MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Due to considerable demands on my time, this blog is discontinued.  It may resume at a later date, but at the moment there are no plans to do that in the foreseeable future.

Christmases are different all over the world.  We spent a lot of them in non-Christian countries.
Malta, being Catholic, celebrated all the religious holidays with great fanfare.  Christmas there was almost the best I've seen anywhere, although early Electra, London, and Elko, Nevada are definitely in the running. However,  Malta celebrated on every level:  realistic marzipan fruit and flower decorations at the bakery, wax figures of the Christ child displayed in the front windows of homes, shops, no matter how small, with tinsel and lights, songs and enormous religious displays, yule logs, bright cellophane Christmas trees, cotton snow everywhere, a composite representation of all the nationalities that had been in Malta from time to time. It went on for the entire month of December, and it was beautiful.
In non-Christian countries, the people knew that foreigners celebrated that day, and although they didn't understand it, they respected it.  They knew that it equaled gifts, both given and received, and in most cases, given on our part, especially in the Arab countries.
However, when we were in Libya, Haj Mohammed, the man with whom I traded, knew something was up with Christmas.  It puzzled him a bit, because there was no Moslem celebration of Yesu (our Jesus), a minor prophet, but he was willing to go along with whatever we wanted to do.
We had somehow lost our poisonous green cellophane tree that we'd had in Malta, and there were none available in Tripoli.  My husband asked Haj if he could get us a tree.  My husband spoke fluent formal Peninsular Arabic, but that's a good deal different from Saharan Arabic.  I spoke a bit of Maltese, which is somewhat kin to North African Arabic, and between the two of us, we thought Haj knew what we wanted.
He assured us that he could acquire the proper tree.
Several days later, I heard whooping and hollering and stepped out on the front porch to see what was going on.  Across the sand, completely ignoring the road, came a big black car with men and boys hanging out the windows banging on the doors and yelling. Haj was perched like a hood ornament on the front end, and a blocks-long rooster tail of dust was boiling up from the back.
It was Haj and his sons.  With a tree.  A really, really big tree.
It was a cypress, cut from one of the Italian farms' windbreaks, and it was probably 40 feet long.  The butt end of it was stuffed into the trunk, lashed so completely with ropes that it was impossible to tell what it was.  It looked like a gigantic ball of twine. Apart from the butt end of it, which was probably 6 feet in diameter including branches, the rest protruded maybe three car lengths behind.
The car came to a screeching halt in front of our gate and Haj leaped out with a lethal-looking curved dagger that was big enough to have cut the tree down-and probably had.  He proceeded to hack and slash at the ropes until the tree was loose.  His sons dragged it from the trunk onto the sand, where it landed with an ear (and branch) shattering thump, which brought everyone in the neighborhood to their front doors.
My husband, who had stood utterly bemused and silent, watching the whole operation, reached into his pocket like an automaton and gave Haj money.  Haj and his sons pounded each other on the shoulders, shouted "Mabruk!" (Felicitations) to us, and roared off back across the desert to celebrate.
We stared at the tree.  Suddenly it occurred to us that cutting a tree out of a windbreak was illegal. VERY illegal.  We yanked the tree through the gate and laid it sideways, where it crushed my carnations and stretched across the flowerbeds along the entire front of the house.  Finally my husband grabbed a saw and cut off about six feet from the bottom. He rolled it out the front gate, where it stood, like a huge ragged green doily against the wall.
Having done that, he maneuvered the base up the porch steps and told me to drag the tree into the house!
Struggling, sweating, and  saying words  which simply aren't Christmas-y in every language I knew, I got the tree into the hall.  It went from the front door past the living and dining rooms, the kitchen, a bedroom and the tip end came to rest against the back hall wall.
We set about dismembering it and trimming it down to a size that would fit under our 12 foot ceilings. Finally it measured to fit, and we managed to get it upright and nailed to several boards to support it.  We stood back to admire our accomplishment....
The tree was entirely denuded of branches right down to the trunk on one side.  The abrasive drag across 20 miles of desert had sanded it smooth.
Startled,  we turned it so that the bare side was toward the wall and the branched side faced the living room.  We decorated it lavishly, and I went to cook.  That evening, when guests were due for dinner, I opened the wooden floor-to-ceiling ghibli screen on the wide front windows and turned the lights on.
Our guests were laughing hilariously when they came in the front door.  I went outside to discover that while I was in the kitchen, my husband had painted the bare side red and white like a barber pole. I'm sure he intended it to be a candy cane or the North Pole, but it simply looked like a scraggley tree painted red and white.
It was a sight.
Apparently never to be forgotten, for as we travelled and met friends in other places at Christmas time, they never failed to remind us.  Face it:  we could never hope to top that Libyan Christmas tree.

Also never to be forgotten was the late news of the loss of Scottish, French,  and Italian cousins in WW II, and  the first Christmas my Uncle Ed was home.  He had been captured on Bataan and in a Japanese prison camp until the end of the war.  He weighed less than 100 pounds when he came home, but we were so glad to have him with us that after the initial shock, we ignored how he looked and concentrated on feeding him.  That was, perhaps, not a merry Christmas, but an intensely grateful one.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie.

Mourning Becomes Electra

Disclaimer:   everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise, there will be no deliberate presentation f gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

IN MY OPINION;
Electra has degenerated into a lawless dictatorship.
It seems that various officials  have proven their disregard for the law and disrespect for the townspeople.  Apparently they are prepared to set themselves against everything but what they want and they are prepared to consider nothing else.
Facts are suppressed, words are manipulated, the law is ignored, townspeople are stonewalled.
But we are letting them get by with it.
It's too late for our police chief and our city park, to name two of the most glaring offenses, and the only legal way we can change all this, apart from hiring a shark of a lawyer or a determined campaign of passive resistance,  is to organize and elect people we can trust to support us and not indulge in the apparent rampant abuse of power we are now witnessing.

14.  Who is behind the push for Electra to become a microcosm of Washington DC?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Our Wind Can Beat Your Wind!

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Years past, my family went to the Hudsons' every Christmas and the Robbs for New Years for decades.
Our gift to the Hudsons was a large decorative centerpiece which would be placed in the center of the dining table surrounded by the good china, crystal, and silver. The tree was decorated with real metal tinsel and lights made in Germany in the shape of dolls, nutcrackers, trees, candy canes, etc.
We would arrive early, and mid-afternoon, while the women cooked and gossiped in the kitchen and the men told tall tales in the living room, someone would take me to the Grand Theater to see a movie or a cartoon. Sometimes we were the only ones there. We'd get back just in time for eggnog and a sumptuous dinner.
New Years Eve was entirely different.  My mother always bought huge glass jars with patterns moulded into the glass, and filled with hard candy at Goldsmith's, and gave one to the Robbs for Christmas.  The jar would be open and displayed next to their fabulous pink net Christmas tree in one corner of the living room.  I loved that tree.  Dink and Violet were wonderful cooks, and Dink's famous punch would be at the end of the dining table, with a smaller bowl of it for kids.  I felt so grown up when I came home from college the first time for the holidays, and was allowed to have some of the REAL punch!
I'm glad to have had a childhood that included such traditional celebrations.

Towns used to really decorate at Christmas.  Tinsel-wrapped wreaths, candles, Santa faces, elves, trees, candy canes were attached to the tops of telephone and electric poles through downtown and often colored lights were strung across the streets. Lots of money was spent on the decorations, and they were carefully taken down after New Year's and packed away for the next year.
With the end of World War II, people were in the mood to be expansive and celebrate.  The city fathers decided to do something new and fancy with the street decorations.  Together with the chamber of commerce, they started looking for something every other town nearby would envy.
They decided on giant tinsel.  And it was expensive.  School kids went door to door collecting money and various sales and fund raisers were held.  About $3000 was eventually raised.
But this was not just ordinary tinsel. This was inch-wide, 5 inch long strips of aluminum. It would surely be the talk of the county! However, the sponsors were worried about the persistent wind here, and communicated their concern to the tinsel manufacturer. They were assured that this tinsel had been "tested in Chicago and survived!"
Since Chicago was far-famed at that time for being the windiest city in the USA, the city fathers thought the tinsel had passed  the acid test, and took what was then a great deal of money and bought it.  Yards and yards of it.
At Thanksgiving that year, the tinsel was hung in swags from the electrical and telephone poles across the downtown streets.  Here and there colored lights were reflected in a rainbow of Christmas colors.  It was lovely.
However, shoppers were soon greeted with a windstorm of aluminum strips.  Then stores started to experience mysterious electrical failures. It was a considerable puzzle until city workers discovered that a few of the wind torn strips were working their way through narrow slits in the metal covers of junction and relay boxes on top of the poles and shorting out the electricity.
After the initial annoyance at the tinsel's failure to hold up to the manufacturer's assurances, Electra became sort of proud: our wind had beat out Chicago's wind!

