Town Meeting/Night 2: Voters call for impeachment of Bush, weigh Darfur and Iraq questions
By Mary Carey
Staff Writer
Published on November 03, 2006
AMHERST -- Town Meeting weighed in on the Iraq war, relations with Iran, impeaching the president and vice-president and stopping genocide in Darfur during a lively session that kicked off with the moderator threatening to eject Selectman Robert Kusner. Watch the video.
Kusner came to the meeting in a T-shirt with an unflattering picture of George Bush on it, a violation of the rule against advancing political messages at Town Meeting, according to Moderator Harrison Gregg.
When Gregg asked Kusner to show him his shirt, Kusner to peeled it off instead, revealing another T-shirt underneath, and tossed it to the moderator, escalating the tension. Gregg responded by announcing to Kusner, "You're out of this meeting," before disappearing behind the Middle School stage curtains with the Select Board member. When they returned Gregg said Kusner had apologized and would have "nothing more to say about the matter."
Following the incident, Town Meeting considered Article 1 of the four-item agenda. It calls for increased attention to be paid to the suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan. Mohamed Ibrahim, a resident of Amherst, who left Sudan in 1984, said sanctions against the government and divestment from companies doing business with Sudan would help, but he warned against military intervention.
No one expressed opposition to the content of the resolution, but Town Meeting member Peter Blier asked that the article be dismissed because it was beyond the scope of Town Meeting. If there was spare time, it would be better used to try to figure out how Amherst is going to close a projected $3.3 million shortfall in the budget, Blier said. "It truly feels as if we are fiddling while Rome burns."
More people would be able to participate in Town Meeting if so much time wasn't spent deciding questions that can't be resolved in Amherst, Blier said. The harsh reality is (the national articles) will have zero impact on their intended targets."
Town Meeting rejected the request to dismiss the article 80-53 and it passed soon after that.
Several members argued in favor of dismissing a resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, with one member noting that voters will be asked to decide the same question on the Nov. 7 election ballot in area communities. It passed 86-20.
Precinct 8 members Frank Gatti and Eleanor Manire-Gatti presented the article calling for the United States to enter into talks with Iran, while showing slides from their visit to the Mideastern country in May.
"This one is particularly important to pass because we're not in a state of war; we're not in a state of no return," Gatti said.
Precinct 5 member Larry Kelley disagreed. "I think this is sillier than the Iraq thing, for God sakes."
Blier moved to dismiss the article, but that motion was rejected 76-53 and the article passed.
Blier also sought to have the final article calling for the impeachment of Bush and Dick Cheney dismissed, but that article passed the most quickly of all, coming, perhaps as it did shortly before 10 p.m. when Town Meeting generally wraps up.
The next meeting is set for Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m., when Town Meeting takes up the difficult issue of preserving the farmhouse on 575 North East St.
