Transparency is the ability to see through things that are behind something including what might perceived. In Washington County, there is a lack of government transparency in that government including the local law enforcement, local judges and local politicians in the City Council, County Council and County Commissioners often act behind the scenes.
The same occurred recently with the Salem School Board of the Salem Community Schools having a public meeting which was announced at the last minute by the school corporation and board and in the Wheezer newspaper.
Interestingly, they of course waited until Thursday to actually announce that there would be an important vote on the school's request to spend 13 million taxpayer dollars on pet projects proposed by the Superintendent and others in the school corporation.
The entire debacle strikes this writer as having no transparency and no public input until the people found out about what was in the proposed tax increase that they would end up paying for. All for some artificial turf, an auditorium, a band room and swimming pool repairs. All the while they do things behind closed doors and in closed meetings.
Much like mob bosses and big city political machines do things behind closed doors in smoke filled rooms with all of the cronies and good old boys making the decisions without public input and public investigation of what kind of personal economic screwing that they have been receiving.
All the while the community do gooders continue to wail about how we need to spend more money on the schools and more money to support pet projects that end up being a waste of taxpayer dollars in a county that is economically lacking in many respects.
All the while, the community do gooders have spent 50 years keeping the community backwards and economically challenged to the point that people are living paycheck to paycheck because their jobs if they have any ore not giving out raises and benefit increases.
Meanwhile the corrupt county officials and good old boy network continues to complain that they don't have enough money to pave roads, provide snow removal, clean roadways, cut and mow grass along the roads and other essential government work. However, they did have money for a 9 million dollar jail and a couple of million to spend on the Circuit and Superior Court chambers for the judges that make in excess of $130,000 a year along with the prosecuting attorney, sheriff and those employed by those agencies of local government.
Meanwhile, the drug busts keep on happening at a time when no one actually sources those who have been bringing in the drugs to Washington County for decades. Could it be that the local law enforcement and local legal community is covering up for the locally based drug kingpins that have spent 30 years plus bringing in their trash to our community and they know who these people are and who they are paid to protect.
Interesting, isn't it how Washington County government works at least for the judges, prosecutors, law enforcement and legal eagles. For the rest of us, its no snow removal, lousy roads, higher taxes, jails filled to the brim, low wage jobs and lack of decent employment options for much of the community.
However, the do gooders keep on patting each other on the back of what a great job they are doing. All the while really doing nothing of consequence that actually improves life in the community.
Such as new higher paying jobs, increased employment options, more business, more real economic development. Just more of the same of them talking about what they are doing but accomplishing absolutely nothing
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