democrats offered no candidate for Supervisor or Treasurer (a big mistake), incumbent Clerk, Robert Schockman, ran unopposed for his third consecutive term (he’ll face off with George Welling in November), and with four sports available to make the ballot in November for Trustee only three individuals chose to run. My thoughts on the Democratic Primary:

• Robert Schockman garnered a total of 1,528 votes and impressive figure for a couple of reasons - One, there were several individuals who chose to vote in the Republican primary to help George Welling knock off Dennis Steinman in their race for Clerk. Two, with nobody running against Mr. Schockman undoubtedly several individuals placed no vote at all.
• A quick note on one of the aforementioned points. There was no organized movement by the Schockman campaign to convince their voters to switch to the Republican Primary and vote for George Welling. I can say this for one major reason … I work on the campaign (as a writer and volunteer) and this has never once been discussed. It was, however, discussed by many Schockman supporters not associated with the campaign. A very strong testament to the feelings towards Mr. Steinman’s political assault on Mr. Schokman.
• For Trustee each of the candidates will move on to run in November and in order of their Primary results they are: Gail Hauser-Hurley, Larry O’Dell, and Jim Goebel. Goebel didn’t say much in the Primary race and my guess is that is largely due to the fact that he could conserve money for the General Election knowing he’d be moving on (I believe Ms. Hauser-Hurley and Mr. O’Dell also used this strategy but we know more about them as elected officials to date).
• At present I am supporting Ms. Hauser-Hurley and Mr. Goebel for Trustee. Mr. O’Dell also joined in the political fray and I am of the frame of mind to eliminate those individuals from our board as soon as we can and that is November.

Ok, to recap my present endorsements (which are open to change as new information comes out from Trustee candidates … my other endorsements are set):

For Township Supervisor: Walt Wilburn

For Township Treasurer: any available write-in candidate

For Township Clerk: Robert Schockman

For Township Trustee: Paul Francis, Rick Steiner, Gail Hauser-Hurley, James Goebel (Tom Covrett is on the cusp of replacing Rick Steiner should he have some great ideas and an excellent vision).

So that pretty much sums up my thoughts on things as of this moment … care to share your thoughts Bedford?