On Air News Read for October 3, 2017

Saying it was an “act of pure evil,” President Donald J. Trump addressed the nation following the massacre in Las Vegas yesterday morning.  In expressing his condolences to the families for their“quote “unfathomable loss,” Trump called on the country to come together, saying quote:

Hayley the Hateful

“In moments of tragedy and horror, America comes together as one — and it always has. We call upon the bonds that unite us — our faith, our family, and our shared values. We call upon the bonds of citizenship, the ties of community, and the comfort of our common humanity. 

“Our unity cannot be shattered by evil. Our bonds cannot be broken by violence. And though we feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that defines us today — and always will, forever.”

Inexplicably, there were some of our fellow Americans, if we can call them that, who didn’t agree with the President’s message.  Among them was Hayley Geftman-Gold, Vice President and Senior Counsel for Strategic Transactions of the C B S television network who posted quote;

“I’m actually not even sympathetic bc country music fans often are Republican gun toters.”

The network fired Geftman-Gold after her Facebook comment was picked up by The Daily Caller and went instantly viral, saying she violated the standards of the company.  C B S released a statement announcing her termination saying, quote: 

“Her views as expressed on social media are deeply unacceptable to all of us at CBS. Our hearts go out to the victims in Las Vegas and their families.”

Geftman-Gold’s comments seemed to echo those made by University of Tampa sociology professor Kenneth Story who, after Hurricane Harvey hammered Houston tweeted, quote:

“I don’t believe in instant Karma but this kinda feels like it for Texas. Hopefully this will help them realize the GOP doesn’t care about them.”

Yeah, he was fired, too.

Anyway, President Trump ordered the Flag to half mast on all federal properties in remembrance of the fifty nine dead and five hundred twenty seven wounded by sixty four year old Stephen Paddock, whose motives remain unclear and whose family seems absolutely dumbfounded.  ISIS has claimed Paddock recently converted to Islam and was a soldier for their global reign of terror, but federal authorities have said they’ve seen no evidence of that.  The investigation is obviously ongoing. 

We’ve linked to President Trump’s complete statement from this news read at Girard at Large dot com.  (Click here for the video of President Trump’s statement.)

News from our own backyard continues after this.

The Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen will meet tonight.  Among the items of consequence on the agenda is the petition by developer Will Socha to rezone more than two dozen acres of land zoned for single family development on South Mammoth Road.  The neighbors have pounded the petition at every possible opportunity, but have been unable to stop its progress.

One of the hurdles the neighbors had hoped to use to block the project was a Protest Petition they filed in August.  Under state law, when such a petition is filed, two thirds of the board must vote to approve the zoning change.  That would require ten votes.  By law, for the petition to be valid, twenty percent of the abutters within one hundred feet must sign. 

On September twentieth, Christine Miller, who currently owns the abutting property at 2 7 5 Lucas Road, wrote a letter to the aldermen saying when she moved into her home on Aug. 25 she supported Socha’s rezoning proposal, but signed the petition after being visits by numerous neighbors who urged her to sign the petition.  Now, she says she’s changed her mind again.  Quote:

“After much thought and consideration, and another meeting with Will, I am writing to take my name off that petition and give my support back to Will and his rezoning plan.”

She says she’s confident she can voice her concerns to Socha if any major issues arise.

Also on tonight’s agenda is a request from Police Chief Nick Willard for nearly a quarter of a million dollars in funding for severance to cover the cost of retiring officers and a communication from the Board of School Committee requesting preliminary approval of the budget to relocate the school district offices to West High School.

Hate to say I told you so, but not really.  As you know there’s been a controversy’s ginned up over math textbooks in the elementary schools.  Mayoral candidate Joyce Craig has faulted Mayor Ted Gatsas for there allegedly not being enough math textbooks in the elementary schools.  Well, according to Assistant School Superintendent Dr. Christine Martin, there’s not supposed to be any math text books in the elementary schools.  In an email she sent in response to our inquiry, Martin wrote, quote:

The former textbook series, Everyday Math, was geared towards specific instructional strategies and vocabulary. Once the Manchester Academic Standards were adopted, the standards were not in alignment with Everyday Math. Also, students were confused when they went to the middle school as the strategies in Everyday Math did not coincide with the strategies taught in middle school math classes. 

With permission from the superintendent, principals have been disposing of EDM textbooks since 2015. Many teachers have kept a few EDM reference books to use as supplementary resources. The majority of EDM reference books have been recycled or donated to bigheartedbooks.com or companies of that nature.

We’ll make Craig aware of this and see if she, who has attacked Gatsas for allegedly false and misleading attacks, is willing to retract her complaint on this issue. 

Memo to Joyce:  When you carry the union line, you often come to realize it’s a hangman’s noose. 

That’s NEWS from our own backyard!  Girard at Large hour ___ is next!