Read Between the Lines
After I wrote the article and headline the other week on the county commission meeting, my co-worker suggested I should write a column about reading between the lines.
I told her I’d done it before, but it has been awhile, so I think she’s right, it’s time again.
She was referring to the headline about the county manager getting 90 days medical leave. The headline didn’t indicate she wouldn’t be back…but apparently that was the commission’s way of firing her, and giving her 90 days severance pay.
Everyone…I mean at least every tax-paying citizen (which includes renters who pay taxes secondhand), should attend at least one meeting of any and all agencies that tax them. Then, when they read about the other meetings in the newspaper, it is so much easier to read between the lines.
We report on the meeting and state the facts. We don’t get into much of the side conversation, the looks, the nuances, the crowd, or any of that.
I remember a particular commissioner many years ago that was less than stellar. We butted heads regularly. Therefore, when I wrote about the meetings, I bent over backwards to be sure my prejudice against that commissioner did not show. He still looked like a not-so-good commissioner sometimes. When people would attend the meetings and see his arrogance for themselves, they always told me I was too nice. We do that in The News business. We try very hard to be unbiased.
So, we present the facts as we see and hear them, and let you, the reader sort through them. Some people get information from other sources too. I encourage that. Get all the information you can. But, attend a meeting once every year or two…I don’t expect you to come monthly. Heck, if I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t make every meeting.
This goes for your city council (Monticello and Shady Dale), your county commission, and your school board. The meetings are all announced in the community calendar in this paper, and public attendance is welcome.
Which brings me to my next point. Public ATTENDANCE is welcome. However, the meetings are not free-for-alls for anyone and everyone to throw out their opinions whenever they want.
A letter to the editor last week spoke of the rude county commissioners. I disagree. I saw a rude crowd. Certainly there were some things that could have been handled a little better, but all in all when you have an angry mob speaking out at will, it is hard for the commissioners to conduct business.
So get as informed as you can. Go to the meetings. Speak at the appropriate time. Then, if you have further concerns, call or e-mail your commissioner or all the commissioners and express your views. I keep thinking about school. Students can’t speak out in class while the teacher is speaking.
The commissioners have been elected to do a job. Share your opinions with them. But do it at the right time and place. They are people too. And, as much as you may disagree with them, they are each trying to do a good job.
They need to hear your concerns so if they are different from theirs they can be responsive. But yelling out at a meeting, or snickering, or talking under your breath while they are conducting business is no way to win friends and influence people.