What exactly is happening in Tiverton?  We seem to have people who were, sadly, voted into positions of power for We The People that have no clue, or more appropriately, don't care about what We The People want.  Having read last week's (Feb. 27) edition of the Sakonnet Times I was amazed at the number of disturbing, money grabbing/wasting issues. I will touch lightly on four issue that clearly I and you could go on and on and on about. But in an effort to save space . . .

Let's begin with the town's new scheme as their original scheme apparently is not providing the financial resources they originally hoped for: The pay-as-you-throw program. With a bag per week or more, the average household could spend anywhere from $52 to $80 per year. Multiply that by every household/condo/apartment in Tiverton. Cha-ching. We could store our trash in the kitchen receptacle until trash day and then walk the bag out to the end of the driveway once a week. Or, if you generate more trash, deposit them into your small outdoor receptacle kept in your mudroom, back yard, under the deck, and then lift and carry them to the end of the property for collection.

But now because those trash bags are not producing enough scratch for the town (that's right, town, we are not a city) they are hoping to introduce a new program that not only will increase the cost to a lot of town folk but also burden us with the, ‘Where are we supposed to store these behemoths?'  And let's address the matter of a snow storm. If the plows are clearing the streets — this town has narrow streets — and creating large mounds of snow along our roads, where exactly would we be expected to put these giant receptacles come trash day — also add terrific wind and your empty receptacles are now blown all over your street making your trip home from work nearly impossible.  You would think that living in the tax capital of New England that our taxes alone should cover the cost of waste removal.

Second, how about the merging of water districts?  Patricia Aguiar, and other North Tiverton residents (Richard St. Pierre and Robert Fazzian) said it best in the article "Tiverton Looks to Merge Water Districts." Patricia said, and I echo, 'I'm sick of zoning and everything else trying to change our way of life and making it miserable at that end while the other end gets all the gravy.'  And, Richard and Robert said, ‘The south side of Tiverton would receive the majority of the water, causing residents on the north side to pay the same taxes for less water.'

Third, I have said it in the past and I say it again, Tiverton is a town was are not the Fall River extension. Leave Seasons in Fall River. Tiverton cannot sustain a Seasons Gas-zilla. If the town allows Seasons to destructively move in, what else would the befuddled town allow to establish itself in Tiverton's North End? Tiverton does not have a flood problem, yet, but if we tear up all the land and cover it in asphalt you better believe we will have flooding problems every time we sustain heavy rains.

Finally, we have a school committee incapable of balancing a budget.  Incapable, incompetent, or obscuring transparency? I'm voting incompetent and obscuring transparency. This committee had a meeting an hour earlier than normal — obviously in order to avoid a lot of opposition — to approve a contract to hire a third party consultant regarding the soon-to-be vacant office of the school superintendent, Peter Sanchioni. Does this committee operate the same way at home — leaving out a spouse to weigh in on a significant issue? Are their bank accounts always in the red? Somehow I doubt it. If it hits them personally I'm sure they pay close attention to every cent and detail.

Louise Dina

Tiverton