I’m heading off to a week’s vacation – in my backyard – and there are some topics swirling in my head.

I demand my right to have a helipad

Only several hundred people attended the Wilbraham town meeting, a fact that underscored to me a level of voter apathy that is fairly concerning.

The only reason to maintain this form of government is to offer a clear path for participation in a key decision-making process. If people aren’t interested, shouldn’t another form of government be considered?

Now I’ve written similar thoughts before and I usually get an angry letter or two telling me it’s none of my business and that people love the institution of the town meeting.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If they love it so much why the heck don’t they turn up?

Town meetings do afford interesting moments, though, of people speaking their minds sometimes resulting in either laughter or anger from others. They are also are a forum for subjects that may seem a tad esoteric, to be kind.

The one that caught my eye was the article prohibiting helicopter landing pads in residential areas. The article on the town meeting warrant was admittedly a reaction to an unfounded rumor that someone in the community wanted to build a landing pad for his or her helicopter.

Wow – a reaction to a false rumor? Why would the town react to any unfounded rumor?

Having lived in a community governed by a town meeting – Granby – I remember those head-scratching moments. In my case, the standout was one resident who insisted the town shouldn’t pay for new police cruisers, but should get motorcycles with sidecars instead. There were several angry Granby cops in the room after that statement.

Should I bet on my grandson’s softball game?

Actually my grandson doesn’t play softball yet.

The reaction to sports betting has been interesting. I’ve had people say to me they would do this in a heartbeat, while others note that  so much illegal sports betting goes on that legalizing it really doesn’t matter.

Frankly for me, betting is betting and this is simply another product to offer people.

I remember the days when I worked on WREB and one of the sales people distributed football betting tickets with the phrase “for entertainment purposes only” printed on them. I’m assuming that was a legal firewall in case a police officer discovered you handing these things out.

I’m sure it stood up in court.

I’ll bet the two Massachusetts casino companies are now investigating how to move the Legislature forward on the issue and how to re-design their buildings to accommodate a sports betting operation.

I’m all for making money off pot

I have no idea what is the personal opinion of West Springfield’s Mayor William Richet about marijuana, but I think he is taking a wise step by proposing rules and regulations that would allow for the sale of recreational weed in West Side.

He’s being pragmatic and that is necessary today.

Any community that bans those sales will be leaving some money on the table and in this day and age every municipality needs whatever revenue flow it can develop.

We’ve been making money off of alcohol for years and marijuana is next.

While on this subject, we should be looking to develop cannabis lounges in the way they have in Holland.

Don’t kid yourself – there is not a lot of difference between a bar serving booze and a lounge serving marijuana. There is no moral high ground here between alcohol and pot.

With MGM in town, I would wish Springfield would leap on that bandwagon and license a couple of cannabis lounges. Why? Having that feature might just draw more people to the city and it would be certainly a local business that could keep some money here and employ a few folks.

Just think: casino visitors could gamble, eat great food from local restaurants and get legally buzzed – all things they may not be able to do in their own hometown. Then they could eat again.

Again, there is no moral high ground here. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has made a lot of dough off alcohol, tobacco and gambling for decades – money upon which we rely. Why should cannabis be any different?