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Lest We Forget

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION. Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

No, I am not stopping the blog because I've been threatened with retaliation-as if that would stop me anyway.  I am stopping it because the research and investigation into rumors and facts is very time-consuming, and because when I'm out of town, I can't verify those rumors and get the facts.

This is the little-known story of the USS Wake and a couple of my very distant relatives.
In 1926, the keel of a gunboat was laid down at Kiangnan Engineering and Dock Works in Shanghai, China.  Almost a year later in May 1927,  the ship was launched and named USS Guam.  Six months after that it was assigned to the South China Patrol.
For three years the Guam, along with the USS Tutuila and USS Panay patroled the Yangtze River in China from Shanghai to the above "The Three Gorges," along with British, French, and Japanese gunboats.
In 1930, the Chinese Civil War broke out and the Guam sailed to guard the safety of American missionaries and other foreigners in two Yangtze cities that were now in Communist hands. Near Yochow, the ship came under small arms fire and a seaman was killed.  The Guam fired its guns in anger for the first time.
The Japanese conquered and occupied Shanghai in October 1937, and as they advanced the Guam transfered Americans to Hankow. Still on Yangtze patrol, the Guam  was renamed the USS Wake*  because the name Guam was wanted for a new battle cruiser.
In response to dangerously deteriorating political conditions, on 7 November 1941, President Roosevelt ordered all river gunboats and the 4th US Marines to leave China, with the exception of the Marines and gunboats left to guard embassies and other diplomatic posts.
Three weeks later, Lieutenant Commander Andrew Harris, now in charge of the Wake sensed critical danger in Japanese orders for the ship to stay in Hankow.  He defied them and prepared to up anchor which brought the Japanese commander on board shrieking that the ship couldn't move unless it had a Japanese ship for escort.
The hubbub brought Lt. Cmdr Harris to the door of the pilot house from which he told the Japanese that unless he wanted a free trip to Shanghai, he'd better leave.
In  Shanghai, Harris and his crew, except for a 14 man skeleton crew, were transferred to larger gunboats which were to sail to the Philippines.  Out of the frying pan into the fire.
At this point, the Navy asked Columbus D. Smith a US naval reservist who had served in World War I and won the Navy Cross, to accept a commission. He was by now an Old China Hand, and had spent years piloting on the Yangtze.  He accepted the commission and became Lieutenant Commander Smith, commanding officer of the Wake. 
Still on the Yangtze, the Wake and its companion ship Tutuila (at Chunking, guarding the US Embassy there) were notified that  a typhoon was on the way.  The two flat-bottomed ships weren't considered seaworthy enough to weather the storm and cross the Formosa Straits to possible safety, so were effectively marooned in China.
The new commander and his 14 sailors were virtually abandoned.  In short, they were to be thrown to the wolves-in this case, the Japanese.
The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Wake was rigged to be scuttled by explosive charges set in strategic places.  The ship was to be destroyed, but it seemed there were no plans to evacuate or rescue the men.  The night before, Smith had received a call from a Japanese officer whom Smith knew.   The officer told him he wished to make a gift of turkeys to the ship and asked where Smith would be.  It came out later that the same trick was pulled on other Allied officers and officials to discover where they'd be located when the Japanese forces took over.
Smith was ashore when he was told of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He rushed to the Wake only to discover that although his crew had fought the Japanese and attempted to scuttle the ship, they had failed.
Smith didn't make it to his ship.  He was taken prisoner at the dock and presented to the Japanese commander, who was very upset that Smith's sword was on board the Wake.  He wanted a ceremonial surrender of Smith's sword so people could see that the Japanese navy followed protocol and treated its prisoners honorably (truth to tell, the public humiliation of Smith was probably uppermost in the Japanese commander's mind).
It was not to be.  The Japanese were forced to accept the Wake's commander's capitulation-swordless.
In consequence, the USS Wake was the only American ship to surrender during World War II.
Its commander and sailors were imprisoned under hideous circumstances at a Japanese concentration camp in Shanghai.
The surrendered Wake was taken into the Imperial Japanese Navy and named the Tatara.   On patrol for nearly four years with the Japanese, it was surrendered to Allied forces on 9 September 1945. Shortly thereafter, it was removed from the US Navy List.  In 1946, the Guam/Wake/Tatara was given to the Chinese Nationalist Party and named RCS Tai Yuan.  Three years later, it was captured by the People's Republic of China and served into the 1960s.

In 1944, Lt. Cmdr  Smith and two other POWs, a British Royal Navy commander and an American Marine, cut their way through their cell bars with a smuggled hacksaw blade.  Somehow managing to climb over the 25 foot wall surrounding their prison, they bluffed their way to safety across 700 miles of Japanese-held territory by pretending to be White Russians.

*Not to be confused with another ship, the USS Wake Island, a Casablanca class escort carrier built and launched in 1943.


Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Goodbye, Farewell, So Long Forever.....

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

It could have been prevented.

Despite the laws concerning public parks and waterways and public opposition, the EISD continued to stick to the schedule to begin the destruction of our city park.
Why was everything proving the need for a school and their plans for the park not made public in the months before the vote?
Maybe because the supporters of the bond knew if the voters were aware of the threat to their park, the bond wouldn't pass.
Why were there no figures published concerning what updating the high school would cost as compared with the $11.5 million for the new school?
Perhaps because the sponsors of the bond knew the financially strapped people of Electra would respond better to emotional guilt trips than to a cheaper, more practical plan.
Why was a very small, blurry, and unclear plan for the park was printed AFTER the bond was voted in.?
It would seem, since a plan was produced immediately after the vote, that the bond backers already planned to destroy the park.
Why was the responsibility of an inquiry about the legality of the school accessing the park given only to the city attorney and not sent to Austin?
Was that not stupid?
Why was the Water Conservation Districts' ruling on watercourses ignored?
Possibly because the park plan would have been stopped dead.
And so it goes.  And goes.  And goes.  The city park is only the more recent example of the town's authorities' willful disregard for the wishes of the voters.
I'm not too proud of what I consider the unethical, dishonorable, manipulative way these authorities are doing business these days, but the destruction of the park is really the cherry on the sundae for me.
For the people we elected to represent us who went along with this scheme:  I will vote for you again only if the person running against you is the medical mafia candidate.  That includes not only the city commission, but the hospital board, the school board and any other position in which the public has a say.  I hope everyone else who has opposed the destruction of the park will have the guts to stand up and be counted at the next election.
For those who say "it won't do any good," agree because someone yells louder and longer, or "because my vote wasn't going to make any difference," and make other excuses for their cowardice and apathy,  here's my opinion:  these 'reasons' for voting-or not-are just chickenshit.  

13. Who steamrollers public opinion and overrides the law?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Have a Hopeful and Bountiful Thanksgiving

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION. Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

When you get tired of roasted turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey hash, turkey soup, turkey pie, go over to Carlito's and pig out on their excellent sampler plate.

