In The Wake

a message from CLIIA President, Kent Simmons

The meeting of the CLIIA (Cousins and Littlejohn Islands Improvement Association) Board last weekend was a different one for me, and I think for everyone else in the group too. Each of us had just spent the last two weeks trying to come to grips with the most horrible tragedy our nation has ever seen, and that was evidenced time and time again during our meeting. And as we talked about our upcoming

events and the role of this association, it was clear how much it means to all of us to live in this small community on our two islands.

Every year when our new board starts its term, we discuss the role of the association as being a group that will sponsor and develop social and community activities among the inhabitants of said islands. This is the most visible role of the association seen through our wonderful social events.

But another role the association has been asked to assume over past years is as the central voice of the island in issues affecting us all. When we talk about this role of the association in our meetings, we don’t feel comfortable taking a position on behalf of the residents of the islands since we don’t have a mechanism for learning about how everyone feels and because it is inevitable someone in our association will feel differently than the mainstream. We do, however, want to ensure that residents of the islands are informed about issues that may affect them.

The islands are part of the larger community of Yarmouth, and has less than 10% of the towns population. But whereas we see downtown Yarmouth and situations that affect the town as a whole, it is rare for many residents of town to see closehand any of the issues that affect us here on the islands. Therefore, it becomes particularly important that we be heard when these issues come up for

discussion, or more importantly, a vote where we need to make enough noise with our 10% of the population to be heard! How can the association help? We would like to form a committee of interested residents of the islands to track issues of importance to us and communicate information to our island community using e-mail, signs and flyers, when appropriate. The mission of this group, and by

extension, the board, is to give you more frequent and better quality information about issues that affect us all, and then leave it to you to act on whatever stance you take about the issue in question.

If you’d like to participate in this group, please send me an e-mail (ksimmons@maine.rr.com) or call me at 846-5883. I’ll then meet with those who volunteer, along with other members of the board, and we’ll get started. Thanks for your support of both this effort and the association. We wish you and yours well during this challenging time.