Faced with several options for holding town meeting during the coronavirus pandemic, the Bristol Board of Selectmen has decided to stick as close to tradition as possible. Although the state legislature has offered some alternative options, including possibly delaying town meeting to September, the town will stick to its traditional schedule and hold the business portion of town meeting on Saturday, March 13.
What will change this year is that, instead of holding the business meeting in the high school auditorium, the meeting will move to the gymnasium, with overflow seating in the auditorium.
Our story about the town meeting discussion also focuses on the selectmen’s decision to forego an extension of the town ethics policy to cover elected officials. With current laws already aimed at prohibiting misappropriation of funds and other unethical behavior, a majority of the members of the board of selectmen did not think an ordinance applying ethics rules to themselves was necessary, so the question will not appear on the town warrant.
High-Speed Internet Coming in May
Newfound Lake Life takes an expansive look at the fiberoptic network underway between Bristol and Plymouth in its February edition. We previously discussed the initiative known as Bristol Broadband Now, which completed the first phase of the project in December to meet the deadline for use of CARES Act funding. The new article covers that history while also looking forward to Phase II.
The goal is to extend the current fiber optic network north on Route 3-A to Plymouth to complete a loop and to tie in municipal and school buildings, and to complete the project by May.
The town still needs to choose a service provider to handle connections to broadband users.
Oversight Board Finds Fault With Facebook Decisions
As social media outlets face increased scrutiny over their operations, a Facebook Oversight Board has overturned four out of the first five decisions it has reviewed. While upholding one of the issues referred to the board for review, the panel determined that Facebook made the wrong decision in the other four cases and it offered nine policy recommendations to correct the problems.
Facebook created the Oversight Board to help answer questions around freedom of expression online, including what to take down, what to leave up, and why. By creating the Oversight Board, Facebook hoped to avoid government regulation of its operations.
The board announced on Thursday that Facebook was wrong to remove a post commenting on the supposed lack of reaction to the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China, compared to the violent reaction to cartoons in France. Click here for more information.
It also overturned Facebook’s original decision, later reversed, to remove a post that included photos of breast cancer symptoms which, in some cases, showed uncovered female nipples. Click here for more information.
Also overturned was Facebook’s removal of a post that included an alleged quote from Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany. Click here for more information.
The fourth reversal concerned a post that criticized the lack of a health strategy in France and included claims that a cure for COVID-19 exists. Click here for more information.
The case that the Oversight Board upheld was a decision to remove a post using the Russian word “тазики” (“taziks”) to describe Azerbaijanis, who the user claimed have no history compared to Armenians. Click here for more information.
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