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Afterthoughts

Profiling

By at least one measure, I’m in the right line of work. When walking into an eating establishment to be introduced to a political appointee, she said, “That must be him. He looks like a reporter.” What, exactly, does a reporter look like? I wasn’t wearing a hat with a tiny feather in it, nor a vest with a handy-dandy press pass. At least she didn’t say, “He has a face for radio.”

Techno-logic

Times, they do a’change. Once upon a time, people knew how to use paper. At a recent meeting, a reporter heard this exchange regarding digitizing files between gentlemen who apparently have different technology backgrounds. The first said, “I have two old file cabinets I can’t search.” The other said, “open the drawer.”

The speed of bureaucracy

Everyone knows the wheels of government turn slowly. But they can get into high gear — at least once. During a discussion of the slow progress being made by a county agency, one of the people involved said, “the government side of this moved.” In fact, its role was handled within a day of hearing of the deficiency. “It’s the private sector” that’s holding things up.

Government that’s too efficient?

A recent county meeting was supposed to start at 11:30 a.m. With a (super) light agenda, and not expecting any guests, they started the meeting a couple minutes early. The only action item was approving the previous month’s minutes. The meeting started at 11:27 a.m. It adjourned at 11:28 a.m. Finishing a meeting before it was supposed to start? That’s got to be some kind of record.

Sucking up?

Earlier this week, a defendant entered a guilty plea before one of our county’s judges. The charge was minor… what it was is irrelevant here. One (of many) questions that a defendant has to answer prior to the judge accepting the plea is whether they found their legal counsel effective. “Yes, he’s wonderful,” the defendant said. The judge’s response? “Let’s not get carried away.” After a moment of chuckles at the bench, the judge added “Let’s strike that from the record.”

And the Academy Award goes to…

The Warren County Commissioners have begun recording their meetings and placing the video on YouTube. It’s a way to provide constituents with greater access to county government. It’s not, however, going to result in an A-List production. So when one commissioner who was setting up the video called themselves the “Spielberg of county government” the sentiment was that it was a little over the top. Just a bit…

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