Following the Board's shameful behavior at the last two meetings, residents had again turned out in force to raise questions the Board refuses to answer. At seven, they began gathering in the fire department meeting room, puzzled to see that it had not been set up for the meeting.

When it became clear that the group would exceed the room's capacity, they followed the direction of Mark Weir, the only Board member present, and moved their chairs into the firehouse bays. There they set up a head table for the Board, arranged their chairs before it, and sat down in the steamy dimness to wait. And wait.

People first thought the meeting was delayed because of a fire call; around six o'clock, a power line had fallen on Route 28, not a tenth of a mile from the firehouse. The company had responded with almost all their equipment. They had blocked Route 28 at the Fly Creek blinker by parking an engine across the road. But, curiously, they hadn't closed 28 just west of the Goose Street intersection.

That would have allowed Route 28 traffic, both ways, to travel Goose Street and Route 26 and get around the problem.

The firefighters had used that very pattern two weeks ago because of another problem along the same stretch of road. This time, however, the Fly Creek chief called out the Cooperstown department to block off Route 28 three miles away, at Chestnut Street.

That blockade made it hard for the two weekly newspapers' reporters to get to Fly Creek, but they made it and sat waiting with the crowd.

By seven-thirty, people were past accepting the fallen power line as cause of the delay, especially when the engines returned to the station apron, then drove off to refuel at the Town pumps. Soon after, the fire chief strode by the open firehouse doors and glowered in at the crowd. Then, fifteen minutes later, a fire truck returned from fueling, and a fireman stepped out to address people standing outside.

"The chief says you got to get all those chairs out of the way so we can put the engines away." And what about the meeting? "We don't know anything about that."

Then the chief himself returned, now radiating bland innocence. "What about the Board meeting?" asked Board member Mark Weir, as much in the dark as the rest of us. "Don't ask me," said the chief, eyes wide, shaking his head. "I'm just coming back from a fire call."

And so the attendees were left to their own anger, their own conclusions. And left to deciding between pity and contempt. Of course you have to pity people who evidently didn't have the stomach (the blunter word is "guts") to face up to a terrible problem of their own making. You have to feel bad when people so reduce themselves in their neighbors' eyes.

But no less apt a reaction is contempt. For again the Fire Board had scorned taxpayers, this time by standing them up without a word of explanation. Some leaving the meeting wondered if we'd been duped by a planned tactic. Maybe the Board had taken advice from Lawyer Brad Pinsky, who had performed for us at the last meeting. Maybe Pinsky, who claims to know answers for every Fire Board problem, had reached into Mr. Fix-It's Bag of Tricks.

For what it's worth, here's a guess from someone who spent a lot of years in the public forum-who's seen some really shameless kinds of group manipulation. "Want to diffuse this mess?" I imagine Pinsky saying. "Stand them up at the July meeting! Let them sit and stew and vent to each other and then go home furious. You can bet they won't show up next time."

That, of course, must not happen-especially because of events since the meeting-that-wasn't. First word spread through Fly Creek that Pat Rhyde had resigned from the Fire Board. That's regrettable, since Pat seemed to be the only Board member who didn't define Mark Weir as an intruder and go for his throat. Pat's civility will be missed.

Then came word that Patricia Pernat, chair of the Board, had also resigned; but her resignation raised still another mystery. By her own testimony, Mrs. Pernat resigned as of June 10th, two days after the meeting that she didn't attend "due to a previous engagement."

Thus, for a month, the Board was without a chair and the public without official knowledge of it. Of course, the resignation should have been announced and action taken at the July 13 meeting, but instead the Board chose to take French leave.

As to the fire department itself, something grim has emerged about their status. The assistant chief-the resigned Board chair's husband-has been stating publicly that he and his firefighter sons and daughter won't be answering any fire calls. (Judge for yourself the ethics of this stance by public safety personnel, volunteer or not.) In practical fact, a Pernat strike reduces the department's active roster by half.

The Fly Creek community, though worried, shouldn't panic. Existing mutual-aid agreements will bring neighboring fire departments running if we have an emergency. And that coverage just might be better protection than a department that seems to be following its Board's lead into dysfunction.

Sadly, the Fire Board's myopia and stubbornness have now created an impossible mess. In resigning, Mrs. Pernat said darkly that she expected more resignations to follow, both on the board and in the department. That would not be surprising and, for all concerned, would be for the best. Then we could begin to rebuild.

Jim Atwell lives in and views life from Fly Creek.