The Editor's Notepod, Wed., Sept. 23, 2009

Wallingford: The American Legion Building. It’s a little hard to see what sort of negotiation can lead anywhere. It’s a matter of the town wanting to demolish the building it bought for the purpose of doing so in 1994 and of the state (and preservationists) wanting to salvage it. How can it be compromised? There’s probably a good reason lawyers don’t want to try such a case: there’s no money and no purpose, only principles and emotions.

Meriden: Falcon Field. The music and loud cheering issues are kind of a challenge: that’s what happens at athletic contests. Curfews are questionable. As for balls heaved over the fences, it’s pretty impossible to retrieve them without trespassing. What other solution is there? The ultimate possibility is a sound barrier (and also a physical block) between the neighbors and the field, but we’d guess that would be ugly enough to discourage the idea. It’s hard to see how this can be fixed.

Southington: the school board adopted, 5-4, a policy which would subject out-of-school behavior to in-school policies and punishments. Now they’re going to study the question. It’s a policy which has some civil liberties issues and some concerns over the role of the schools in enforcing socially unacceptable behavior.