Well, just when I thought I was out, it pulled me back in. I really thought I had the flu bug beat, but it came back...again....for the third time. Man it is really a nasty bug this year. Any way, I haven't been completely dead. I am keeping tabs on all of the local announcements and who is going to be running for each race. A little while ago, I created a post about the Mifflin County School Board. I was asking if people had any information to send it in. I was overwhelmed with responses. However, since this is an election year, I am going to attempt to find out who the best representatives for the people will be.
The first person to enter officially the race, Mr. Jeff Adams seems like a rather nice man. Fairly young, has an interest in a succeeding school district and seems to bring some fresh ideas. I am interested if he has any friends on the board and aside from getting the apparent teacher backing, how he feels on different issues. I have sent Mr. Adams a survey for him to fill out and return to the blog. If he does do it I will post the entire survey here on the blog.
Please stay tuned, and thanks for all the well wishes.......
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Flu
Hey all, I have not died. I just wanted to drop in and thank everyone for all of the e-mails I have received. I have gotten a horrible flu bug. I was in and out of the hospital for the last ten days. But, I am feeling a little better and my posts will be more frequent. I really do apologise to all of my loyal readers, this was clearly something out of my control. I do intend to follow up on some missed stories for those of you that e-mailed me.
Monday, January 12, 2009
This isn't Mayberry...
I suspect that the Mifflin County Regional Police board members will not resign their positions despite my repeated requests. But that should not surprise anyone because these are the positions where backward thinking incompetents always seem to surface. Is it the power they crave of do they just want everything to be the same as when they were kids. Wake up people…. This isn’t Mayberry.
I’m sure you think I am only referring to the regional police board, but I could just as easily talk about the local school board, who opted to starve the educational programs to fund a new high school that is much larger than it needs to be.
But, it doesn’t stop with the new school. I do not subscribe to printing scandalous rumors but I have heard from so many people in the community tell me the Mifflin County School Board is corrupt. I am not saying they are but I plan to look further into this. I encourage anyone with any information about this to send it to my blog.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
A Tarnished Reputation...
I took some time to reflect on what was published yesterday in the newspaper. I know you are all probably expecting for me to publish a crazy rant, but honestly I am torn.
On one hand, I feel that this lady may have suffered enough. Her name has been in the paper, she probably can't go any where without people saying something to her about everything that happened and finally she is being blogged about online. Enough is enough perhaps.
On the other, she deserves what she got. Come on admit it, sending a reckless email like this was asking for controversy. Spreading racism via an email to an entire police force is not an extremely responsible thing to do. Even if you don't find it racist, one would have to admit that perhaps it wasn't the smartest thing to do. You would also have to admit that she probably got off easy with simply a letter in her file. I feel she should have been fired, at the very least suspended without pay for a given amount of time.
Then we go to Mr. Chatman.
While you may not like everything he had to say, you must give him credit for having the courage to say it the way he did. He certainly got the shock value vote. I give him credit for standing up for what he believes in. My advice to Mr. Chapman would be not to leave. I find it hard to believe a man with his courage would be run out of town by a silly email. Let's face it the bottom analysis should be that it is really a silly stupid racist email.
Finally, the third player in this was the Police Board. By any and all analysis these people have failed. Just look at some of the dumb comments certain members made during the meeting. I am not simply talking about this incident. I am speaking in general. This email was more or less the cherry on top. They really need some form of direction. Just in case you haven't noticed everything they do is a reaction. They had to react to the situation with the former Chief. And now again, they are reacting to this e-mail scandal. I am not asking for them to be fortune tellers, but I am asking for them to have a little vision on where this police force is headed. In my opinion they are not capable of this, that is why I have repeatedly asked for them to resign. I would like to ask for this yet again today.
Overall though, I felt worse for the police officers. Can you imagine the level of stress the men and women in blue must be under? Day in and day out they place their life on the line for us. Now they are forced to worry about what is happening in regards to leadership. This should not be their concern. They should have only one, keeping themselves and us safe. This board has not allowed for that. Instead the force is placed under extreme pressure due to a lack of leadership at a board level.
This situation was created because of a lack of leadership. A true great story was on the second page of the paper. The story about the officers that did the right thing and were credited for their courage. Unfortunately that story was lost because of the tarnished reputation this board has created. Which is why I still say, all of them should resign.