The concept of giving thanks  has been practised for centuries.  The ancient Egyptians, Romans, Teutons, Druids, Aztecs, Mayans, African,  and Asian cultures have all had some form of regular feasting and thanks, usually in gratitude or to propitiate their gods.
We most often associate giving thanks with a bountiful harvest.  However, thanks-days in ancient times were often held to recognize the relief from peril or threat.  For instance, when the Spanish Armada was turned away from England Queen Elizabeth I ordered a day of thanks.
Nowadays, the scholars argue about the date of the first Thanksgiving in America based on whether or not it was for religious reasons or to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Originally the differences between religious celebrations and bounty feasts were not distinguished because the two were commonly interchangeable, including aspects of both because religion was a part of daily life and ever-present.
In our own country, there is some question as to when the first Thanksgiving was held. The popular date and place is associated with William Bradford, the ship Mayflower, and the colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts in the fall of 1621.  However, there are earlier thanks-giving celebrations of record.
The earliest of these seems to be a thanks-giving held by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in May of 1541 in Texas.  The location is claimed to have been Palo Duro Canyon, in the Panhandle.  However, documents mention that pecans were gathered for the feast, and none have ever grown in Palo Duro.  It seems more likely that the celebration was held in Blanco Canyon on the Brazos.
The Spanish in St. Augustine, Florida had a thanks-giving in 1568.
Texas has a further claim to another early thanks-giving.  It was given by the explorer Juan de Onate to celebrate the survival of the Rio Grande expedition, which had endured months of severe hardship. On 30  April 1598, de Onate held a feast near what is now San Elizario and claimed the land drained by the 'great river' to be the possession of the Spanish King Philip II.
In Virginia a thanks-giving celebration was documented in  1607, and in Jamestown, Virginia in 1610.
The settlement of Berkeley Hundred's royal charter required that the day of arrival, 4 December 1619, be officially designated as a "Day of Thanksgiving" to God.  Nearby Plimouth Plantation had a harvest celebration in 1621.
The Virginian Indians* of the Powhaten Confederacy, which included some 30 tribal towns, were at first disposed to be helpful and friendly and they and their white neighbors celebrated this first harvest  together.
However, colonization began to displace the Indians.  Fearing, with reason, further English expansion and confiscation of their lands, in 1622 the Indians appeared once again.  They were unarmed and brought venison, wild turkey, and other food.  The settlers welcomed them and prepared a feast. Suddenly the Indians dropped their peaceful pretense, grabbed any weapons at hand and proceeded to massacre their hosts.
The next fall, the Powhaten Confederacy chief saw that the English, although far outnumbered, were stubborn and with their superior arms were going to eventually take his lands.  He approached the colony with the intention of making a peace treaty.
The officials of the colony welcomed the chief and arranged for him and many of his allies to be invited to a thanks-giving celebration.  Innocent and unsuspicious, the Indians arrived.  Having been introduced to liquor by the settlers and acquiring a taste for it, they were happy to see copious amounts of it served:  they were even given containers of it to take with them.
Unfortunately, the colony physician Dr. John Potts had seen his chance and liberally poisoned the Indians' liquor.  Over 300 of them died, but the chief escaped.  There were no more communal thanks-givings with the Indians.
The first national Thanksgiving was declared by the Continental Congress in 1777.  After that there were intermittent celebrations and dates set, but there was nothing official until a presidential proclamation in 1863.  Finally, in 1941, federal legislation was passed making the 4th Thursday in November America's official Thanksgiving Day.
For whatever reason we celebrate Turkey Day, it is a family and friend time, a relaxed and happy time to give thanks with those we love.
Happy Thanksgiving!

*No, I am not politically correct.  My Indian friends laugh at the idea that they're 'Native Americans' exclusively, insisting that anyone born in America is a Native American.  Hence, I call them what they prefer:  Indians.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

You Go, Johnny!

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.


Johnny Morris's  lawsuit is going to court.
A lot of things are apt to surface in open court that city authorities might wish they were able to trivialize or sweep under the rug.  Perhaps they should have thought about that when they offered an insultingly small amount as a mediated settlement.
These officials and their adherents appear to  absolutely refuse to acknowledge  that it wasn't WHAT was done, it was the WAY it was done.  I understand that it's "the way things are," to quote one of these officials, and that some people believe any method which will get them what they want is ok. I don't have to agree with it.
What kind of people are they that would conduct city business in such a manner?
I think the mayor, two commissioners, an ex-commissioner, and the city administrator should have to experience the same longterm embarrassment and humiliation to which Morris and others in the Electra Police Department were subjected.
It's really too bad four of these are immune to being fired because along with everything else in this blog, it's my opinion that people with the ethics and morality displayed in this whole ugly affair shouldn't be allowed to continue to represent Electra.


P. S. I don't care about the monetary penalties if Morris wins.  The city is insured, and in the case of personal suits against individuals, the townspeople aren't responsible for paying that. So all of you who are wailing about the cost and using that as an excuse to support the 'other' side and indulge in the famous negativity, think again.


Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Electra History

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

I truly believe all towns should have a salaried historian.  Of course, the problem there is finding someone immune enough to city politics and influences to actually ferret around for the truth instead of recording history as some of the townspeople are apt to want it to be.  As it is, too much of our heritage is lost because it isn't correctly documented, or often not documented at all.  For instance, who was the Thompson for whom Thompson Ward was named?  How many people know who B.M. Dinsmore was?  Who knows who put in the air conditioning at the Grand Theatre?   Who  now knows the story of Mr. Owens' capture by Clyde Barrow?  That sort of thing is being forgotten-and it shouldn't be.

I understand there's new interest in the history of the old water well and building that used to be at the corner of North Waggoner and West Bryan.
Back in the bad old days, the various oil companies in Electra could always be counted upon when work needed to be done around the town.  Men would volunteer and the company would provide the machinery, cement,  paint and other equipment to get the job done.
When I was very small, my father loaded me into our old Chevy and took me downtown where he parked by what was then Piggly Wiggly.  He told me I could watch, but I'd have to stay in the car.
Some men from the Texas Company were going to cement the old well that was in the back of the building on the southeast corner of North Waggoner and West Bryan.
Most of the building had a concrete floor, but a strip at the back only had wood laid almost on the ground, and under the center of it was what my father said was actually the first well drilled here.
There was a pipe, about 5 inches in diameter which stuck up through the sidewalk on the corner.  If a rock was dropped down it, water could be heard splashing and gurgling way down, but that pipe wasn't the problem.  The original site of the  old well was inside the store, not sealed, and  the moisture and fumes from it were rotting out the floor.
The Masonic Lodge met upstairs in this building and my father and the three other men who volunteered to fill in the well were Masons.  The Texas Company provided a mixer and chute so that the concrete could be funneled in from an opening in the side of the building.  The men had figured out how to do the job before they began and it didn't take them long to do it.  The well was sealed and a new pad leveled up to the rest of the store's concrete floor was laid.  Once the work was done, I was allowed out of the car to take a look.  At one time, before the edge crumbled, my handprint could be seen in the concrete.
Some years ago someone came and asked me to show where the work had been done and tell what I knew about the old well.  I did,  not knowing that my information was to be used to apply to the State for an historic plaque.  The information was turned over to someone else to write the application. It was rejected.  However, the idea seems to have come around again.
People have a habit of re-writing history to suit themselves, as can be seen in the various histories of people and events in Electra now published, including that of the Grand Theater, which is a shame.
I'm not the absolute authority as far as Electra history is concerned, but I was there.  So now I'm wondering just how accurate the 'new' history of that building will be.

12. Who hires unsuitable, unqualified people for city positions?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

"Who are You? Who, who, who, who?"

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

This time when the city commission put their foot in it over City Park, there were not just two or three people who complained to me about it;  there were dozens.  And 100% of them told me they would never have voted for the bond if they'd known the fate of City Park.  They not only stopped me on the street,  and spoke to me in cafes, but came to my house, worried and upset, wanting something done. 
Very probably that's why the bond backers were so sneaky about the involvement of the park before the vote.  
What kind of people have we elected who would deliberately hide the proposed destruction of the park? And don't try to tell me it won't be ruined because any fool can see that it will be.

Ever wonder why our city authorities seem to prefer scandal, secrecy,  and manipulation rather than simply abiding by the law and the city charter and telling the truth?
Here's a bunch of questions and  rumored answers concerning City Park.

