Be Careful What You Vote For...

Too bad.  I believe Mike Lewis and Jeff Adams would have been good school board members.  So would Marihelen Hower, Mary Lou Sigler, and Phil Nash for that matter.  Anyone of them would do a better job than the four on the “The Ticket to Chang_”

 

But this is America.  The voters have spoken with the majority getting what it wants.  And the citizens that didn’t vote will get what they deserve.  Too bad they had to drag down everyone with a brain and a conscience who exercised their constitutional right to vote and speak out against the “Ticket of Chang_.”

 

Sadly, Mary Lou Sigler is the only one left outside “the ticket” with a chance at one of the vacant school board seats.  But she is a democrat running on the democratic side. Her chances of winning are remote, especially after finishing fourth behind three republicans.  Unbelievable isn’t it?  Democrats voting for three republicans over a fellow democrat. 

 

This really makes you wonder about the teachers.  What do they think about all this?  Did they vote “the ticket” and if so, was it because they don’t like Dave Runk?  After all, Harpster (a former teacher) promised to fire the administration if “the ticket” wins.  Isn’t it the mantra of the teachers’ union to hate the administration?  You bet.

 

I wonder how many administrators they are going to fire and how much it will cost?  But cost should be no issue because firing administration was number one on their agenda.  Sounds expensive.  How are they going to do that when they promised to be fiscally responsible?  Puts them in a pickle, doesn’t it?

 

And what about the new high school?  Did you know they want to stop building it?  Perhaps when construction halts, they will leave it there as is and make it the community playground.  Kids will love climbing the jungle gym of steel girders and playing in the big dirt piles.  Wish we had a playground like this when I was a kid.

 

And finally, they promised smaller class sizes?  I wonder how they are going to do that when they continue to cut staff and programs to balance their budget.  So if I understand this correctly, they want to cut teachers to balance a budget then hire teachers if the classes get too big.  Makes a lot of sense doesn’t it.    

 

Well, Mifflin County, you have spoken and have requested change.  You better brace yourself because change is coming and it ain’t good!

Endorsements, You want endorsements... YOU GOT EM!!!!

So time has come and passed and I think all of you are interested in whom I believe will best represent us. I refuse to even mention the ticket anymore. In my opinion, while they may all be nice people and have nice families, they are simply not qualified to represent me. Anyone that is running as a fiscal conservative, but is in favor of buying as much stuff as they can is simply not fiscally conservative. Spelling errors and arguing to replace yourself on the school board, is enough reason for me to not vote for you. That pretty much eliminates 4 of them. We are left with five. So now its time to cut someone. I have had a really hard time with this. A really hard time. I kept making lists and I keep returning to the two same names.

The following two people are absolute must votes. The two officially endorsed candidates of Mifflin County Online are as follows:

1.)Dr. Mike Lewis
2.)Mr. Jeff Adams

Dr. Lewis and Mr. Adams have the Energy and Experience needed to bring our district to the next level. I think at times, Mr. Adams has had a difficult time, but he has persevered. I have recently talked to him at a school event and he was really on message. I heard him at the debate and he had great ideas about alternate funding, I just thought he could have explained it better. Dr. Lewis is eloquent. Want someone that is accessible to the voters? How about posting your phone number on your campaign signs! That takes courage, and he should be applauded. Why these two? Well, they have done the best job and speak to what I am concerned about. Dr. Lewis brings plenty of experience. He knows budgets and how to work with them. He knows what programs can be cut, and what ones should NOT be cut. Unlike the two members of the, " Ticket to Chang_" whom recently voted to CUT, that's right, CUT library and Art from the elementary curriculum, who needs that right? Idiots.

So what about my two other votes? Well, that's up to you my friends. I really can't make the decision. So you get to chose two, in no particular order.

1.) Mari Helen Hower- Some good ideas. Has met a lot of people. I e-mail her quite a bit and I believe she would do a great job. I think she may be influenced by some current board members and by some current school administrators. Overall, her heart is in the right place. Her ideas may be misguided because by her own admition, she is young in this process. I think if she got the position, her eyes would really open to some of the challenges we face.

2.) Mar Lou Sigler- Ok, I haven't met her. Haven't even talked to her. But she talks her mind. Anyone that has the courage to say that she couldn't support Union Elementary 100% really has some courage. At least she is honest and truthful.

3.) Phil Nash- Say it aint so Joe. Yeah, Phil has been on since Christ was in school, but at least hes got experience. He is really interested in what he feels is best for the children and the people of Mifflin County. Now I believe some of these things are misguided, I think there is more to education than making budget cuts. Phil stood up for the new school. I think the new school was a bad idea. But, I respect his view and his courage to stand up for what he believes in.


