An old proverb says, “May you live in interesting times.”
And Goodrich doesn’t disappoint.
Some residents are working to find a way out from under the jurisdiction of the village government, short of moving, and have decided to “detach” from the village proper and merge their properties into the township.
When I first heard about this little act of secession, I pictured disgruntled residents drawing an imaginary Mason-Dixon line across the village — those people on this side of the line are part of the village and those on the other side don’t have to listen to the village government.
After attending the Detachment — that’s the formal name for the effort — meeting last Thursday, I’m convinced that these are rebels with a cause.
The detachment proponents say they are upset with village taxes and council’s spending plan. The council’s been paying for planned construction projects with funds the village has been setting aside for years. The detachment supporters say the village shouldn’t be spending that much money in tough economic times.
The move is similar to the previous Vacate the Village effort, except this time only the people who really want to leave the village (or their neighbors, who could be outvoted) would actually detach.
Apparently, if the detachment proponents can get 51 percent of the people in the township to say “yes, we’ll welcome you,”; 51 percent of the residents in the areas under consideration for detachment to vote to leave the village; and 51 percent of the people remaining in the village to say, “Hey, Hey Goodbye,” then some areas would actually detach from the village (at least on a map).
However you feel about the village and its governance, it certainly is an interesting subject and all residents should get involved in the debate.
Just remember, “May you live in interesting times” is often more of a curse, as a wish to keep people entertained.

Politicians should leave theme music in the shower
I heard last Wednesday on National Public Radio (NPR) the big news of the day: Hilary Clinton’s theme song.
I was dumbfounded at first, wondering why responsible journalists and the public would even be concerned about such a frivolous issue with all the other travesties plaguing the U.S.
Then I heard the song was by Celine Dion (a Canadian singing a theme song for an American presidential candidate?) — so I laughed until I cried.
The sad thing about politics, at all levels, is that it has become a Hollywood show of sound bytes, photo ops and who can pose next to whom on the campaign trail.
We should be more concerned about how the next president (or any elected official) is going to come up with a deficit reduction plan, balance the budget, increase public safety and get us out of that hellacious mess in Iraq. Forget the photo with Bono, tell me what you’re going to do to fix the problems we face.
If politicians focused more on their platforms instead of their pageantry we’d all be better served.

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