Ashburnham resident upset over apathy, results
SPEAK OUT
Heather Sikora Ashburnham

To the apathetic voters in the town of Ashburnham

Are you kidding me?!? Wake Up! What is your problem? Do you not care about what is going on in this town?!? Why did only 965 of 3,759 registered voters actually turn out to vote yesterday? How can you drive by J. R. Briggs Elementary School and not approve money for a feasibility study? You just snubbed your nose at money the state was going to give us for that study! How often do we actually receive money back from the state versus what we all pay to the state? If you had voted (the precinct is actually located at Briggs), perhaps you would see for yourself the dire condition of the building in which our children begin their education. Or are you one of the lunatics that flies by the Briggs school driving 40 m.p.h. or more in a 30 m.p.h. (20 m.p.h. at times) zone, so you do not even see the condition of the building? Do you really want current and future generations of our children going to school in that awful cave? How can you go by the VMS Building and not see our seniors are being shoved out of the way? How can you say no to helping the school district be the best around by turning down a measly $174K? In addition to all that, how in the world can you drive around Ashburnham and not vote to improve the roads? I guess you would rather dodge potholes and washed-out roads over and over and over again. Why bother getting it right the first time?

Are you living in a cocoon? Do you not realize things are cheaper with today's dollars than with future dollars? Think back two or three years, you do not even have to go back as far as 20 or 50 years ago. What did it cost for a loaf of bread? A gallon of milk? A gallon of gas? Prices increase over time, which means that all of the items we were asked to vote on yesterday will be more expensive in the future. Do you realize that if all four measures had been approved, it would have meant only $25 more per month out of your budget for fiscal year 2009? Are you spending more than $25/month on your cable or satellite TV bill? Do you really watch that much TV? Are you spending more than $25/month on cigarettes that are no good for you anyway? Are you spending more than $25/month on magazine subscriptions you never have time to read? Think of the waste you could trim from your household budget and how you just wasted a wonderful opportunity to take this town in the right direction.

Apparently it is not just Generation X folks who require coddling. Ashburnham voters in their 30s, 40s and beyond need hand holding, too. Perhaps if more people realized how life is in other parts of the world, you would not take your right to vote so lightly. Voting is a right in this country; but it is actually a privilege at the same time, one that many people around the world do not have. But then, I guess it really is not your fault, right? Living in New England, why would you need to care about what goes on around you? What? Think of other people? Other towns? Other states? Other countries? As long as you take care of #1, that is what matters, right? Wrong.

I do not take issue with the people who voted against the measures, I take issue with those who never bothered to exercise their right to vote. If you are insulted by what I am saying, then you are exactly the person I am talking about. I am equally insulted by your lack of responsibility to yourself, your family and your fellow townspeople for failing to get up off your butt to do the right thing. By the way, you owe the folks in Westminster an apology for messing with their kids' futures since you did not care about your own. I am sure they are not holding their breath.