Dave Richards' Weekly Column in The Woonsocket Call




Dave Richards for March 9th..............

--I read in yesterday's Call that after some 20 years the town of North Smithfield is going to take another crack at the property rights of those who live near the beautiful Slatersville Congregational Church and the common in front of it. I don't know what brought it up again. Maybe the town, which is a nearby property owner, thinks there's a financial benefit for their buildings. Maybe it's the mill development. Maybe it's neither of those. But I am here today to remind the good people who own property in that area to beware of gifts or benefits from the government. There are always strings attached.

I have life experience in a number of similar matters and in my cases there was a price to be paid for taking benefits, loans, whatever, from the government on an old and historical property. Read the contracts well. Have a lawyer go over not only the papers you see, but the ones you don't see on file with the town or the national government. Once you live in an historical district, other people will tell you what you can do and can not do with your property. If your experiences are like the ones I've witnessed, you may be prohibited from vinyl siding your home or painting it a different color. Or remodeling the interior to make it more to your liking. In my case we were prohibited from moving the kitchen to where my mom always wanted it. The kitchen had to stay where it was in 1745 or the historical people would sue us.

People who's only interest is in their own power to tell you what you can or can't do will be deciding how you will live. These people won't pay your taxes for you. But you'll have to get them to let you do anything with the inside or outside of your house. And they will not want you to do anything which would make it look different than it did a hundred years ago.

Consider this. Repairing any building in accord with historical standards is above and beyond the financial resources of most home owners. I have witnessed this myself. To repair a plaster ceiling would have cost $3 million if the historic people had their way.

And remember, when you sell your house, the reduced property rights pass on forever to the new owners and the next owners after them. The covenants of an historical district could very well reduce the marketability and selling price of your house. I fear for you. And I hope I'm wrong in this case. But please, be very, very careful before you agree to anything like this.

--The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of some awful people who chose to picket the funeral of a fallen U.S. Soldier in order to get publicity for their belief that the United States is being punished by Almighty God for tolerating homosexuals. More hate and intolerance. I am offended that some people “use” (and I do mean it in it's most unflattering way) God to pedal hate and intolerance. Well, anyway, they say that when the father who was burying his dead son sued the so-called church people for disrupting the funeral with their hateful protests, that he attacked their constitutional right to free speech. In my opinion these so-called church people are in serious need of mental health counseling. Let's see how they like free speech now.

--This month is National Women's History month. That's nice. Yesterday was International Women's Day. That's nice, too. I like women. I like them a lot. I treat women with respect. I don't discriminate. I haven't held down or oppressed any female. In fact, if I'd ever thought of doing it, the ghost of my father's mother would come back to give me one right where it hurts. Her name was Muriel Braniff, but everyone called her “Skippy”. She was a real 'Rosie the Riveter' type from World War II. She learned a good trade during that war and became a cabinet maker at the American Optical company in Southbridge, Massachusetts until she retired to become a mate on a fishing boat in Galilee, RI. That was her occupation when she died. For the most part, her husband had the part-time job, did the cooking and domestic chores, and raised my dad. It was a matter of economics. Grandma had a trade skill and made better money.

I never understood gender discrimination or even distinction until I actually got into the business world and worked with some real jerks. Then I understood. I understood why I had a sign on the wall of my office which read that I would not make any hiring decisions for any job while considering an applicant's race, creed, nationality, religion, or sex. The next paragraph of the same sign said I would give preferential treatment to minorities and women. I'm not kidding and you didn't read that wrong. It was called “affirmative action” by the government. And it meant that while I wasn't supposed to notice the differences in applicants, I was supposed to favor women and minorities. I would have been happy just not noticing the differences and not discriminating at all, like I was raised. But the government felt it had to do something, even if it was stupid, so they did. You can't legislate morality. You can try, but you'll end up looking as stupid as that sign. And it's too darn bad that the government feels they must impose these rules upon us. But they can't think of any better way to right a wrong.

There simply are bullies in the world. It's a fact we haven't yet found a satisfactory way to deal with, in my opinion. The same people who would discriminate against someone for being female, if stopped by a law, will just discriminate against someone for having blonde hair or being short or walking differently or not walking at all. It's like nailing Jello to the wall. Creeps are creeps. I think we should not single out every group of people who've been victimized by jerks and creeps. First of all, there aren't enough days or months in the year to do it. Second, creeps and jerks don't care. They're laughing at us. And those who are not jerks and creeps start wondering why we are lesser citizens because we don't have a day promoting ourselves.

I ask, why not just spend our time promoting good people everywhere of every race and every creed and every religion and every–well, you know what I'm getting at. The message of the Up With People group said it best, I think. “don't see the differences, see the similarities among us”. As their popular theme song said, “ if more 'people' were for 'people', all people, everywhere, there'd be a lot less people to worry about and a lot more people who care.”

--That's what I think. What do you think? Comments to dave@onworldwide.com or mail to: Dave Richards, WOON Radio, 985 Park Avenue, Woonsocket, RI 02895-6332. Thanks for reading.

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