After the tragic events associated with our Boston Marathon this year our Ashland problems appear to be insignificant but that doesnt mean that we should ignore them. Two radical monsters killed, and wounded, and made life extremely difficult for hundreds of innocent, freedom-loving human beings and many thousands of their friends and relatives. Our local, state and federal governments, police departments and National Guard made an extraordinary effort to bring these monsters to justice and with the publics help. I dont think Ill ever understand why anyone would hate freedom so much that they would commit such despicable crimes against innocent children, wholesome athletes and those who encourage them.

I know we have paid dearly for our freedom throughout our history and that we intend to preserve it. Our freedom includes all kinds of things that dictators and radical monsters would deny us. It includes events, actions, and the resolution of problems that appear to be insignificant compared to the havoc just raised by radical monsters. If we dont continue to exercise our freedom fully, we will have wasted the blood spilled by those who have fought for our freedom throughout history. If we dont continue to exercise all our freedoms, then those radical monsters will have succeeded in destroying our way of life.

This thought stood out clearly in my mind as I watched reruns of our April 17 Board of Selectmens meeting, especially while Scott Rohmer methodically quizzed the board and Town Manager Anthony Schiavi about who may have helped him decide to remove Rohmer as police chief. During this meeting, Rohmer, former Selectman Jon Fetherston, and attorney Joseph Hennessey asked Schiavi a series of embarrassing questions. This unpleasant scenario would not be possible in a country ruled by radical monsters. Rohmer, Fetherston and Hennessey would have been murdered long before this meeting would have been held and Schiavi would have met the same fate if he ever talked about his "core values".

Those two radical monsters didnt intend to remind us that we need to pay attention to all our problems and to resolve them in a civilized manner. We need to reward Scott Rohmer for his 28 faithful years of meritorious service. We need to keep him gainfully employed here in Ashland for at least enough time to make it possible to retire with full benefits.

We need to pay attention to attorney Hennessey too. If Schiavi doesnt meet the strict requirements for a town manager specified by our town charter, then we are in trouble. Then we shouldnt have hired him and someone someway can sue us or at least embarrass us and embarrass our brand new town manager. I think weve been embarrassed enough already.

Im not familiar with Jon Fetherstons selectmens handbook or if we are legally bound by it, but the handbook makes some sense when it talks about giving an individual some notice before he is to be disciplined. It makes more sense to let someone know that hes about to be disciplined than to call him in cold, and tell him that he has been ousted. Thats no way to treat anyone who is doing their job, let alone someone who has been doing exemplary work for 28 long, hard years.

I hope our new assistant town manager is paying attention because if he is going to focus on human resources then he better treat our employees like human beings. Ashland has been blessed with excellent town employees and we need to retain their services. We cant afford to give them any reasons to seek employment elsewhere.

As a matter of fact, we should all be careful how we treat our town employees. We all know that one of the cost savings touted by those who advocate more regionalized services is the need for fewer personnel. One of our selectmen talked about a meeting with Hopkinton where the possibility of a joint Fire Department was discussed and one cost saving would be that we would only need "one fire chief"!!! Im sure that didnt help Fire Chief Bill Kee feel secure. In this case, I dont think he has to worry because, I doubt if well find enough cost savings in a joint Fire Department to offset the resultant loss of response time.

Some of the bad news related to the Boston Marathon bombing attack has been offset by the bravery, kindness and generosity of our residents in this time of need. Ashland resident, Robert Wheeler had just finished the marathon when the bombs went off and he saw a man with a nasty leg wound. Wheeler took off his shirt and pressed it against the mans leg wound in an effort to stop his bleeding. Thank you, Robert Wheeler. Ashland is proud of you.

Some of our other bad news has been offset by a group of men who caught a thief stealing items from automobiles parked in the Shaws parking lot. They ran after him, caught him and brought him back to the Shaws lot and held him until Sgt. Joseph Magnani arrested him. Thank you gentlemen. Good work.

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FIDDLER: Freedom, despite the costs