Letters - June 10, 2010

Diphthongs

After reading the article about the firing of the county Finance Director, I found I was faced with two choices. I could do like most and say, “Why am I not surprised?” and carry on. Or I could voice my displeasure about our three commissioners and how they are doing their job. I have chosen the second option, as it is apparent that they are not fully committed to doing our work that they were elected for. But are engaged in some kind of struggle between themselves.

It is also easy to see that by their own words, they do not trust one another. And if they don’t, how can we trust them?

If the Finance Director has worked for the county for thirty-two years, she must have done a lot right, and very little wrong! The main bone of contention with two of the commissioners seems to be late finance filings with the state, and the inability of the finance division to promptly process reports for Olympia. The reasons given for this were that the finance department was understaffed, and a computer system and software that is apparently not capable of doing proper processing. That is an indication that more than a half-million dollars of the county’s money was spent with very little forethought by the commissioners.

The normal and proper way to have gone about this expenditure, would have been for the commissioners to ensure that the provider would not only set up the system, but would keep personnel at the site to assure that the system would perform as promised. And all who would be using it would be thoroughly trained in it’s operation and use. It would seem that the commissioners would insist on this in writing before allocating the funds, and if the provider failed to achieve these standards, it would be a “No Sale!” But not with these three ‘diphthongs!’

A diphthong is classified as the occurrence of two vowels that are together in the same syllable of a word, and you either slide in pronunciation from one to the other, or one is not sounded at all, and is of little, or no use in saying the word. To me, the commissioners are the un-pronounced vowels and of little, or no use! An example would be “woeful” which is the image they project.

“We didn’t crunch the numbers in the first place,” says Commissioner Partch. Well, why not? Isn’t that their responsibility? They all must have been “out of the loop” on that one! That should certainly be an alarm bell for the taxpayers!

So things are going wrong now, and as usual the top looks down for a place to lay the blame. Is anyone beginning to get the idea that our county leadership is likened to a deserted farm’s windmill? The fan on top is spinning, and that’s all it is. Spin! There is no water forthcoming.

Jerry Harnois,

Oakesdale

Pullman grads

Page one story, “County to graduate 343 students,” in the June 3 Gazette mentions graduating seniors for Whitman County high schools. It provides interesting statistical information for the schools. It provides graduation time, date and place for the schools except for Pullman. For the record, Pullman High’s 2010 graduation was 5 p.m. Saturday, June 5, in WSU’s Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum in Pullman.

Tim Marsh,

Pullman

Hey! Hey!

Well, Hey! Hey! In my opinion, politics finally worked in the right way. The new ordinance allowing construction on the Buttes also allowed for the construction of windmills. Now you see, there are some smart people running things after all. Since my last letter, I was informed that there would be plenty of fish with the dams if we got rid of the netting and Indian fishing. Some dam lovers should be smart enough to know you can’t eliminate people’s rights or lives. Eliminating the dams is the only way to get nature back to natural! Windmills can help accomplish this. Politicians, thank you again.

Bill Skelton,

Colfax

Embarrassing

Is it not interesting that Mr. Partch over the past 5 years has not made an issue of the failed implementation of the approximately half a million dollars worth of software?

You don’t need to be the chairman of the commissioners in order to raise the issue. Possibly he wants to be seen as the resolver of an issue that has been under his watch for the past 5 years. It also says that he as the only remaining commissioner of the three that made the purchase did not do his homework before purchasing. Don’t forget the commissioners are responsible and accountable for everything their staff does or fails to do. Why didn’t he know there was no plan for implementation at the time of purchase?

I also fully understand our commissioners can disagree on an issue, but resorting to open distrust is childish at best. Once things break down in a small group, the problem of communication will never be fixed. Mr. Partch likes to create problems, then look like the great redeemer in the end.

I followed the development of land use policy in the county quite closely. The planning commission, planning department and the commissioners were heavily involved. Mr. Partch had considerable influence in the process and was very clear he did not want construction on our high ground. Seems he has flipped flopped on this issue.

All of this raises some questions:

1) Is Mr. Partch playing hardball to look good for re-election? Is he a public servant or has he simply become a career opportunist?

2) Why the change in usual planning as it pertains to the high ground? Does he see votes?

3) Why does it appear that he and O’Neill are attempting to make Commissioner Largent look bad? Yes, e-mailing a popularity poll throughout the courthouse was stupid, yet he can still be a benefit. For the boys to gang up on one another is not good. It makes our county look bad throughout the state and is an embarrassment to the other elected officials, courthouse staff and citizens of Whitman County.

Kirk Suess,

Steptoe

Rubber stamp

Now the County Commissioners want to replace the Board of Adjustment with a rubber stamp—I mean hearing examiner.

The first reason given for this undemocratic move is that citizen committees are unfit to understand the complexities of large corporate developments.

If they believe this, then why do they have a Planning Commission? Perhaps the Planning Commission is next on the list to circumvent.

The second reason given to remove citizens from the decision making process is speed. It seems a rubber stamp hearing examiner from Seattle, or some other corporate stronghold, will approve large developments quicker than the Board of Adjustment.

Has the Board of Adjustment ever been known to drag its feet? No, it has not.

I would rather trust a group of county citizens rather than a corporate crony with looking out for the best interests of the people.

And what about the cost involved with a hearing examiner? Who will pay?

If the corporations pay for the hearing examiner, then they will demand an examiner that has corporate credentials. That is, they will demand someone with experience in approving large developments.

We have citizen committees in order to protect our liberties.

Who would you rather trust, a group of your neighbors or a Seattle lawyer?

Installing a hearing examiner to rubber stamp corporate projects is a step towards fascism.

If we do not defend our liberties, then we will lose them one small piece at a time.

Roger Whitten,

Oakesdale