Question: Who would go to the senior citizens and electioneer about the school bond and call it 'information?'
Rumor:  Could it be the same people who think the city charter is "just a piece of paper?"
Q: Who would ignore the law regarding public parks and permanent constructions in them?
R:  Likely the same people who push and push and push to get something they want?
Q: Who would be so low as to start a false rumor concerning the school bond involving one of our teachers who is also a commissioner, and imperil her job?
R:  Maybe someone in a tax-collecting entity which ought to ban politics and stick to business?
Q: Who might promise the people at senior citizens not to vote for destroying City Park, and then go and do just that?
R:  Would our top cat do that?
Q: Who neglected to inform the voters of the complete plan for the new school, omitting the involvement of City Park?
R:  Perhaps the people who'd already made up their minds to annex the park, and who knew there would be more opposition to the bond if the voters were aware of that?
Q: Who didn't investigate alternatives to annexing City Park?
R:  Probably the people who didn't bother to canvass the property owners bordering the present school to see if they'd sell at a reasonable price?
Q:  Who could have informed employees  that they'd better look for another job because of politics?
R:  Hm:  would that be various individuals who have a track record of attempted intimidation?
Q. Who had the idea that housing for the elderly could be built at the flood-free,  utilities- and traffic -ready Rattlesnakes Acres, but refused to consider it for the new school?
R. Could that be the same person who poo-poo-ed the danger of rattlesnakes, tarantulas, and blue rats amongst older people, but who reared back in horror at the suggestion of a school there because "the kids might get bitten!" ?
Q: Who, after I mentioned the Army Corps of Engineers in a Letter to the Editor, immediately claimed that the ACE had been consulted about moving Buffalo Creek?
R:  Might it be someone who tends to manipulate facts to suit current situations?
Q:  Who put biased school bond  'information' a the tax-collecting entity?
R:  Have we been down this road before with election posters?
Q:  Who believes these rumors?
R:  Yours truly?
Q:  Who are going to be laughing their asses off when Buffalo Creek goes wild during the next big rain?
R:  Maybe me and anyone who ever went to EHS 1940-1970?


11.  Who just really doesn't care if he upsets the townspeople and snottily brags that he can do anything he wants to?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Show a Little Class for a Change.

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Calvin Davis is an excellent gardener and landscape expert, with lots of experience.

Cemeteries should be beautiful to show respect for those who are buried there.  They should be calm and orderly to comfort those who mourn and to assure them that the people who have gone before aren't forgotten.
Electra's cemetery has reverted to a weedy wilderness, as usual.  The neglect is awful and has been for years.  It's a city cemetery, and those at city hall who are responsible for its condition ought to be ashamed of themselves.
But they're not, of course. They seem to be quite happy to harass private  owners about their property's appearance,  and to punish them with codes violations and threats of fines if they don't comply.
However, they simply ignore their own messy eyesore right at the crossroads of two main highways.
How hypocritical can you get? (Very)
What must travelers think? (Probably "don't stop here")
If the city were fined for all the years codes have been violated at the cemetery there would be enough money to completely professionally landscape the place.
But wait!  Now it seems there's a new project in which the city has offloaded its responsibility for  the cemetery onto yet another city committee (anyone know how many of those there are now?).
The committee solicited specific 'donations'-one of my pet bugaboos-of  $90 to buy a brick for a wall in one corner. I'm told the wall is supposed to improve the cemetery's appearance and this will make people want to donate.
While I applaud their desire to get the cemetery in decent shape, I don't pretend to understand how a short wall will accomplish that  when the need for grounds cleanup is so obviously urgent.
I would like to know: is this wall money going into the city's General Fund where it can be used for anything, not necessarily the cemetery?
Is the the city is going to hire a full time groundskeeper so that weeds and trash won't quickly pile up and obscure the wall?
Is there any assurance that this won't become a begging money pit like the Grand Theatre?
Set up a totally separate bank account  from which the city can't 'borrow.'  Push through an agenda item to allocate a specific yearly amount for cemetery upkeep.  Add another agenda item creating a permanent committee to administer all cemetery funds independent of the city.  Hire a groundskeeper and check on him often enough to make sure he's doing the job. Encourage endowment in addition to 'donations.'
Get. A. Grant.  Or several.   They're available for cemeteries from different sources which aren't often tapped.


10. Who spends thousands and thousands on cosmetic paint up, fix up while the infrastructure continues to sag?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Retaliation or not?

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

I've heard a rumor to the effect that only one doctor reviews the day clinic medical reports.  Surely this isn't true.  It would be unfair, both to the other doctor and to his patients.  This needs to be squashed.

My family and I have supported the various medical organizations here since the 1930s. Recently and with utmost reluctance, I made my very first official complaint to the hospital when a situation became intolerable.
It is well known that I deplore medical personnel's heavy, on-site  involvement in politics.  It is out of place and inappropriate. I have never allowed my politics to interfere with personal, religious, or professional relationships.  I don't expect most other people to be capable of that separation, but I do expect the management of the various organizations to exercise some ethical control over their employees' extra-curricular activities while on the job, This includes not only the medical complex, but the school district, and various churches.
In September, shortly after I made my complaint at the medical complex, after decades of every-six-months checkups, my doctor effectively dismissed me.
Possibly this is the result of Obamacare, which went into effect in January, but it's a suspicious coincidence coming so immediately on the heels of my complaint  in August..
I realize Obamacare is severely restricting healthcare for older people, and if an organization isn't capable or willing to obtain waivers, care can be disapproved and unpaid.  Coincidentally, none of my other health care providers seem to have a problem with my age.
So here's the question:  is it going to be the medical complex's policy to dismiss all patients over a certain age, or am I just special?

9.  Who is so proud of the fact that he doesn't cooperate with the local newspaper that he has the gall to brag about it?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Good Luck

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Please take note of the fact that I have said, quite clearly, that this is a 'story.'  That means it's a rumor and so far as I know, not exactly factual.  If anyone actually knows the truth, please let me know.

I'm told that there's a proposal for the town to buy the grocery store for $300,000.  The story goes that $100,000 is to be put up by 4B (although the board hasn't met),  $100,000 from an anonymous donor (oh, really-anonymous, huh?), and the plan is for 20 other people to 'invest' $5,000 apiece to make up the difference (there's 20 people in Electra with $5,000 to throw away?)
Who thinks up this stuff?
Who would the owner of record be with all these different 'investors?'
Presumably the $300,000 doesn't include replacing defective coolers, cleaning and sanitizing the vegetable, fruit, and meat areas to health department specifications, restocking the shelves, or asphalting the parking lot.
That's  additional BIG BUCKS.
At one time an out-of-town store proposed that Electrans give them their grocery lists to fill and they'd send a truck over here once a week with supplies; that sank like a rock, mainly because their attempts at marketing the idea were torpedoed.  But it was a good idea.
I hope  there's some way for Electra to maintain a grocery store. It was hard on people who couldn't afford to go out of town for their grocery shopping in the years when the store was closed after Paul's Market ended and the present store opened.  Doesn't quite look like the latest story is the way.
However,  here's an idea:  the people who were so gung-ho and think the town will sustain its population long enough to make the $11,000,000+ school worthwhile (do they really?) must surely have $5,000 to play with.  Hit them up.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Drying Up and Blowing Away

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt.  Otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

If Electra's average income is so low the school kids qualify for free breakfast and lunch, then how is it that we can afford $11,000,000+ for a new school?  Hm?

The grocery store is closing before the end of this month.  I'm told it's for sale at $350,000 as is.
The nice little BBQ place that was on the corner of Highway 25 and West Cleveland that we all enjoyed so much, intended to put in a more permanent building, and would be open several days a week on a regular schedule.  I hear, but can't verify,  that after they bought the small ATM building to convert to serve food, city hall gave them so much static they gave up and went back to Vernon.
Electra is fixing to be faced with a lot of emptiness:  Dinsmore, First Ward, Citibank, Cameron, the BBQ corner, and now the grocery store.
In addition to that, Dollar General, which formerly leased all their properties, is now building stores, and they build them out on the main highways.  I don't know of any plans for Dollar General to build here, but if they do they'll very likely go out north on the superslab, which could mean yet another empty building in the downtown area.
It remains to be seen what Pilgrim Bank will do with State National.  Rumor has had State National teetering on the brink of closing this branch for years; this time, it might come to pass.
If city hall follows through with plans to decamp to Dinsmore, there will be little left of downtown.
Each closure takes away a portion of the tax base, which puts the town's considerable indebtedness onto those who remain.
This was a great little town to grow up in, and remained so for many years.  The people in charge of what's left appear to be determined to cut off the town's nose to spite its face.    They don't pay for it:  WE do.

8. Who has lumbered us with gigantic debt?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Waste, Wicked Waste.

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Thanks to the Electra PD for doing drive-by checks during my family's recent absence. (No, this doesn't mean I approve of Johnny Morris's and the entire former police department's  ugly and unlawful treatment at the hands of city authorities, or that I agree with the current situation.  It means that I give credit where credit is due.)