Whats done is done and there is no going back. This is an extremely divisive issue.Let us look to the future, try to build a stronger force with hopefully better and stronger leaders.I do not think however, these board members are capable of that.
On one hand, I feel that this lady may have suffered enough. Her name has been in the paper, she probably can't go any where without people saying something to her about everything that happened and finally she is being blogged about online. Enough is enough perhaps.
On the other, she deserves what she got. Come on admit it, sending a reckless email like this was asking for controversy. Spreading racism via an email to an entire police force is not an extremely responsible thing to do. Even if you don't find it racist, one would have to admit that perhaps it wasn't the smartest thing to do. You would also have to admit that she probably got off easy with simply a letter in her file. I feel she should have been fired, at the very least suspended without pay for a given amount of time.
Then we go to Mr. Chatman.
While you may not like everything he had to say, you must give him credit for having the courage to say it the way he did. He certainly got the shock value vote. I give him credit for standing up for what he believes in. My advice to Mr. Chapman would be not to leave. I find it hard to believe a man with his courage would be run out of town by a silly email. Let's face it the bottom analysis should be that it is really a silly stupid racist email.
Finally, the third player in this was the Police Board. By any and all analysis these people have failed. Just look at some of the dumb comments certain members made during the meeting. I am not simply talking about this incident. I am speaking in general. This email was more or less the cherry on top. They really need some form of direction. Just in case you haven't noticed everything they do is a reaction. They had to react to the situation with the former Chief. And now again, they are reacting to this e-mail scandal. I am not asking for them to be fortune tellers, but I am asking for them to have a little vision on where this police force is headed. In my opinion they are not capable of this, that is why I have repeatedly asked for them to resign. I would like to ask for this yet again today.
Overall though, I felt worse for the police officers. Can you imagine the level of stress the men and women in blue must be under? Day in and day out they place their life on the line for us. Now they are forced to worry about what is happening in regards to leadership. This should not be their concern. They should have only one, keeping themselves and us safe. This board has not allowed for that. Instead the force is placed under extreme pressure due to a lack of leadership at a board level.
This situation was created because of a lack of leadership. A true great story was on the second page of the paper. The story about the officers that did the right thing and were credited for their courage. Unfortunately that story was lost because of the tarnished reputation this board has created. Which is why I still say, all of them should resign.
Whats done is done and there is no going back. This is an extremely divisive issue.Let us look to the future, try to build a stronger force with hopefully better and stronger leaders.I do not think however, these board members are capable of that.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Man With Integrity Speaks Again...
One thing I love about Nelson "Nelly" Rieffannacht he keeps me in business.
Honestly Nelly, what were you thinking? A knee jerk reaction? A knee jerk reaction? That is the best argument you could come up with for voting for racism? Nelly, when you woke up this morning did ya think to yourself, " No knee jerk reactions here now." Honestly? What did you think was going to happen when they called for this meeting? They called for this meeting for the purpose of reviewing the matter of the police force! Perhaps you thought they weren't going to bring this up at the meeting or something. Try and sweep it under the rug like the good ol' days, huh Nelly? That was probably the worst excuse I had ever seen/read in my entire life.
Larry Searer, perhaps council is going to fast to soon? Well I'll take this one slow for ya. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Mr. Searer you are the poster child for, lets just not say anything and hope it blows over. Just curious, was it the e-mail you didn't mind so much, or was it that you don't mind employees sending e-mails on tax payer dollar? Did she send the e-mail?Yes. Did she do it with Mifflin County Regional Police e-mail? Yes. Did she send it during work time, which she was being paid for (with taxpayer dollars)? Apparently. Are you an elected official? Yes. In charge of protecting the public trust? Yes. By voting no, did you do that? NO.
On the other side of the coin, let me congratulate Frank Berrier. What a great job you have done. Mr. Berrier listened to his constituents. The MAJORITY of his constituents and he voiced their concerns at the meeting. I agreed with the motion you came up with. I do not think it is an unreasonable motion, I think it was fair. To vote against that motion in my opinion is shameful. Nelly, at the next council meeting sit next to Mr. Berrier, maybe integrity is contagious.
