"Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends, Once More..."

I must give credit to William Shakespeare's Henry V, Act III for my title quote. It is from the stirring speech the king uses to rally his troops to attack Agincourt once more, and I have to say that in reading it once again, I'm ready to fight for England myself! Since that is just a bit impractical, I think I'll tone my quest back down to where it started, and continue attending as many township committee and board meetings as I can.

So far, I've only missed one. Anyone who knows me thinks that in itself is miraculous. And those I've attended have been enlightening to say the least. And believe it or not, the Sewerage Authority meeting Monday night was not only informative but enjoyable! What a great group of people! I had forgotten that there were public servants who actually thought about the public good.

Like many people, when I heard about the horrible sewer issues some neighborhoods are dealing with, I assumed that the Sewerage Authority was to blame. Thanks to my friends and colleagues who understand stormwater management better than I do, I decided I should learn more about the situation before pointing a finger.

Between digging through the intricacies of zoning, land use and stormwater management, and what I learned from those nice people Monday night, I am no longer pointing that finger toward the Sewerage Authority. (They're as upset as we are about stormwater overwhelming their system.) I have more research to do, more OPRA requests to file, more meetings to attend and more questions to ask before I get to the actual culprit, but as it turns out, I'm not doing it alone.

Residents are paying attention and getting involved, and the dreamer in me sees a glimmer of hope on the horizon. So with a bow to Mr. Shakespeare once again, I urge every citizen of our fair township to raise your voice and let it be heard by the knights and nobles (or just come out to meetings and speak up) with the final stirring words of Henry's speech:

"The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'"
   (or maybe "for Jake, the Pompeston, and Rolling Green!")