This vote will preserve the integrity of a site eligible for the National Register on traditional and cultural grounds. The land in question is about 4 acres due east of the archaeological center of the site, a hill where the equinox sun rises directly at its summit, where the solstice sunrises occur at either end, and where skyline stones exist. Doug Harris of the Narragansetts made an eloquent speech about Native American religion, and the need to preserve land so that children could see the same world that their ancestors did. The vote carried mainly on the issue of religious tolerance, with some really eloquent speeches made. For example, with 8 synagogues and 7 churches, why couldn't Sharon have a place of importance to Native Americans? The voters on the floor were for religion and culture, and the town officials voting on the stage were unifomly for schools, housing, and libraries. Ted Timrek's film on preservation of New England stoneworks shown a week before the town meeting undoubtedly helped in getting people to the meeting who were of the first persuasion. They also stayed until the third day of the meeting, when voters interested in the schools, housing, and libraries had settled their issues and were no longer interested in attending. Sharon town meeting has no quorum, and very small groups have been known to settle rather large issues.
One person said this was the only time in living memory that a taxpayer-introduced issue involving land had ever passed the town meeting. Perhaps this shows that the 10-taxpayer article is a powerful tool for historic preservation, which is a grass roots issue that is popular with voters -- the governor of New Jersey won on this issue, I was told. Ted Ballard thinks that a presentation on how to save land should be made at the next NEARA (www.neara.org) meeting, and perhaps Buermann, Timrek, and I can do so, narrating a DVD with film clips from the community TV coverage of these events.
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