We'll Tell You the Story in Our Own Words

Troubling. No better way to describe the latest Parish Council meeting. Just flat out troubling. What will be described below would not be known to the community were it not for this forum. The current regime doesn't want us to know. The current regime wants to spoon feed us information with their spin. It appears that the community at large is on a need-to-know basis: if the current regime thinks we need to know they will tell us. Otherwise, don't expect any information pertaining to our community be made public until the regime deems the time appropriate.

Our first example deals with a letter sent to the community from the Metropolitan and read to the Parish Council at the June 4 meeting. The letter deals with the issue of splitting our community. No copy of the letter was distributed to the members of the Parish Council; it was only read to them. The best part of this charade is that the Parish Council will be sending us a letter explaining the Metropolitan's letter among other things. To clarify, the Metropolitan's letter has not been disseminated. All indications are that it will not be disseminated to the community. What will be disseminated is an explanation of the letter.

Hard to believe a letter that impacts our life in our community will never be seen. Well, believe it. Apparently, we are not intelligent enough to understand what is written and come to our own conclusions. No doubt, the Metropolitan's letter has been under armed guard since it was received, only to see the light of day at the behest of our regime leaders. It is hard to imagine what the current regime fears might happen should we read that letter. God forbid we know the truth of what is happening on our church. Given the track record of the current regime and especially this Proistameno, truth is a foreign concept. The only truth we will know from them is the truth they will explain to us. We await with baited breath the letter of the Parish Council explaining the Metropolitan's letter lest we read the Metropolitan's letter ourselves and be confused. Gentlemen: SAVE YOUR EXPLANATION AND JUST SEND THE METROPOLITAN'S LETTER.

Secondly, if you have an inkling to find out what was discussed at a Parish Council meeting and think you could peruse the minutes and actually find out what was discussed, THINK AGAIN. Any detailed account of Parish Council proceedings is frowned upon by this regime as it would enlighten the community. At this last meeting, a detailed set of minutes was prepared and presented to the Parish Council along with a watered-down version void of any details discussed. Guess which version was adopted and has become the official record of the community? Go ahead, guess. If you guessed watered-down, you win. Look back at minutes of previous years and compare. What you will find is that minutes of years past are real minutes and minutes of this regime are a joke. Just another attempt to hide what is really happening and try to convince us that all is well.

We won't even begin to discuss the confidentiality agreement this Proistameno has distributed and wishes every member of the Parish Council to sign. The secrecy of this regime is nauseating. The utter disregard for truth and open information reeks of fascism. What a sad state of affairs we find ourselves in. Most disturbing is knowing that nothing will change. As long as this regime is in power and this Proistameno is allowed to pull the strings, nothing will change. This does not bode well for those of us poor peasants on the outside. We are left to wonder and the regime continues playing us. We will be played as long as we allow it. Only we can say that enough is enough. Maybe it's time we speak.