I just returned from  a small city which is doing a Green Project.  By sorry comparison,  Electra at sunset with its deserted streets and empty buildings and neglected houses, and knowing that nothing practical is being done with them is both sad and disgusting.
When I returned to Electra about sixteen years ago,  I  had been successfully writing grants and doing green projects for a number of years.  I had a lot of knowledge and contacts that were useful in several fields.
Foolishly, I imagined that this expertise would be welcomed here,
Let me interject here and now that I rarely wrote letters to the editor for the first five years after my return, so if you're looking for something to blame, that ain't it.
I went to the city administrator and the mayor and the city attorney with ideas for architectural reclamation here.  There's a whoopy gob of money in that if it's done right and Electra was a prime candidate for it.
They would not even listen.  Their response was what I've come to think of as 'same song, second verse:'  with no apparent knowledge of what architectural reclamation actually was, they simply said, "it won't work."  The first verse of that song is, "it won't do any good."
How did they know it wouldn't when they'd never even heard of it?  What would they have lost by giving it a try? They refused to give it the least consideration-something for which Electra has become infamous:  rejecting projects and ideas out of hand.
Why?  Do they feel their power and control is so threatened that they have to shoot down anything that doesn't originate with them?  Are they afraid someone besides them will get credit and maybe have their pictures in the newspaper?  Could it be they're just flat jealous?  Or too damn lazy?
There have been and still are, people in the town who have the knowledge, experience, and contacts to make a positive difference,  Most have simply taken their considerable talents elsewhere. I'm one of them.
In the past sixteen years, there have been at least a couple of dozen people probably more experienced and knowledgeable than I am who offered to help Electra, and they've either been insulted,  ignored, or had their ideas kyped.  They won't do it again.
The authorities in this town need an attitude adjustment in the worst way.
Think about it.

7. Who, when he/she gets caught out, apologizes and then turns right around and does it again?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie
.

"There'snothingwrong-There'snothingwrong-There'snothingwrong-"

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Woo!  Woo!  Symbolic negativity! 

*Allegory-the moral expression of truths about the human existence through symbolic figures and action.

Many years ago, I was flying across the tidal swamps of West Africa when the plane's co-pilot came rushing down the aisle toward the tail of the plane saying as he went, "There'snothingwrong-There'snothingwrong-There'snothingwrong-"

Right.  So that's why we pancaked on the jungle canopy a few  hundred feet above the forest floor.

Actually since the plane was one fondly called The Goose, and the pilot was a retired RAF veteran, we could probably have flown  upside down through the Holland Tunnel without incident. Which may account for our safe, if precariously located landing.

We were in more danger of falling as we climbed down or being bitten by one of the extremely venomous and highly territorial tree snakes than we were of being injured in the crash.  

We arrived on the swampy forest floor, cut and bruised from the descent and then had to face getting out to civilization.  Being rescued by natives in certain parts of Africa can be fraught, because there's a law which says the person who does the rescue is responsible for payment for medical care, and, should the rescue-ee die, the rescue-er can be charged with murder. Therefore, there's not a lot of rescuing going on there.

I know, wonky law, but they don't have a Good Samaritan provision like we do.

So we walked, waded, stumbled for hours through the tidal mangrove swamp, getting our feet cut on the oysters that clung to the mangrove roots, thinking everything slimy in the murky water was a croc, imagining each hanging vine was a python, until natives found us.  Of course, we had been going the wrong way, toward the sea instead of inland, but that was actually all to the good because had we been headed inland, we might never have been found. Our rescuers were good  enough to bring us out; and we saw to it that they were very well rewarded for their willingness to dare the law.
See?  Now isn't that a lot more fun to read than the yuppy version of 'negativity?'

*And the moral of this tale is:  which ones of our local officials and their pep squads, when faced with the possibility of a crash, go around saying, "There'snothingwrong-There'snothingwrong-There'snothingwrong-?"

6. Who pushed and shoved and 'persuaded' in favor of the destruction of City Park by the school district without even looking for alternatives?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Wait for the Other Shoe to Drop.

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Although it is my opinion that  the medical complex allows too much politics in what should be solely professional, and that this is out of control and unethical,  with a couple of serious exceptions, I have never had anything but courtesy and cooperation from the personnel there.

I am already hearing doom and gloom associated with the appointment of the replacement commissioner.
Obviously most people know that this commissioner was formerly employed at the medical complex and they associate  her  with certain elements in politics there.  So  they're jumping to the conclusion that she is part of what they perceive as the medical-school-city power conspiracy.
Wait.
It's too soon to make that sort of judgment.
Part of Electra's problem is jumping to conclusions and not waiting for the other shoe to drop. People make premature and unfair judgments often based on "I know for a fact" which isn't factual at all but a hashup of the above-mentioned gossip, rumor, and innuendo.
That assessment goes for members of both 'sides' of the continuing control freak antics at city hall-and elsewhere.
It is possible that the new commissioner is perfectly capable of making fair and equitable decisions.
We need to wait and see what happens before condemning her out of hand.

5. Who pulls the strings on a puppet city official?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Shoulda, coulda, woulda

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Thanks to Michael Dozier of the Electra PD for his courtesy and attention on a break-in report.

'Negativity.'  Now, there's a dandy word.  It's a prime example of 'disinformation' in that it provides a misleading and denigrating  name with which to label the opposition,  And it's so easy!  Just replace the word 'truth' with 'negativity' and run with it.  It's a common ploy which will be familiar to anyone who has had military training in psychological warfare.  It's meant to  undermine the credibility of those who disagree and to shame or frighten them into retreat and silence.
Hey, * Machiavelli,   it ain't gonna work.
(*Please take note  that a name has been replaced here)
What the city commission, school authorities, and medical complex don't, can't, or won't understand is that we don't object to some of the things they've done.
We object to the WAY THEY DID THEM.
Electra isn't a town that approves of things that are devious and sneaky, or for that matter illegal. Most of the people here are pretty law-abiding and have a  highly developed sense of ethics by which they live. They're polite. They listen when others are talking. They try to help.  They try to do the right thing. They have an instinct for things that are simply Not Done. They expect others to have the same sense of common decency.
Some of those in authority just don't comprehend this because they apparently don't have that inbred sense of right and wrong themselves.
They plot a course that is calculated to get what they want, regardless of how it's done. Why do they think it's necessary to be ugly and underhanded about it?
The result is outrage.
Johnny Morris should have been removed from his position (legally) without  scandal.
The school bond could have passed without the hidden agenda and the unwelcome (and illegal) annexation of city park.
Health care would be adequate without the often rude (and sometimes illegal) mix of politics which causes unease and distrust.
And that's just a sample from each.
So you can stop milking the media and your groupies for sympathy by saying you just don't understand why people are mad.
THAT'S WHY.

And here's a new 'negative' for you: 
Page 4 of the proposed city budget:
Expenditures for 2015, line 20, under 'Sheriff Dept.-Police Services,' column #3 says 'Actual 7/31/14    $145,560.50.'
That is presumably the actual billed expense for September-December 2013.
Column #4, 'Proposed' is blank.
That's the money budgeted to pay the Sheriff's Department for  their security work.
Zilch.
And it looks like that's what city hall 'proposes' to pay the Sheriff's Department for the rest of the debt.

4. Who manipulates word meanings to excuse illegal actions?

AHM Negativity, PhD.

Congratulations to the City Commission

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise, there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Try Netta's!  Good food, right prices, really nice atmosphere!

City meetings have now degenerated into a screeching madhouse with the mayor apparently being indifferent to maintaining order.  Perhaps he didn't have the right instructions from the shadow mayor.
However, that's what tends to happen when you plant  loud supporters in the audience.
"We love our commission!"  Indeed.
No, we don't.
"We want our town back!"
Yes, we do.
Citizens may legally be ejected from a city meeting if they cause a serious disruption.  In this case, the meeting was totally out of order while the commission appeared to be unconcerned and sat and giggled and twiddled their thumbs.  It's not only the mayor's job it's his duty to enforce order before things get out of control.  Instead, the police chief was ordered to remove some of the audience.
As might be expected in the current tyrannical atmosphere of city government, certain citizens seemed to be targeted for removal from the meeting while others remained to screech.
However if the city commission is allowed to selectively eject people who disagree with them while their supporters remain, that's prejudicial and we will have been illegally deprived of our right to assemble and the open meetings act will have been compromised---again.
Have any of these people ever even heard of  Robert's Rules of Order?
Oh, wait;  silly me.  That's just a piece of paper like the city charter and the Constitution, isn't it?

