I Just Wanted To Meditate...

My family and friends know how much meditation means to me. The practice has brought me so much peace and comfort while dealing with the pain and anxiety caused by having cancer. I practice Mindfulness Meditation every day and lead three different groups each week. The practice has changed every aspect of how I handle things in my life now.

So when a friend asked me to come along to her Sangha Group, I excitedly agreed! This was a terrific group that practices in the vein of Thich Nhat Hanh, a cultivator of peace and mindfulness meditation. Before meditation began, I made the acquaintance of two women that were there from a neighboring town. They were sharing their frustration about a water bottling company coming to their town and being sold water from their reservoir. It was then I realized that they were also talking about my towns' reservoir. Surely, my town, West Hartford was aware of this deal, right? And more so, they were probably up in arms and trying to do something about it, right?

I have never been more wrong.

The following week, I went to my Town Council Meeting, fully prepared to ask questions of them along the line of, "How come you didn't share this information with our town residents?" and why "was the issue not brought out for a public vote?". I was not able to testify in front of them due to a protocol issue, but did manage to get my written testimony to the Town Councilors prior to the meeting. (see links below).

I certainly was not prepared for the fallout. My Town Council knew nothing about this deal! They were in the dark, just as much as I was. My phone began ringing the next morning and has not stopped since. Where I thought, by doing my due diligence and addressing Town Council, my part was done, I realized my part was just beginning.

Sometimes, we are faced with something in our lives that causes us to pause and make a decision as to which path to take. The day after that Town Council Meeting, was my time to pause. Do I turn away now and let the Metropolitan District Commission get away with selling our precious natural resource for a profit? Do I just say to myself 'someone else can take care of this'? Or do I do what I pray to God for every day, "Guide me, dear Lord, show me what You would like me to do today and give me the strength to do it". Of course, God is a proponent for our water supply; He gave it to us!.

So, I made the decision to go forward and to do the next, Right Thing. I started answering questions from concerned residents. Then I realized that I didn't have the answers to their questions, so I sought out people that did. Within five days, I organized a meeting of West Hartford Concerned Citizens, and on a frigid, snowy night, more than 80 people came together to show support. Present at a meeting was a State Senator, Town Council Members, citizens from Bloomfield, legal counsel for the MDC, and many media correspondents.

How does that happen? How does one person, who just wanted to meditate to relieve pain, become instrumental in one of our regions' biggest investigative stories?

Because I listened to God. For so long, I have asked God to 'show me my way', to 'tell me what to do', etc. but I already had my own agenda that I wanted Him to follow. The past several weeks, I changed my prayers and honestly told Him that I would follow. I began praying very hard because a new, large hernia has ripped and I am having to undergo a huge surgery again, in the next several weeks.

My newest hernia nightmare.

Back to reality, chemo 2/19/16

I thought that God might give me instructions as how to deal with my fear and uncertainty. Instead, He has given me an outlet to show just how strong I really am. A few weeks ago, I was nervous to address my Town Council, afraid I would appear silly and be dismissed. Today, I am addressing CEO's, Chairmans, Senators, news outlets, attorneys, publicists, and people from all over our country that have also fought the battle to Save Our Water from commodification.

Not once, have I felt afraid. Instead passages such as "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." -Isaiah 41:13. I read that passage on Feb. 14, the day before the meeting that I had formed. The next day, my priest, early that morning, quoted me the same passage as he blessed me in my efforts. Also, on Feb. 15, the day of my meeting, I read 'All who see you, or have contact with you will be, brought near to Me, and the influence will spread. My friends and family know how often God has spoken to me through writings, and these were no exception.

And today, I am the administer of the FB page West Hartford Concerned Residents, a forum to address this travesty. I am speaking in front of CT's DEEP Committee on Wednesday morning and am addressing the MDC in a special meeting they have called on Wednesday night. I have been in contact with CBS's 60 Minutes and ABC's World News Tonight about the Commodification of our reservoir.

Who does this? Someone who takes the right hand of God...

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-niagara-water-fight-0219-20160218-

story.htmlhttp://we-ha.com/letter-to-the-editor-west-hartford-residents-should-be-concerned-about-mdcs-niagara-deal/

If We Were Aware..

My speech to West Hartford Town Council:

Three weeks ago, at a meditation group, I was speaking to three women from Bloomfield that had just been at their Town Council meeting the night before.  They were pretty upset about a bottling company that was trying to build a facility in their town. I had no idea what they were talking about. That's a key point to my address to you:  I had NO IDEA what they were talking about.

Niagara Bottling Company, is the nations' largest private-label water bottler. You can buy it at Costco. Niagara has struck an agreement with the town of Bloomfield and the Metropolitan District Committee to build a 10 acre manufacturing and bottling plant. Maybe that's why I had not heard of this, it's pretty much a Bloomfield issue, right?

WRONG!

This is a huge West Hartford issue and every resident of West Hartford, and paying customer of the MDC, should be informed about what is going to happen to our most precious natural resource, our public water.

The MDC has struck an agreement with Niagara Bottling Company to sell 2 million gallons of water A DAY from our reservoir, at a reduced rate, to Niagara.

At the proposed Bloomfield plant, Niagara will produce 2.6 million plastic bottles PER day on each line at their factory. With a proposed capacity of 4 lines, this would be over 10 million plastic bottles a day!

Niagara would then be able to dump 20% of the water used daily, about 360,000 gallons, right back into the MDC as waste water.

And of biggest concern: should West Hartford and surrounding areas experience water shortages, CT law does not allow the MDC to shut off the tap to Niagara!

We, as customers, would be asked to comply with emergenbcy conservation measures, yet Niagara would still be able to bottle and ship out of state!

My question to the council is: how ahve we, the West Hartford residents and paying customers of the MDC, not been informed of this agreement? The agreement that the MDC, a public company, will sell 2 million gallons of our water a day, to Niagara, a for profit company, at a discounted rate?

West Hartford residents are progressive and treasure the reservoir and the environment around it. If they were aware that Niagara anticipates 100 trucks a day to be trucking in 24/7 and would be polluting and congesting traffic...they would be concerned.

If residents were aware, that to rpoduce 10 million plastic bottles a day would require the handling of potentially hazardous materials, and that they would be handled and stored so close to us...they would be concerned.

If they were aware that the most recent E. coli contamination recalls involved 2 Niagara bottling plants in PA as evidenced by Sunday's Hartford Courant...they would be really concerned.

But if West Hartford residents were aware, that 2 million gallons a day of our most precious natural resource, would be sold EVERY DAY for the foreseeable future, putting in jeopardy our children's and grandchildren's water supply...they would be OUTRAGED!

If they were aware...why were the residents not made aware by the MDC?

Bloomfield Town Council and the MDC say it's a done deal. Bloomfieldcitizens.org states that it is not a done deal. I sure hope not.

But I want to make sure this NEVER happens again!!

Do not let MDC give away water to inefficient large users.

If we were just made aware...