All I Know Is What I Read on Facebook . . . .

Don't know what I'd do without Facebook.  It keeps me informed about as well as any medium these days.

And, an item I read on Facebook the other day has me scratching my head, wondering why the policy makers keep picking on the good guys when it comes to solving all the financial woes we seem to be suffering in this country.

It made me mad a while back when the profession in which I was proud to serve for 33 years started taking nasty hits nationwide.  

That was the profession where I started out as a beginning teacher earning $5,700 a year and finished my career in 2002 at a whopping $38,000. 

Like most other educators, and,  contrary to the age-old myth  that teachers work only six hours a day, nine months a year, if I had sat down and figured out how much I was making per hour (more than six hours a day, nine months a year) the actual per hour total would have made me wonder about my sanity.

So, I never tallied my per hour rate of pay.  

I must add that intangible rewards and the pure love of working with young people during my career and afterward have more than made up for the dollars and cents bottom line.   Still, it makes me mad that one of the more noble of professions is still grossly undervalued.

Well, now I've read on Facebook that our local commissioners are considering the possibility of no longer funding the 4-H program, the fairgrounds and the Bonner County Heritage Museum. 

This is still in the "consideration" mode, but from what I've seen in the newspapers, anything is possible with our county commissioners these days. 

For example, this morning's headline told us that one county commissioner has called in a mediator to resolve a dispute between the other two county commissioners.

That was after one commissioner moved to have the chair of this trio of county figureheads demoted from his leadership position and to replace him with the third commissioner.  So, the third commissioner who seconded the motion and who now serves as the chair, has called in a mediator.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, and if you want to read what looks like a fairly extensive investigative report on what's happening with our Board of Commissioners these days (all the same political party, by the way), you should check out the most recent issue of The River Journal. 

To do that, click on http://www.riverjournal.com/vivvo/

I don't want to get involved in their infighting.  Been there, done that off and on for far too many years with other entities.

But I do want to complain loudly about their mere suggestion of removing funding for our 4-H'ers, our fairgrounds and our local museum.  

The commissioners have determined that funding these programs is not state mandated, so that means they're fair game for cutting future budgets.

"What the Hell?"

I borrowed that phrase from a comment made beneath the Facebook announcement about this possibility.

And, to it, I'll add, "What the Hell are they thinking?"

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”

I can't believe that these individuals have gone through life without any old timer ever running that wise saying past them. 

Maybe its message was too literal when they heard it, and they weren't thinking that they wanted to go fishing at the time.

There must be some explanation why they would even consider tampering with entities so sacred and so revered by our local populace---all for the bottom line.

As for the museum, I guess we don't really need to know our history in today's society because we are all being programmed to operate off from short memories.  

That's how people get away with stuff, ya know.  If nobody remembers the consequences of past stupid moves, you can make all the stupid moves you want.  

Furthermore,  you can say anything stupid you want without anyone questioning it because the poor, dumb saps have no past knowledge from which to draw any conclusions or to have any doubts. 

As for 4-H and the fairgrounds, the results of 4-H activities happen at the fairgrounds, so if you don't fund the house, the kids won't have any place to practice what they've learned.  

And, if you don't fund the program which teaches them a vast and valuable array of lifetime skills, they have no need for a place to practice those skills.
Yup, makes sense to me.  I can clearly see the ILLogic of it all.

Yes, I'm on a rant, and I realize these possibilities coming from our Board of Commissioners are just in the "consideration" stages, but with the strange events happening as a result of many of our governmental "geniuses" at all levels,  I'm afraid that these considerations will quickly turn to another new policy enacted by what appears on the surface to be yet another pretty dysfunctional group of policy makers. 

I learned on Facebook that there's an informational meeting about this topic tonight at St. Joseph's Catholic Church at 6 p.m.  I've also learned that we will be polled about the issue when the county sends us our tax statements next month.

So, from what I read in the newspaper about the commissioners and from what I read on Facebook about their proposal, I'd say it might be important to attend that meeting tonight and get armed with information to ensure that vital aspects of education for our youth and our general population can still continue to operate in this county.