3. Who sits in city meetings and deliberately shows his disrespect  by smirking and snickering when people are trying to talk?
(That's just bad manners, dude)

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Ever More Absurd.

Disclaimer:  Everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

The city commission says we should put in an application to fill Sue Howell's term as city commissioner as if applying for a job.  Is that maybe like taking applications for police chief?
Be sure to have a list of the towns-ah, streets that will be an acceptable  home address for the candidate.  Oh, yes, and the telephone number of the candidate's boss.  And wow, we have the mayor's assurance that the commission never "double-teams anybody."
Ridiculous as it sounds, this is not the first time applications for city commissioner have been solicited. That happened a few years ago, and applications were submitted.  Of course, none were deemed acceptable, so the commissioner's seat remained vacant until the next election.
But that won't happen this time, assuming the pre-selected person applies.  As a couple of our city officials are wont to say, "It's a done deal."
The request for applications is likely meant to convince the citizens of how democratic and 'fair' the commission is.
No such thing.  It seems that deals are done, decisions are made, vengeance is extracted, people are slandered, fired, hired, all in secret by our city commission, and this is no exception.  After the applications are made and when an acceptable length of time has passed so that Electrans will think the commissioners have seriously considered all the applications (NOT!), the person already chosen will be revealed.
How dumb do they think we are?
Pretty dumb, actually.  We continue to elect them to office, don't we?

2.  Who brought disgrace and embarrassment on the town by loudly and publicly pursuing a never-proven scandal concerning Johnny Morris?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

It Ain't Over Til It's Over

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Knowing what some Electrans have become-that is, people without scruples or ethics- it's no surprise that we seem to have a repeat of the school bond campaign  which  apparently did and will cost some people their jobs.  There were no consequences  from that,  so it might be expected our city commissioners would encourage a telephone campaign against Sue Howell to try and force her out of office.  We can probably expect more of the same whenever anyone opposes them.
Ms.Howell's resignation, for whatever reason,  is going to cost us in more ways than we can imagine, and she should never have run for the office   People feel betrayed and abandoned.  I don't blame them. Suffice it to say that I don't think if  someone had been hired to come in and make a mess, they could have done a better job of it.
What has happened to Electra?
Is it any wonder people don't want to live here and the town is dying?
Now we can stand and watch the mayor and commissioners appoint someone just like them to replace Ms. Howell.  You can guess what former city authority, or school official, or medical complex flunky will be our next commissioner, can't you?
As for it being time to give up?
Sorry, but I haven't heard the fat lady sing yet.
I think it's time to play 20 Questions, starting now:

1.  Who thinks threats and intimidation is an ok way to do things?

Come on, answer honestly.
Tune in next week for Question #2

Anybody got another petition to recall Warner and DeLizio?  Bring it on!

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Still Think It Can't Get Worse?

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt:  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Well, what a surprise.  Not!
Sue Howell's resignation  was predictable even before she was elected,  and  I think it was irresponsible in the extreme because if she had withdrawn before the election, there was a viable candidate ready to run.
The resignation appears to stick us with the same old, same old, so far as the city commission goes:  lies, mindless loyalties, faulty reasoning, opposition to the public just for the sake of opposition,  etc. ad infinitum.
Because of Ms. Howell's resignation, we're back to square one, literally.  Her reasons for the resignation existed before she ran for office.  So why did she run?
Only Pam Ward stands against the opposition of Warner, DeLizio, and Scott, with the recall election delayed until May.  Ms. Scott can save herself from the disgrace and humiliation of possible defeat by resigning at the last minute before the election, thus avoiding for herself what the commission needlessly put Johnny Morris through.
In the meantime, There She Is.........for at least another 8 months.
So there's a 3-1  imbalance in which Warner, DeLizio, and Scott can appoint one of their flunkies to fill out Howell's term of office. Here we go again-and I, for one, am really, really tired of it.
I may have had  some respect personally, professionally, and/or politically for those people at one time;  I do not have it now.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

One Way or Another, It'll Cost Us.

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual


There appear to be plans afoot to tear down the old First Ward building.
The fate of that building is typical of Electra:  when something is deemed to be 'old-fashioned,' make no attempt to find alternate uses;  ignore the waste, and walk off and leave it to rot.
That has happened to so many of our historic buildings.
Worse still, in the late 1980s school records of students dating back to at least the 1930s were stacked and piled in the old fifth grade classroom. I found mine from the '40s and asked for them, and was refused.
What was the point of that?  Where are those records now?
At one time there was an attempt made to turn the building into a museum. Many people donated historic mementoes thinking they would be preserved for posterity. The last time I saw them, they were in the old second grade classroom and still in good shape.
However, back then, (25 years ago) the beautiful hardwood floors hadn't warped up and splintered, nor were the windows broken out, and fragile things could be safely housed there. No one seems to know where these relics are now or what's happened to them;  another loss of a piece of the town's heritage.
The condition of that building is a continuing disgrace, particularly when, if the rest of us have broken windows or junky yards, we are apt to get a notice from Codes Enforcement.  How come the school district has  managed to escape that?
Now that the building has been neglected to death, it's probably time to demolish it.
So here's a question or two.
Since authorities in Electra adamantly refuse to consider architectural  recovery, are the bricks going to be sold at a ridiculously low price? Or maybe just thrown out along with everything else in the building?
I mean, there's enough old bricks in First Ward that if they're sold at the going rate, the school district would have enough money that they could buy more houses for school officials without having to spend our tax money for them.
Where will administration have its offices?
Well, we probably already know the answer to that, and it's going to cost us.
Where will the garages for the school buses be?
No doubt that will also cost us.
What will happen to the property?
Most likely the neglect will continue and we'll have a breeding ground for snakes, spiders, and rats and a dandy place for kids to hide and smoke weed-and it'll cost us.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Sneaky Pete?

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

It seems that a certain member of the city commission has chosen to abandon propriety and adopt a rather patronizing attitude toward one of Electra's citizens in public before and during city meetings, especially with reference to the latest petition..
"You'd better think about what you're doing," he told her.  Is that some sort of thinly veiled threat? Who the hell do you think you are?
This lady isn't a child to be corrected or chastised or embarrassed in a public place.  Nor should it be implied that she is incapable of sensible actions simply because they don't meet with your approval.  Bear in mind that she's an adult, easily your equal if not your superior on many levels, and is quite able to think for herself without your suggesting that she can't.   The fact that you did is insulting.
Personal comments made by a city officer in an official public setting are inappropriate at best, illegal at worst.  This unfortunate trend began when the former city attorney Paul Hayers became ill and the city commission went out of control.
Which brings us to a city commissioner wanting a sneak peek completely out of context, at the signatures on this petition.
Why?
Maybe to make some inappropriate phone calls?
Does the answer lie in the recent  past, when 'important'  facts became  "unnecessary"  which is costing us the city park?
Or where a 'user fee' became  "rent" at the medical complex?
Or when 'propaganda'  became  "information" at the senior citizens center?
Perhaps  this time 'intimidation' will hide behind the word "persuasion?"
Maybe we, the voters, ought to think about what you are doing,

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

FORE!

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Respect and common courtesy seem to be missing most everywhere,  However, although I stopped playing golf many years ago-a combination of some bad injuries and the fact that I'd rather watch paint dry-the golf course was the one place where people could be counted on to behave with courtesy and consideration of others.
Or so I imagined.  Unfortunately, that seems to be vanishing as well, as I have observed a golfer and his kid repeatedly knocking practise balls all over the place while other people were actually trying to play, ignoring their protests-and common courtesy in the bargain, not to mention the danger aspect.  The golfer in particular must know better, but is probably doing it because he can.
Way to go!  Great example of total disrespect for other people to set before your kid, kemo sabe.


Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Vaya Con Dios

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION. Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Sarah Totten died this morning.  She was one of the old mannered, genteel, civic-minded, and genuinely humane people of the last generation.  There are few left like her anywhere.
In short, she was a real lady.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Talk About Stacking the Deck!