Honestly Nelly, what were you thinking? A knee jerk reaction? A knee jerk reaction? That is the best argument you could come up with for voting for racism? Nelly, when you woke up this morning did ya think to yourself, " No knee jerk reactions here now." Honestly? What did you think was going to happen when they called for this meeting? They called for this meeting for the purpose of reviewing the matter of the police force! Perhaps you thought they weren't going to bring this up at the meeting or something. Try and sweep it under the rug like the good ol' days, huh Nelly? That was probably the worst excuse I had ever seen/read in my entire life.
Larry Searer, perhaps council is going to fast to soon? Well I'll take this one slow for ya. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Mr. Searer you are the poster child for, lets just not say anything and hope it blows over. Just curious, was it the e-mail you didn't mind so much, or was it that you don't mind employees sending e-mails on tax payer dollar? Did she send the e-mail?Yes. Did she do it with Mifflin County Regional Police e-mail? Yes. Did she send it during work time, which she was being paid for (with taxpayer dollars)? Apparently. Are you an elected official? Yes. In charge of protecting the public trust? Yes. By voting no, did you do that? NO.
On the other side of the coin, let me congratulate Frank Berrier. What a great job you have done. Mr. Berrier listened to his constituents. The MAJORITY of his constituents and he voiced their concerns at the meeting. I agreed with the motion you came up with. I do not think it is an unreasonable motion, I think it was fair. To vote against that motion in my opinion is shameful. Nelly, at the next council meeting sit next to Mr. Berrier, maybe integrity is contagious.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Resignations Please!!!
Awhile ago I wrote in my blog several times that the members of the police board should resign. I feel compelled to ask for their resignations again. This board has completely lost control of everything. I am not saying every member of the board is at fault. But, I am saying that even the ones that are trying to do the right thing are being extremely ineffective in their attempts, and thus it's time for some new leadership; not everyone is good at everything. While some members are trying to do the right thing, they are just not effective in their efforts. So, grab a seat on the bench and watch like the rest of us.
Not knowing what is going on in regards to the day to day operations of the regional police is not the responsibility of the board, I get that. But what is the responsibility of the board is putting someone in place to ensure that the daily activities are being performed, in an ethical and fair manner, they have failed this duty. It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that all members of their staff are carrying themselves in an ethical manner, they have failed at this duty. It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that the department is being run in the best manner 100% of the time, by all accounts, they have failed this duty. Somehow, the members of this board forgot that they are representatives. They are supposed to represent the constituents of their individual areas. By any standard you measure that, they have failed this duty.
To me, this seems like a situation that is going to get worse before it gets better. If this is the case let us look to some new leadership. Instead of telling us about the lack of a solicitor and trying to sweep things under the rug, just show yourselves to the door. The department needs a shake up. They need a REAL CHIEF. Not someone that is going to take the wheel for a month or two, play chief and get us into another controversy. We need a real chief with real experience. This person should be an outsider. Not someone from the inner circle that is going to continue to go along with all the crazy cost saving measures the board comes up with.
I have another crazy idea , how about we start promoting people. According to the website, we only have two detectives in our force. Is this because we have nothing to detect around here? Am I to believe that no other members of the force are capable of being detectives? That is laughable, of course we have very capable patrolmen and women. I would ask again that all members tender resignations at the next board meeting.Let us get real leadership and make this department a bright spot in our community again. Something we can all take pride in. Lets face it, the decisions made by the board in one way or another have placed us in our current situation. If it took all of these bad decisions to get us here, we better get some new people to make the right decisions to get us out.
Not knowing what is going on in regards to the day to day operations of the regional police is not the responsibility of the board, I get that. But what is the responsibility of the board is putting someone in place to ensure that the daily activities are being performed, in an ethical and fair manner, they have failed this duty. It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that all members of their staff are carrying themselves in an ethical manner, they have failed at this duty. It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that the department is being run in the best manner 100% of the time, by all accounts, they have failed this duty. Somehow, the members of this board forgot that they are representatives. They are supposed to represent the constituents of their individual areas. By any standard you measure that, they have failed this duty.
To me, this seems like a situation that is going to get worse before it gets better. If this is the case let us look to some new leadership. Instead of telling us about the lack of a solicitor and trying to sweep things under the rug, just show yourselves to the door. The department needs a shake up. They need a REAL CHIEF. Not someone that is going to take the wheel for a month or two, play chief and get us into another controversy. We need a real chief with real experience. This person should be an outsider. Not someone from the inner circle that is going to continue to go along with all the crazy cost saving measures the board comes up with.
