[RP TownTalk] A neighborly hello

[Don Lynch]

Hello,

I would like to acquaint everyone with Melissa and myself.

We chose to live here because it seems that this is one of the last 
places untouched by the corruption of developers.

A bit about my past...

My father fought in WWII and had the misfortune to be captured by the 
German forces and was a prisoner for eight months. He was forced to work 
in strategic factories that were daily strafed by allied forces.

Of all the hardships he endured, the one event that stood out in his 
mind, was what occurred at a soup kitchen line in the prisoner camp. A 
Russian soldier was given the task of dishing out soup to both Americans 
and Russians. The German soldiers were not kind to the Russian soldiers 
, and in this instance, a German soldier shoved the Russian prisoner 
into the mud while he was serving soup to his fellow prisoners.

The Russian soldier picked himself up and continued to serve the soup…

My father survived this ordeal and came out a Disabled Veteran and later 
was the head of the local chapter of the DAV in the Washington, DC area.

He worked for the Department of the Navy and established many 
apprenticeship programs within the Navy department.

My older brother was an auto mechanic in High School and my father asked 
the Montgomery County School system about opportunities for an 
apprenticeship in auto mechanics, the response was “there isn’t such a 
program”.

Well, my father didn’t like that answer and so he started an 
apprenticeship program in the Montgomery County School system.

So, when I feel that there are important occurrences going on in this 
town that should be addressed, I hear my father’s objection to “it can’t 
be done”.

Responses like “we should just look both ways at railroad crossings”.

If people would just examine the laws, they would realize there is much 
we can do as a community.

There are laws in place that allow a town to demand a railroad to reduce 
the use of train horns in our township.

Certainly, there is much more in the area of public safety and 60 mile 
an hour trains roaring through our town at “at grade” crossings.

I’m not one who just sits and just complains…

As some of you know, I have put in many hours of community service, 
including, the Holiday Festival of Lights, the ArtsFest, the Memorial 
Day event, and created, along with our fantastic fire department, a new 
July 4th celebration, in addition to five months of volunteering at the 
farm market.

So, I can’t sit still when I hear a public official say “ there’s not 
much I can do”.

Everyone in this town can do something about what is going on.

Complacency, well, I won’t stand for it and I won’t let any elected 
official in our town sit back and do nothing.

I will continue to point out the lack of stewardship that is essential 
in our leaders of this community.

There are some who will criticize me for speaking out.

I will just pick myself out the mud and continue…

Don