I picked up a copy of the Danville Town Report last Saturday when my wife and I stopped for breakfast at the Danville Inn. We don't need menus and we don't get any. Katie says "Hi" and pours us coffee (my cup gets warmed with decaf) and my wife orders a plate-sized blueberry pancake with bacon and I get two fried eggs over-medium with the homemade toast. Katie says "White or -----" and she says the type and I always forget. It's like "maple oat" or "whole wheat molasses" or "oat something". I never remember so I always order the eggs with the "homemade toast" and let Katie ask me which kind.
The jam choices are always the same: Strawberry and Orange Marmalade. [Note: in german, a traffic "jam" is a verkhers marmalade].
The Inn is owned by Steve Cobb, who handles the microphone in the school gym as people rise to say their opinion. He makes sure everyone gets their voice heard and by jeezum he's got some stuff to say this year and as I wiped my plate clean with the oat-something bread, he told me his plan.
Now I have to say, this sounds catty, but I've been waiting an entire year plotting my "Robert's Rules" strategy for the coming Town Meeting. I sometimes practice it and practice counter-tactics. Every now and then I have to think up a strategy, some of which requires that the Moderator know his "Rules". If he does, I think I can pull off a move. If not, I'm sunk unless I call a "Mr. Moderator, a point of order" to instruct him in The Rules.
Here's an example: If anyone, during the discussion of a motion, "calls the question", the house is immediately polled (no further discussion is allowed) on whether or not they want to end debate and put the question being discussed to a vote. Whether the house votes "yea" or "nay" is immaterial. It allows me to gauge the interest in the debate.
One year. That's all we have. We have our jobs and our lives and our interests and concerns and the Town Report and dang if we won't mull and ponder and plot and scheme and as soon as Town Meeting comes, I can tell you right where I'll be sitting: 3/4 the way toward the back of the bleachers in the gym, sort of to the left (from the moderator's perspective). And at lunch I'll have the baked ham and slaw and potato salad and cranberry relish and the rolls and butter and a chocolate milk.
The Town Report is out.
Getting Ready for Town Meeting: The Town Report