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise, there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Take a good look at the city commission's recent committee appointments.  Then take a look at the appointees' politics, age,  and family connections.  It appears that no consideration whatsoever has been given to any new appointee who has opposed the commission or who is even neutral.  Is there one new appointee over the age of about 50 or more?  To whom are the new people related?
And so it goes.  Half the commission plus the mayor  (and their associates in education  and health) are assured that the committees will always be in agreement with them.
If you will look at the trend taking place in Electra, you will see that although the town never shied away from using anyone with education, experience, and ability in the past, over about the last 15 years or so those three things appear to have no importance to the authorities. It's all about jealousy, power, and control:  not about the ability of people who actually have the know-how and connections to really be able to help.
In addition to having an adversarial attitude toward the townspeople, an enormous age prejudice, and a constant flirtation with nepotism, the commission has lost out on countless benefits because they've put their politics over the welfare of the town.
Beware the future commission appointee if Commissioner Scott is overthrown in November.  I understand that's also a "done deal."

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

City Park

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Like everyone else, I've seen the almost unreadable 'plan' for the city park in the newspaper.  The question is:  why wasn't that made public and printed BEFORE the school bond vote so people could actually know what was planned?
The other question is:  with the often-reiterated gleeful statement that in three years, 'we' will get a sports complex,  the implication is that the rest of the park will get signed over for that. So why are 'we' spending who  knows what kind of money to do something that appears to be scheduled for destruction in three years?
The whole thing is like a runaway freight train. School authorities absolutely refused to consider any other site for the school except the western half of the park. They managed to get a flunky to push for a hurried vote to turn the park over to the school district probably so no one would have time to protest; once again, all pretty obviously agreed to beforehand and in secret.
The thing of it is the city commission was aware that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission must review and approve any proposal to transfer park land BEFORE they voted to do it. Once again, this probably occurred because they've ignored the law so often in the last year and gotten by with it.
Additionally it appears that a city official addressed the lunchtime audience at the tax-supported senior citizens center and told them he wouldn't vote to give away the park; he then went to a city meeting and voted to do exactly that.
Also reprehensible is the idea of  "not renewing the contract" of those employees who disagree with what's happening or even have relatives who are opposed to these unethical actions.
None of this is right, but that doesn't seem to matter to the people who are taking part in these actions.
I can only hope these pigeons come home to roost before the town is destroyed.  And I hope I'm around to witness it first hand and say "Nyah, nyah, nyah-nyah nyaaaah-nyah."

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Say What?

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven to be factual.

I grew up with guns: rifles, shotguns, pistols.  I'm not afraid of them.  I'm not some Nazi nutcase about them, but neither am I a fan of Rosie O'Donnell.  If there's a rattlesnake in my yard, I'm not going to call animal control and wait for the snake to hide and bite one of my pets-or me, until the AC person gets here:  I'm going to go shoot the snake.
Now, I don't know about everyone else, but I find it somewhat horrifying that a city commissioner places more value on where a prospective police chief lives than on the fact that he carries a gun and is responsible for enforcing the law.
Apparently none of these things are of prime importance, if they matter at all, to this commissioner.  We should be used to this kind of off-the-wall logic from him, as he's employed this sort of reasoning before;  but never before (that I know of) when it comes to putting a person who may decide life and death in a position of absolute authority.
If this person is well-trained, experienced, calm, fair, knowledgeable of the law, psychologically healthy and physically fit, then it shouldn't matter if he lives in a toad hole in my back yard or an igloo in Alaska.
If he's not, then it's irresponsible nonsense to consider putting him in that position.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Ka-Ching!

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Well, well, well.  Estimating from current figures and information it seems that the Sheriff's Office's approximate bill from September 2013 through July 2014 will be about $470,205.
That's near as dammit to  half a million dollars.  The last year's total budget under Morris was approximately $585,000; that included EVERYTHING for 12 months, with between $40,000-$75,000 customarily returned to the city each year.
Shall I forego saying I told you so?  Nah.  I told you so.
So what difference does it make when it's billed?  Assuming claimed financial expertise, surely someone at city hall is capable of using the December-February amount to crunch the numbers?  You know, like $131,619 for 10 weeks is around $13,163 per week, and if that's multiplied by the 22 weeks which haven't been billed, don't we get a ballpark estimate?
Going to pay by the week?  Um hm, since we're already over our heads in debt, just how are we going to do that?
Look out for constant nit-picky traffic violations and such.
Sure, wait for it:  I'm going to say I told you so.
But of course, the S.O. bill  doesn't include dispatchers, animal control, and other expenses associated with law enforcement in Electra, or attorney's fees, court costs, and the various incidentals which will be incurred by a few lawsuits from former police department employees.  Or the costs of establishing, equipping, and training an entire new police department.
Watch while the people who caused all this tap-dance and make excuses and try to blame someone else-anyone else-for the whole debacle.  Like the former city attorney and the former police chief, or incredibly enough, the Sheriff's Office?
I'm not buying that;  I know exactly who to blame, and they're all at city hall two Tuesdays of every month.
Think they're worth it?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

I've Learned Something New

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Yes, I have.  And it's so simple.
And, being taught by what appears to be a long-standing custom of city hall,  I know it must be right.
If a lot of money is owed to a person or organization, like for water or security, I don't have to pay!
I can stonewall until they give up.....
Or I can just cancel their contracts or fire them!
See?  Isn't that an easy way to welsh on a debt?
As for being sensible and accepting the SO suggestion that Electra hire retired DPS troopers and Wichita Falls police officers, pay them hourly, and work them less than 32 hours per week so city benefits wouldn't be required, no way!  We can't have fair and neutral law enforcement. These people might not be vulnerable to intimidation and favoritism!
As for saving money, perish the thought!
Besides, anyone knows any suggestion coming from outside the powers-that-be represents a threat to the throne, so it must be instantly rejected.
Ain't this a great place to live?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

How About a Little Stand-Up?

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

I have been told that the two commissioners we all thought were going to represent us with some semblance of courage and determination only voted in favor of turning the city park over to the school district because they "weren't going to win the vote anyway."
What sort of specious reasoning is that?
For one thing, it makes the people who supported them think their trust was totally mistaken and that they've simply voted in more of the same.
For another, it makes people feel like these commissioners are cowards and that now they're actually in the stew we call a commission, all the big talk before the election was just that:  big talk.
AND, possibly worse still, if any of this ever comes before a State commission for a decision, they will look at the voting record, see no opposition, laugh and say, "What are we doing here?"
If you people aren't going to stand up and be counted, what are you doing here?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Unnecessary Waste

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

It is illegal to transfer Texas park land without a review and approval of Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.
This was not done before the city transferred half our park to the school district.  The city has now turned this problem over to the city attorney for action.  ROTFLMAO!!!!

Certain authorities seem to be hell bent on having their way, regardless.  It's called abuse of power.
They seem to be intent upon acting secretly so that the townspeople won't know what's going on until it's too late.  All in the interest of wlllfully getting what they want, regardless of any other consideration.   And of course, the idea that Electrans are really too stupid to think for themselves is ever present.  Big Brother knows best.
Or, maybe,  possibly, Big Brother is a dishonest, abusive spoiled brat who regards opposition as a personal insult?
There are many incidents of the same willful and secret nature. They provide highly censored 'information' to the public and then only when forced to and at the very last minute;  many deals appear to be made behind closed doors in violation of the Open Meetings Act.
This was apparent in what seemed  to be the calculated delay of even the highly censored version of the 'facts' finally released in the last few weeks before the school bond vote.   Probably calculated to hide the negative aspects of the deal, the advertising appealed to the emotions, and sent too many people on such a bleeding heart guilt trip that they voted in the huge bond without knowing all they should to make an informed decision.
The confiscation of half the city park seems to have been part of that plan, as it's said that the city manager told people that was "a done deal"  quite some time before the plan was made public-and even before the bond was voted in.  And of course, as noted in last week's Electra Star News, it's the wrong half of the park.
Given the city manager's reported statement, if true, it seems obvious that the EISD had no intention of considering any other options. But practicality and logic didn't enter into the deal even then.  Worse still, neither did the wants of the townspeople.
Instead of deeding the nearly barren, high east half of the park to the EISD, it was given  the west half, which comprises almost all the park has to offer in the way of recreation.  That will be torn down, the creek rearranged, and the last attractive area in the town totally destroyed. At horrendous expense.
It's not only our park, it's our money that's being wasted.
And here's a question or two for you:
Does anyone really believe someone is going to buy a very expensive lot and within the required three years, start building a house in Rattlesnake Acres, also known as ED's Folly, but officially called Saratoga Estates?
Why couldn't the school be put there and save the expense and destruction in the city park?
I already know the answers to those questions, but it's something for readers to think about.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

