Wareham — Did you know that the Governor Deval Patrick gave a town-hall style meeting at the Wareham Middle School in the summer of 2009?

I wouldn't have either if my wife didn't urge me to go and bring our son, who was seven at the time.  I almost didn't go, but then figured this is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for most and I didn't want him to miss out.  We actually had to walk there at night (about 2 miles each way).

Wareham Community TV did record the event but I don't think they aired it live or played it at a later date.  Perhaps they did and I missed it.  Anyway, I thought it would be really cool to have a copy of the DVD so that my son could show his kids someday that he was in the audience during this historic event.  So I had WCTV burn one for me (Thanks!).

Then it recently occurred to me that all of the folks in town who missed this might be interested too.

The link to the full and uncut video is presented below.  Regardless of your political leanings, I think anyone involved in town affairs will find it remarkably worthwhile. For example, this was my first time ever seeing Barbara Sullivan of the Wareham Boys and Girls Club.  She begins speaking at about 35 minutes into the full video.  She got a tremendous amount of time with the Governor and she used it to be the unrelenting advocate for kids that I’ve later come to know her to be.

Wareham's School Committee Chairman (at the time), Robert Brousseau, also got a good deal of the Governor's time to discuss educational issues.  Again, very interesting, and I encourage anyone interested in Wareham’s educational challenges to watch it.  He appears directly after Mrs. Sullivan.

Folks from neighboring towns also attended and brought up issues that ranged from federal stimulus funding to increasing father's rights.

The full 90 minutes is available at this link...

http://www.warehamforum.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74:governor-patricks-town-meeting-in-wareham&catid=41:video&Itemid=67

It is free to watch and does not require registration (previously it did).

Enjoy,
Mike Flaherty