A friend said I sounded flippant when I told KHNS that “it didn’t really matter to me” whether or not the Haines Borough Assembly censured me for mistakenly releasing the names of two officers contained in complaints about police behavior that I made public back in April.
(“Censure” means to officially scold.)
I apologized, in writing, to the two officers involved months ago. I also apologized publicly at an assembly meeting. Apparently, the borough employees union – or someone pushing it – thinks it’s also important that I be publicly scolded. That’s fine.
The KHNS reporter called Tuesday when I was busy at work at the Chilkat Valley News, including writing or editing stories that the town, for the fourth consecutive year, was unable to organize a Fourth of July fireworks display, and now it appeared that the annual Mud Volleyball Tournament also wasn’t going to happen.
Because I was busy, I told the reporter the truth as quickly as I could with as few words as possible. What I said I meant. It doesn’t matter to me. If it gets this matter done sooner, scold me. I can take a scolding. I’m a grown man, for crying out loud. I’ll make the motion myself.
What I should have added, when asked by the KHNS reporter, was why it doesn’t matter to me. It’s because I, as an assembly member, and we, as a community, have much bigger fish to fry. I don’t want my censure to become an issue we get wrapped around the axle on, like we do on so many other things. We have bigger issues to fret.
How about the fact that –
1.) Not unlike the financial situation faced by the Alaska Legislature, the Haines Borough is hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hole, eating up savings at a rate that will last only a few years. We’ll probably need new budget cuts and new, local taxes to bridge the gap left when the state gets done cutting its budget.
We need a plan to deal with that.
2.) We have neighbors in this town who have lost hope for their lives, who are addicted to hard drugs or alcohol to the point that they court death every day. Our ambulance crews now carry drugs that effectively block suicide. Why do people who live in a place as coveted as Haines want to kill themselves?
We need a plan to deal with that.
3.) We have young people in this town who have no direction, who because of poor backgrounds or parenting, are not moving ahead. Instead, they become a drag on the town, depleting the small resources we have for counseling and policing.
We need a plan to deal with that.
4.) We have young people and families who want to live here and find meaningful work, but are struggling, for various reasons.
We need a plan to deal with that.
5.) We have prickly local resource issues – mining, logging, heli-skiing, residential resource extraction – that will tear us apart if we don’t find ways of coming together and resolve them peaceably.
We need a plan to deal with that.
6.) We have an increasingly lopsided economy that’s here in the summer and gone in the winter, that spends in Juneau or on the Internet instead of at local stores, that invests no importance or loyalty in Haines or to the people who live here.
We need a plan to deal with that.
We are our own worst enemy.
We find small matters to fight over that distract us and prevent us from resolving the bigger issues that are much more critical to our day-to-day lives here.
As a result of reporting here for 30 years, I care a lot about this town, maybe more than I should. I fret when we miss out on economic opportunities like attracting new businesses. I wince when we lose good workers at city hall or when a boneheaded attorney somewhere decides we can no longer use our swimming pool diving board. And I really start to worry when we can’t put on a simple fireworks show or a mud volleyball game.
Fine, censure me. But then can we get on to the real issues facing this town?