The Fly Goes Up in Smoke

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

The Fly Goes Up in Smoke-A Fable

Once upon a time, in the village of Silliville, ex-King Yuppy Puppy was in a frantic snit.  He rushed to the mayor's house and shouted, "You have to call an emergency meeting right away!"
Hovering above the lawn, a fly was examining a smouldering cigarette butt.
"What?" said the mayor.
"What?" said the fly, gliding closer to listen in.
"An emergency meeting.  You  have to call one!"
"You do it,"  said the mayor.
"No, I can't do the emergency thing, it's not legal,"  explained Yuppy Puppy.
"But you do illegal things all the time,"  complained the mayor.  "I don't want to call a meeting."
The fly flew in a swirl around the ex-King's head.  *You say tomato, I say tomato;  you say it's lawful, I say it's awful.....*  it sang.
The ex-King wrung his hands.  "You must!"  he cried.
The mayor was indifferent.  "Why?"  he asked.
"Well, you see,"  said Yuppy Puppy snarkily.  "I'm the head of the medical mafia, and that's more important than the city commission.  I have to have a front man so I don't get the blame for anything."
The fly rolled its eyes.  *It's all smoke and mirrors,*  it giggled.
"Oh,"  said the mayor.  "That's different.  Ok."
And an emergency city meeting was scheduled right away.
"Wait," said a commissioner.  " Doesn't this have to be posted for a few hours before we can meet?"
"No, this is an EMERGENCY,"  Yuppy Puppy explained with elaborate patience.  "That means we can do it without telling anyone."
The fly did a barrel roll and grinned.  *Blowing smoke is such fun!*
The mayor strolled in, turned the meeting over to the ex-King, and vagued out.
"Why are we having an emergency meeting, Yuppy Puppy?"  asked another commissioner.
The ex-King sighed loudly.  "I told you to call me KYP,"  he insisted.
"We can't call you KYP now, you're not king,"  protested the other commissioner.
Looping the loop, the fly snickered,  *Where there's smoke, there's fire.*
"Drat!"  said the ex-King under his breath.
The commissioners thought hard for a while.  "I know,"  said one.  "We'll have to call you YP."
"Yip?"  said the mayor waking up.  "Is there a dog in here?"
"Ok, YP, why are we having an emergency meeting?"  asked the commissioner.
"Big Town has just outlawed smoking!"   YP's patience was beginning to fray.
"Um. So?"
YP waved his hands in the air.  "That means they're ahead of us!"  he shrieked.
The other commissioner drew back in horror.  "Watch out, you'll break a nail!"
"Oh, dear, we can't have that,"  said another commissioner.
"Yes.  First they got SUVs for their cop shop before we did,"  YP whined.
The fly started to giggle again.  *That's the smoking gun,*  it tittered.
"Don't forget.  They made the crepe myrtle their town flower, and we had to root a bunch of pear trees out of our sidewalks and plant crepe myrtles just to keep up."
The commission thought for a minute.  "NOW they're having new schools!"  they yelled.
"Well, we've caught up with them on that,"  YP preened.  "But don't you see?"   he reasoned desperately.  "People can still smoke in Silliville!"
"Big Town is ahead of us again!"  they all chorused, outraged.
"That'll never do,"  a commissioner said righteously.  "We have to ban smoking."
"People are not going to let us do that,"  said the other commissioner.
Another commissioner flapped a hand in the air.  "I used to smoke."
*Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette...*  the fly hummed happily.
There was a shocked silence in the meeting room.
The commissioner looked around.  "But I had to stop."
They all breathed a sigh of relief.  "See?"  said YP.  "It's unhealthy and we have to force people to stop for their own good."
"Oh, no,"  protested the other commissioner.  "It turned my nails yellow, and I didn't like the color."
There was another silence.  YP chewed his nails.
Finally the other commissioner protested,   "But a lot of people here smoke.  We can't get around that."
YP called his attorney and then snapped his fingers.  "Wait.  I have it!"  he cried gleefully.  "We'll fool them into thinking it's something else.  It'll be like 'rent' instead of 'user fee' and 'information' instead of 'persuasion;' so instead of 'smoking' we'll outlaw the 'human emission of visible vapors!'  They'll never know the difference."
The fly was laughing so hard it was crying;  it sang a few bars of *Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.*
"Let's do it right now,"  YP said, feeling frantic.  "Before the people realize what's happening."
"We can't.  We have to have a public discussion,"  insisted the commissioner.
"I want it! I want it! I want it!"  squalled YP, beginning to drum his heels on the floor.
The fly sat back and blew imaginary smoke rings.  *I see-um smoke signals, kemo sabe,* it chuckled.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

The Return of The Fly

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION. Every  attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

The Fable  of The Fly will soon return on this blog.
Included will be the Giant Ewok, ex-King Yuppy Puppy-"call me KYP"-the Fearless Leader, the Noddy Doll, Mr. Bluster, the Medical Mafia, Super Spender  among others, and a cast of dozens, since Silliville is losing population by the day.
The Fly will not be regularly scheduled, but will occasionally appear at 8 am on Fridays when the new blog is usually posted-unless something so abysmally stupid occurs it won't wait, at which time the blog will be posted outside its usual schedule.

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Am I Against a New School?

Disclaimer:   everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION.  Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

No, not exactly. I am against the current plans for a new school because I think the whole project was rammed down our throats by a few spoiled brats who wanted their way in order to oil their egos and prove their power in the town.
From what I can discover, the need for a new school isn't nearly as urgent as presented to the public.  It seems obvious-too late- that the whole project just wasn't thoroughly investigated at all levels.  Or if  it was, it appears the plan was to spring the bond on us before we had a chance to ask those vital questions, and to steamroller the voters with tear-jerking persuasion rather than present very much that included the long-range effects of such a project.
What I'm actually against is the lack of ethical behavior, withholding and delay of important  information, and conscienceless manipulation of facts. Too bad this sort of behavior seems to have become the mean rather than the exception in all levels of authority in Electra these days, from school to city to medical complex.


Anita Huguelet McMurtrie

Where, Oh, Where?

Disclaimer:  everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION. Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt;  otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.

Now that the school bond has been pushed through apparently without considering all the problems surrounding it, it seems there's the question of where to put the new school.
First of all, certain people were assured that annexation of part of the city park was a "done deal" according to a city authority.
People of the town, to whom the park belongs, weren't informed in advance of the proposed annexation, nor were they asked if this was ok.  It's not.
Next, a member of the city commission  says the new school should be out on the highway. The 'reason' for this? Everyone else is doing it.
Copycatting is not a good reason for anything.
I travel a lot and I've seen the mess caused by schools out on a highway. They slow down  traffic, and the highway was built, presumably, to avoid just that.  The kids, who think they're nine feet tall and bulletproof, peel out of the parking lots without a thought except to get where they want to go.
Putting a school out on a highway is dangerous and impractical.
Then there's the idea of tearing down First Ward and putting the new school there.
Not such a bad idea, since a school has already been there, but what about the traffic and the noise for residents? When First Ward was built, parents didn't bring kids to school, nor did the kids drive themselves. Now they do.
If I owned a house bordering that block, I would have a walleyed fit if the EISD proposed to build an active school there.
There's also the notion that the new school could be built next to the junior high school.
Does anyone remember the problems created when over the citizens' protests, the school built a softball field there?
Many of those problems still exist:  minor vandalism of yards and houses by kids who are bored with the game; damage to cars and houses by softballs, trash left in yards and gutters by people who attend the games; the slowdown of traffic on the highway, and the ever-present danger of kids and a lot of cars.
But, the primary problem is that the streets between the school grounds and private homes aren't wide enough.
People parking cars to watch the games park them on both sides of the street, virtually blocking it. Emergency vehicles such as firetrucks, ambulances, and law enforcement vehicles are hard put to get to anyone living in a house bordering the school grounds.
Finally, there's the area around the high school.  Presumably the new school would be built before the additional bond for a sports complex is floated, which means the football stadium area can't be used for the site.  If the city park can't be acquired (and it is to be hoped that it can't), then that leaves the houses on the north side of the street, and the houses and vocational building and greenhouse on the west.  No doubt the school would carelessly write off the vocational building and greenhouse, but it seems the people in the houses don't want to sell.
Were any of these problems even considered in the mad rush to ram the school bond through before the townspeople were aware that there might be a lot of complications which hadn't been taken into account?

Anita Huguelet McMurtrie