HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED

It never fails that when you are running behind, possibly already late for a major meeting or conference call and you’re pressing the “pedal to the metal” as you bob and weave around traffic, you only have three more blocks to go and if you can get through the next stop light –oh! No, no, no! Yep, you make it all the way through the stop light to the other side and then you see those long white “arms” come dropping down! And as you stomp the brakes, you hear the voice inside your head plead “GOD, DON’T FAIL ME NOW!” And with the last breath in your body you screech to a stop! Regaining your composure, you watch mesmerized as the eighty-two train cars of coal crawl along the tracks in front of your car. So, you sit and you wait. And wait. Actually that would have been a scene from before the city and the DOT decided to tear up nearly every freaking main avenue and street in town! Now when I drive anywhere in Moorhead, including my own street, I feel like I’ve entered into a game of dodge ball, except the “ball” is a street barricade. And forget trying to find a “back way” into or out of Moorhead that by-passes city-connected streets into Fargo, or going on the interstate, which is worse, because evidently few travelers understand the meaning of “40 miles an hour” on the interstate even while teams of construction workers are everywhere! But the true pièce de résistance of brilliant traffic control dreamed up by the Minnesota DOT happened today (Monday) on the old “convent road” just west of south Moorhead and Highway 75. As we crossed the bridge from Fargo and traveled not much more than a half mile, we came upon what looked to be at least fifty or more cars – all BACKED UP and waiting. Waiting? What the heck are they waiting for? As our eagle-eye daughter looks out over the sea of vehicles she also sees several police cars – aha! Mystery solved. Apparently someone wasn’t paying attention to all the other commuters trying to avoid trains and barricades in Moorhead, and wham-o! Right before Moorhead’s infamous “ROUND-ABOUT” it appeared that someone popped into someone else’s rear, and thankfully (or so it appeared from our “Quick! Turn down this gravel road instead” distance) all the other many, many cars waiting to pass were simply stuck and not able to move beyond where they sat. So the theory that “round-abouts” are safer than four-way stops or typical stop lights may prove to be true, but it certainly doesn’t mean they move traffic faster! Or without hassles! What I’d really like to know is why any numchuck planning agency or department would decide to do ALL of Moorhead’s infrastructure repair work AT THE SAME TIME! Talk about an oxymoron – the word “planning” would imply coordination and thinking ahead. What is presently happening all over Moorhead on every major and heavily traveled street may be “planned,” but it sure seems a lot more like coordinated chaos.

THIN SKINS MAKE FOR BAD POLITICOS

As I was checking out my Linkup network, I noticed a prior candidate for Moorhead City Council and the Minnesota Legislature announcing his second year with a local corporation and I congratulated him. I also noticed that a person by the name of David Hallman made a statement about running in the next city election for the First Ward Council seat that will be available. I read his bio, and according to what I read, Mr. Hallman spent 19 years and 4 months in the military and has been a social worker with Clay County for the past 11 years and “x” months. While reading Mr. Hallman’s career path, it made me wonder whether he’s ever done anything else. As in, has he ever owned a business or worked for someone else in private business, or has the majority of his adult working life been in positions that are paid for by the taxpayers? I don’t think that’s an unreasonable question. Part of what is wrong with the entire country is that so many paper-pushers in government offices have no clue how life works in “real America” where both large and small businesses must make payrolls and pay for insurance benefits for employees. Or manage to keep their dedicated employees on when the economy is in a downturn, profits are marginal at best some years and unemployment is high. Private businesses do not have “safety nets” for their employees – certainly not like government bureaucracies do for their employees. Yet there are people who spend their entire lives working in a cubicle or office provided by taxpayers – by the the people who are NOT getting “COLA” raises yearly, who don’t have unions that will back them when they are being harassed or want larger raises than they are offered, or who have their jobs all but guaranteed to them until they decide to quit or retire (because after “x” number of years it’s almost like being a tenured teacher or professor), or in some cases even if the person is inefficient, incompetent or just cannot do the job properly there is some state law prohibiting them from being fired! Even though Minnesota likes to say it is a “right to work” state, just try to get rid of a person who may have become obsolete in his position if he has held the position for years on end within ANY government office. It happens everywhere. Including Moorhead.So, I asked Mr. Hallman what ELSE might he have done aside from working for the taxpayers in his lifetime of careers? Mr. Hallman answered with the following: “Yes. I also have tried not to be rude to people I don’t know. Any more of a response to one so rude would be inappropriate. Have a nice day! I guess you believe that because I work for the county I should give up my constitutional rights. Prejudice is a terrible thing.” I have to admit, I chortled when I read Mr. Hallman’s response. Out of one side of his mouth, he’s accusing me of being “so rude” and that it would be “inappropriate” to add to his response, and out of the other side of his mouth, he’s telling me to “Have a nice day!” while presuming I think he should give up his “Constitutional rights” because he works for the county.Until today I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of David Hallman. No. I don’t think he should give up his Constitutional rights to vote or live wherever he wants or work for whomever he wants. But I have to ask myself if it’s really appropriate for someone to run for an elected office that is paid for by taxpayers when he or she is already working for and being paid by the very same taxpayers? Shoot – go for Mayor, for all I care. Just don’t ask me to pay for anyone who double-dips into the public trough continuously. While I appreciate Mr. Hallman presumably wanting to involve himself in making Moorhead a better place, I’d be a lot more inclined to do so if he were to donate whatever salary he will make as a councilman to an organization within Clay County that our taxpayers use and pay for, should he run and win. That’s my personal opinion. It doesn’t mean I expect him to agree with me; obviously, he doesn’t. And that’s fine. What troubles me most is that Mr. Hallman immediately became defensive and was offended by me even posing the question. Which, by the way, I have a “Constitutional right” to do, as a taxpayer who lives in Clay County where Hallman works presently; and since he’s a retired military person, we all paid for his clothing, housing, food and insurance for 19 years! And more than likely for his education as well under the GI bill. Mr. Hallman finished his degree at MSUM in the years between retiring from the service and going to work at Clay County Social Services.Those who enter the fray of politics had better have thick skins, because when they are responsible for large budgets and for passing laws and ordinances that are paid for by taxpayers, they’d better not become offended so easily or by questions that may make them uncomfortable, from other people or the media. If they cannot do that, getting into office is the easy part. Proving over and over and over that you deserve the position is just part of politics. Ask anyone who has ever been elected to any city or county office.

As my mom used to say: “If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

All questions and comments can be sent to: the Extra Editor at: extramediasales@aol.com or to Soo at sooasheim@aol.com.