Town Hall Alliance

Maryland Senator Roy Dyson (D. Calvert, Charles, St. Mary's)  with Leonard Copsey, left, and St. Mary's Commissioner President candidate Randy Guy at Sen. Dyson's fundraiser on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009.   Guy was at the event representing the Town Hall Alliance conservative slate for commissioners in 2010. Copsey, owner of the Drift Inn is a long-time Dyson supporter.

The Town Hall Alliance held a dinner meeting at Linda's Cafe on Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 with great specials and a lot enthusiasm generated as the group has now fielded candidates in 4 out of 5 commissioner races for next year's election.

This has been a great week for St. Mary's County, with the interview of Sen. Roy Dyson in ST. MARY'S TODAY on Sunday in which Senator Dyson disclosed that he will not vote to allow any further bond authority for St. Mary's County.   There is no sense in me trying to restate all the points made by Sen. Dyson in his inteview, go pick up a newspaper and read it for yourself.

I attended the fundraiser for Roy on Sunday at the Bay District Firehouse representing the slate of candidates and it was  a great crowd and it has been far too long for seeing some old friends.

On Tuesday, Nov. 17th, I accompanied Leonardtown Mayor Chip Norris to a meeting of the Library Board of Trustees at the Charlotte Hall library.

It was really amazing to learn that this group, with the exception of Dan Burris, are so out of touch with reality that they believe that somehow there is the money to build a new library. This state is busted. It is worse than broke, it is in the red for $3 billion bucks.  St. Mary's County cannot put another tax hike on the taxpayers and I and the other Town Hall Alliance candidates have pledged to defeat this Mega-Library proposal. 

There can be an argument made for expanding the existing library but there has to be priorties.  Schools are slated to be renovated, a new school may be approved by the state in the next couple of years, roads have to be maintained and public safety must be funded. 

Perhaps we shouldn't be unloading those books at the front door of the library for a quarter and hang onto to them for a while longer. 

At the meeting on Tuesday, the director claims she has no plans for a child care center or a atrium.  Now I am learning that the cost isn't $13 million but might be actually $15 million.

We don't have the money folks, this nation is in deep recession and many communities are having to make drastic cuts in services. We ought to be fortunate to maintain our current level of services.

Its easy for the library board to be arrogant and aloof, in fact, they were downright hostile to the Mayor and myself on Tuesday.  But I am a big boy and can take it.  We must not move the library out of the town where people can actually walk to check out a book.  We must not take actions which will cause sprawl out on Rt. 245 towards Hollywood.  We must sell the Hayden Farm and try to get the county's money back and let someone else deal with the unmarked slave graves, the chemical cleanup and the poor soils.

Sen. Dyson's decision to put a halt to further debt for the county, which already has over $100 million in debt and authority to borrow another $44 million is just the break the taxpayer needed.  Thank you to the Senator for his decision.