Meet the new "Weaz"...

Same as the old "Weaz"?

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss ...

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
-the Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again"

The comic and actor Pauly Shore has long been known as "the Weaz", short for "Weasel". Move over Pauly, John Whalen is stepping up to take that moniker. It seems that after being re-elected in a landslide and then elected board president by his flock, Whalen is feeling saucy. So saucy in fact, that he's stepped right up to the plate and taken the school board down a whole new path of shenanigans and weaseling.

Did you known that the etymology of the term "weasel words" stems from the manner in which weasels eat the eggs of birds? Weasels actually suck the contents out of an egg, leaving the shell--for appearances sake--intact. In fact, the term "egg sucker" was coined for the same rationale. Similarly, words or claims that turn out to be empty upon further review have come to be known as "weasel words".

So too did Whalen stammer and stumble and reach for words to defend his actions that violated board policy to keep a Bristol resident from being appointed to the school board's Finance Committee.

Policy requires applicants to submit a letter of application for each committee they are interested in. The Weaz stated, and as reported by the STAR, that he subsequently asked a candidate who had NOT demonstrated interest in the Finance committee to submit a second letter of interest AFTER THE INTERVIEWS WERE COMPLETED.

Then Whalen weaseled further by indicating that board policy does not specify a deadline for applications.

HELLO! Were other candidates offered the same opportunity--to basically ignore the application deadline which was published in the newspaper, on the website, and sent to "Key Communicators"?

Geee...if we got another application for a school position after the deadline for applications had passed would we accept it?

Geee...if a citizen submits candidacy papers for the school board after the deadline, do they get their name on the ballot?

We don't think so. Shame on Whalen for clearly violating policy...the law of the board.

Shame on Whalen for leaving Pastor Harold Rayford holding the bag. It's Pastor Rayford who Whalen coaxed into submitting the second letter to "justify" his selection. We're betting that Rayford had no idea what policy stated. Nevertheless, he's now stuck sitting in a seat that the public knows should have been someone else's. We wouldn't blame the Pastor if he opted step down, leaving Whalen with rotten egg alll over his face as he deals with cleaning THAT mess.

Our only question is...would Whalen prefer to be "the Weaz"? Or the Egg-Sucker?