RTC Floor Show at BoS

Mr. Barnes once again has shown his usual flare for the dramatic, and this was no less impressive at the Sept 19th Board of Selectmen meeting. He really is getting good at this and probably warrants an appearance on Alex Jones' InfoWars .

During citizens' comments session of the agenda, he strutted out and boldly handed envelopes to the board, asked them to open them, and then took well over his 3 minutes to try and lay out an argument for a large cover-up (gasp!) by First Selectman Edelson of an incident with a truck and an alleged petroleum spill. 

The problem is, there never was a truck accident. And there never was a petroleum spill. And there isn't any cover up because there is nothing to cover up. But that didn't stop Mr. Barnes, who was having "his people" look in to this matter, and they sadly missed on all counts, all in great display to the public.

He and his people were smart to leave the meeting early because not too much later, his feeble attempt to generate a controversy withered and died on the vine before it even had time to take root.

It failed because the facts, which obviously don't matter to Mr. Barnes  or his people, speak for themselves.

First of all, their was no police report because there was no accident. Police reports are only written for incidents that involve moving vehicles on a street. The tipped truck incident happened while it was stopped and off-road on town property, and our police do not generate reports for these types of incidents. Swing and a miss.

Second, Mr. Barnes and his people claimed the tipped truck spilled a petroleum-based liquid and the clean-up was not handled properly. Another swing and another miss. The fluids that spilled were bio-based hydraulic fluid and do not contain any petroleum products. Such spills do not meet the requirements of hazardous materials as Mr. Barns and his people claim. Strike two.

Mr. Barnes and his people's third and final claim in his  magnificently crafted story was that the truck was towed to a secret location way outside of Southbury in order to "hide the evidence". The fact is it was towed to a repair place that specializes in bucket repairs on trucks of this kind. It's the logical place to go for this type of damage as any local business-owning, truck-driving person should know. (wink wink) And that's strike three.

Yes, Mr. Barnes and his people have a right to public
comments in a public meeting. But when a lame-based attempt is made to generate a controversy when there is none, and it's based on nothing of substance and of which the sole purpose is to try to discredit an elected official, and discredits other Town employees along the way, then others have an equal right (and duty) to call foul when it's foul.

Or in Mr. Barnes' case, a strikeout when it's a strikeout.

p.s. And who are "his people" anyway? Inquiring minds want to know.