On the Right Lane: Can't say boo to a goose


“It is easy to fool people, but it is very difficult to convince them that they have been fooled.” Mark Twain, writer and humorist.

I’ll be honest: You more than likely won’t find a connection between the headline on this column and the quotation that I used. However, that’s no different than all the Megabucks commercials from the Maine Lottery Commission that seem to saturate television between 5 and 6 in the evening. All of them only have one theme in mind and that’s that everyone who buys a Megabucks ticket wins. Not once do any of those commercials show that the majority of those who purchase tickets lose. Can you imagine what the government would do to a private business for advertising a total lie? What are those who represent us in Augusta doing to stop this fabrication of winning every time one purchases a Megabucks ticket? Then again, I have never said boo to a goose in my life and probably never will.

I have seen some commercials paid for by the two gambling facilities in Maine. They more or less promise a good time. My wife and I have traveled to one, and we did have a good time several times. Of course, there weren’t big warning signs on the outside walls of the building stating what the odds were of us winning, but strangely they weren’t in our favor, which is probably why we haven’t been there for some time. That and the winter weather. If a free meal was used to entice us to come back more frequently, that just might change the equation, especially if it were something like steak and lobster. While in the Army I was once stationed in place that offered such a thing in the mess hall, excuse me, dining facility. I won’t tell you what it cost. The term mess originated in France and just like England, more than likely why I avoid food from both places. Sorry, just a personal joke there. Two things I will never do is go to France to have a cup of coffee or purchase an English cookbook.

So when it comes to the Windham town councilors, I now believe some of them have cooked their own goose. I have this strange feeling their next election, this fall, just might be one of the ugliest and nasty local elections this town has ever suffered. That’s been promised by a town councilor or two along with some private citizens hellbent on getting their own way. How sad is that? I sincerely hope it doesn’t get as nasty as I think it will, but then again, it certainly will give me more fodder for my column. Windham has without a doubt the most divided town council I have ever seen, probably at the same level of America’s Civil War. Remember what the Joker when played by Jack Nicholson stated in a Batman movie? Well, maybe what Windham needs is exactly the same thing.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham once cooked his own goose.