‘Once America was John Wayne: stoical, taciturn and tough as hell. Now it’s a babbling neurotic on the couch, popping pills and whining about its self-esteem. What went wrong??
— From Christopher Hart’s review of ‘Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World? by Barbara Ehrenreich
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Last week’s Clarkston News was jammed full of interesting stuff . . . and taken separately just depicts life in the fair city. But, if you read the edition again, look for trends. See if you can connect the dots, extrapolate and draw conclusions.
We have been pretty tough on local government-types these days. And, it is not because we have an axe to grind. I’d venture to say we even personally like some of them government-types we’ve been tough on. We’ve been tough, because, dangblabit, it is our job. And, we could have been tougher.
n We touched on Clarkston’s need to whack its police department, due to having no money. We didn’t go on to report, city council voted on an increased budget last time around, knowing full well they couldn’t afford it.
n Stories on Clarkston schools let the superintendent defend new program spending, in light of nearly $10 million in budget cuts. But, let’s be fair, The Clarkston News has been critical of the school administration.
I’d like to pull some quotes from last week’s CNews and then opine on them — so I will. The newsstaff submitted a Freedom Of Information Act request to the schools for budget stuff. To this, Superintendent Al Roberts wrote us, ‘If you prefer to have this type of relationship, we will all need to play by the rules. There are timelines, extensions and costs under such a formal system. If you are choosing to FOIA the information, I will have our FOIA coordinator contact you with the approximate cost and timelines for response.?
What our boy Al forgets is this is the relationship he created — hell, even members of the school board have had to threaten FOIA’ing him to get information. Al has never, on his own, without prompting ‘given up? information. He hangs onto it and doles it out only as he sees fit.
‘We have asked for detailed reports, but have not yet received what we requested . . . have also asked to review our financial processes to assess if we have the information we need to make decisions.?
That wasn’t the CNews, asking, that was an elected official trying to get info from Al. That was a representative of the public getting jerked around by the superintendent. Teachers are not ‘sposed to talk to school board members, school board members are not to speak with the press. Why does he disdain the public so much, what truth can’t we take?
Al says discussing current and past cuts are not productive. We all need to remember, if we don’t study history, we are doomed to repeat it. I learned that by listening to my history teachers at Clarkston High School. I have also learned usually folks who only want to look to the future are the ones who messed up the past.
People in this district, parents, teachers, staff members and business owners, do not trust Clarkston school administration — how do I know this? They have contacted me personally, but all are too scared to go public for fear of reprisal.
The Clarskton News did not create this environment of distrust. Much like the media didn’t create the mistrust in the Oakland Intermediate School District (their super created it). What I am saying is let us in . . . let the sunshine inside select school/government buildings. Let the people see what is going on.
So, what should we do, Clarkston? Should we stick our heads in the sand? Should we sit on our hands?
I ask, because while all of this stuff with local government has been going on, the number one newsstory in Clarkston the past two years has been: ‘What will be painted on the wall of 5 S. Main Street??
If we chastise government-types, people call us negative — and we all know only good, positive things happen in Clarkston, right?
What do you want? Do you want a watchdog? Do you want a newspaper to ask the hard questions for you? Or do you want a Suzie Sunshine Everything Is Rosy chamber of commerce publication?
What is your opinion? Is this Stepford or Clarkston? Are we gonna? be tough as hell or babbling neurotics on the couch, popping pills and whining, ‘What went wrong??
Let me know, don@dontrushmedon.com