So how about a prediction from the blogger?
1.) Adams
2) Lewis
3.) Hower
4.) Nash
5.) Sigler
6.) Harpster
7.) Parkes
8.) Sharp
9.) Hurlbert <----- Is he still running??

Lets touch on some other races....
Tammy Hunter wins a close race.
Arron Gingrich, hope I spelled that right, Wins in a LANDSLIDE.
Peachy, whose first name is apparently Pick, wins and has a difficult general.
Steele, wins a very close race for Sheriff.

These are my thoughts. I am right or I could be wrong!

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!
ADAMS AND LEWIS
REAL change for Mifflin County!

Thanks for Reading,

Mifflin County Blog

Who I will NOT vote for...

After hearing the candidates for Mifflin County School Board deliver their platforms Wednesday night at Indian Valley High School, I certainly know who I’m not going to vote for. To be blunt, the "Ticket to Chang_" is a no-go, as Tony Soprano would say. Walter Harpster’s opening remarks had to be the worst speech I ever heard. Thank goodness, he only had 30 seconds. As the people in the audience waited to hear him talk about the issues, he pointed to people in the audience, telling them he had them in school while a teacher for 34 years at Indian Valley. That was it. Apparently, he was reaching out to the teachers, trying to get their vote.

It didn’t get much better after that. He completely ignored one of the questions and said that the Mifflin County School District was 150 million dollars in debt. Huh. I don’t know where that figure came from because the district took out a bond issue to pay for the school and the effect it will have on the yearly budget is between 10% and 15% of operating costs. And the district has a triple A credit rating. A bank will give a home buyer a loan as long as the monthly payment of the mortgage does not exceed 35%.

I would like to give Walter his due but I just can’t. He says he’s a fiscal conservative, which I would have believed until I heard him say he wants Mifflin County schools to take over the vo-tech school. It certainly sounded like a good idea until Mike Lewis pointed out that Mifflin County would have to buy Juniata County’s share of the building and property, at a cost of 15 to 20 million dollars. Is that fiscally conservative Walter, or did you just not think things through? Nash and Parks support this idea also... Parks doesn't have anything between his ears and Nash is out of touch. At least Hower and Adams admitted to not knowing enough about it to venture an opinion.

I actually thought that Kristen Sharp and Travis Parks conducted themselves okay. But remember that Sharp home school’s her child and Parks bobs his head up and down whenever Kirk Rager talks. For that matter, so does Harpster. And Jim Hurlburt, Hello Jim...Where are you Jim? Didn’t see you there Jim. Better things to do, I’m sure.

Clearly, the most articulate and well-spoken of the candidates was Mike Lewis. He pointed out that voting as a group, like the "Ticket to Chang_" intend to do is not healthy for the school district. I agree. I like Jeff Adams’ ideas, although he did not articulate them very well Wednesday night. Nash is clearly a supporter of Dave Runk, while Hower quotes statistics that appear out of context at times. Sigler’s comments didn’t matter after she implied that she might close Union Elementary. It’s going to be hard for her to recover from this

I have heard many say that they are unsure who they want to vote for but are dead certain they won’t vote for the "The Ticket to Chang_": Harpster, Parks, Sharp, and Hurburt. I couldn’t agree more.

I know you’re waiting for my endorsement. But I’m going to hold off on that until next week. Stay tuned.

Keep on Reading,

Mifflin County Blog

Change...

I sat back and began to reflect on this whole change thing. Maybe one of you out there can fill me in on what I am missing. Perhaps I am just looking over something.

The "Ticket to Chang_" has said in very public forums on more than one occasion that they are out to change administration. Which I still argue is their way of arguing against two members of their own ticket. But no one ever accused this crew of being the only members of the Greater Mifflin County Chapter Mensa Society, if you catch my drift. They have spelled campaign signs the wrong way, they have created a divide in the community, they went from being fiscally conservative to spending wildly. Basically, they are on big colossal mess.

But here is what I think is the biggie, they are arguing for a change in administration. Which, I will assume they mean Superintendent (Dave Runk) and Assistant Superintendent ( Ed Curry). Clearly, they do not mean principals. They had a chance at the last board meeting to really disagree with the status quo and vote against a hire put forth by the administration, but the two current board members on the "Ticket to Chang_" went along with it. Like they always do.

Now, I am a new follower of this school mess, and believe me its quite a mess. Upon doing my research on this issue I have found that every newspaper article I read that mentions the name, Dave Runk, it 95% of the time mentions how he put together a 0% increase in taxes. Apparently the Ticket to Chang_ feels that this is unacceptable. They instead, would apparently like to opt for an increase in taxes and an increase in spending. Which they all freely admitted they wanted to do in their interviews with the school teachers, buy everything top of the line.

Yeah, getting rid of a guy that keeps taxes low, increase spending off the charts that's exactly what the people of Mifflin County Want....WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING?