Price’s
outhouse bill creates shit-storm
By
Will Collette
Rep.
Justin Price (R-Hopkinton) may well be the General Assembly’s most far
rightwing member. He has reliably brought the fringe right agenda into the State House pushing conspiracies such as “chem-trails” and calling statewide planning a communist plot.
He opposes mandatory vaccination, taking guns away from domestic abusers, LGBT rights, and animal protection.
He
has publicly praised the domestic
terrorist Three Percenter movement. He proposed
legislation to allow motorists to kill protesters if they block traffic.
Given
Price’s reputation as a right-wing nut, there was notable surprise when he
introduced legislation
to eliminate outhouses from Rhode Island’s backyards. His lead co-sponsor
was leading liberal environmental activist Rep. Art Handy (D-Cranston) who chairs the House Environment Committee.
Has
Price gone soft, some wondered? Who would have expected a guy like Price to
want to actively promote indoor plumbing? Who would have ever expected Price to
work with a pinko like Art Handy.
Apparently, their next door neighbor still used an outhouse and they didn’t like the smell.
I
can’t say that I blame them, but I’m surprised the smell of the chickens and
goats didn’t at least partly mask the odor of the outhouse.
Anyway,
Price introduced the bill to end the use of outhouses by 2019, calling for them
to be plugged and filled and for the surface structure to be removed.
In
the hierarchy of bad waste management practices, outhouses rank below the
odious cesspools that were banned through the efforts of our former state Representative Donna Walsh.
But,
as it turned out, Price’s anti-outhouse bill stirred up a shitstorm.
Publicly,
there was some dotty opposition from people who thought outhouses represented a
part of our history that ought to be preserved.
The most prominent opponent is self-described “Queen of Outhouses” Virginia Williams, wife of retired RI Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams.
The most prominent opponent is self-described “Queen of Outhouses” Virginia Williams, wife of retired RI Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams.
She told
the Providence Journal:
"That would break my heart to see outhouses destroyed. I started photographing them years ago, in the ’80s, because it is an important part of our history and vernacular architecture.″
Price’s bill would
have allowed outhouses to remain on historic properties provided they are
non-functional and for display only.
Price’s bill was
supposed to come up for a public hearing on March 15. But before that hearing
could take place, Price withdrew the legislation, saying in an e-mail statement
“The bill has been removed because this
should be addressed by local municipalities, not the state” something he apparently didn't think of when he introduced the bill.
So now we are left
with unanswered questions. Did someone tell Price that Swamp Yankees like
their outhouses? Was Price told that he made a big mistake siding with those
carpetbaggers from Warwick against an Exeter local?
Was Price paid off by
the national outhouse lobby? After all, here's his motto as it appears on his official website:
As Sarah Palin loves to say, "You betcha."
Price has got to be worried that the stink surrounding this debacle won’t go away before the November election.
As Sarah Palin loves to say, "You betcha."
Price has got to be worried that the stink surrounding this debacle won’t go away before the November election.