I have another crazy idea , how about we start promoting people. According to the website, we only have two detectives in our force. Is this because we have nothing to detect around here? Am I to believe that no other members of the force are capable of being detectives? That is laughable, of course we have very capable patrolmen and women. I would ask again that all members tender resignations at the next board meeting.Let us get real leadership and make this department a bright spot in our community again. Something we can all take pride in. Lets face it, the decisions made by the board in one way or another have placed us in our current situation. If it took all of these bad decisions to get us here, we better get some new people to make the right decisions to get us out.
Members of the board do the right thing,
resign at the next meeting.
resign at the next meeting.
Friday, January 2, 2009
What is Going on Over There???
It's time for some one to be held accountable for their actions. The lack of common sense that was first reported here, and then finally in the Lewistown sentinel is alarming. I have already posted the email here once and I refuse to do it again. Let us as a community turn the page on racism and a lack of integrity by the good ol' boy network, it is time for us to find out once and for all, what is going on over there?
I read the paper with disbelief this morning. I was completely dumbfounded by a couple of the comments. Clearly, posturing has already begun to keep Mrs. Dukes in place. Mr. McCullough is pointing out that the board is still without a solicitor. This really bothers me. You don't need a solicitor to show you the difference between right and wrong. What is going on over there?
Another comment grabbed my attention, from Mr. Dailey. He would rather not give his opinion of this e-mail. Well why not? Maybe you don't find the email personally offensive. That's fine, not finding it offensive is one thing. But, realizing that it is wrong for an employee of a board you are currently a member of is spreading this selective racism around your department is another. Sitting on a board that is funded by African Americans and yes, even a few democrats, would obligate you to do the right thing; to represent all of your constituents. Not just the ones you may or may not agree with. We don't want your personal opinion Mr. Dailey, we would rather your professional one, that is if you can figure out what it is. Again I ask ,what is going on over there?
My other problem is Mrs. Dukes comment. She wasn't being racist. No not at all, she was just trying to pick on the one member of the force that was a democrat. So she would NEVER be racist, only discriminate against democrats that's all. So selective racism against a smaller group of people in this community is ok. As long as it is not simply because of the color of their skin, instead it is racism by the content of their character. I find it unbelievable that she felt comfortable enough to send this to every member of the force. What is going on over there?
It will be interesting the see what the board decides to do. I think Mr. Tunall deserves credit for calling members of the police board to the carpet. I hope members of the community do not simply let the police board, turn the page on this issue. Don't let the good ol' boy network slide something else under the carpet. It is time for people to be held accountable for their actions. The members of the community need to find out, what is going on over there.
I read the paper with disbelief this morning. I was completely dumbfounded by a couple of the comments. Clearly, posturing has already begun to keep Mrs. Dukes in place. Mr. McCullough is pointing out that the board is still without a solicitor. This really bothers me. You don't need a solicitor to show you the difference between right and wrong. What is going on over there?
Another comment grabbed my attention, from Mr. Dailey. He would rather not give his opinion of this e-mail. Well why not? Maybe you don't find the email personally offensive. That's fine, not finding it offensive is one thing. But, realizing that it is wrong for an employee of a board you are currently a member of is spreading this selective racism around your department is another. Sitting on a board that is funded by African Americans and yes, even a few democrats, would obligate you to do the right thing; to represent all of your constituents. Not just the ones you may or may not agree with. We don't want your personal opinion Mr. Dailey, we would rather your professional one, that is if you can figure out what it is. Again I ask ,what is going on over there?
My other problem is Mrs. Dukes comment. She wasn't being racist. No not at all, she was just trying to pick on the one member of the force that was a democrat. So she would NEVER be racist, only discriminate against democrats that's all. So selective racism against a smaller group of people in this community is ok. As long as it is not simply because of the color of their skin, instead it is racism by the content of their character. I find it unbelievable that she felt comfortable enough to send this to every member of the force. What is going on over there?
It will be interesting the see what the board decides to do. I think Mr. Tunall deserves credit for calling members of the police board to the carpet. I hope members of the community do not simply let the police board, turn the page on this issue. Don't let the good ol' boy network slide something else under the carpet. It is time for people to be held accountable for their actions. The members of the community need to find out, what is going on over there.
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