Captain’s Log – Are We Having a Mutiny?

It’s hot in here. Our air conditioner isn’t working and we’re in a room full of over-50 girls. There was a lot of landlord-instructed activity on the roof at the beginning of the week. Then there was water leaking out of the gutter over the front of the door.

The next day there was water leaking out of the ceiling about six feet from Becky (our printer, for those of you who are new.) I about had a stroke. I’m really not sure what’s going on, but I can tell you the cooler is not working.

It’s been an interesting week last week full of meetings. And this week writing the stories. The public is coming out in force to public meetings, and it is a beautiful thing.

We’ve been fairly complacent in Fallon for a long time and usually elected officials hold their meetings in empty rooms, with public comment limited to the crazy street preacher complaining that no one will listen to him.

There were people at the planning commission meeting, county commission, the school board, and a few at city council.

School board got saucy when the public was finally offended by the street preacher. One lady had brought her child and was appalled that her daughter had to be exposed to the things he spewed. There was talk of calling the police.

Commissioners articulated their gratitude for the public participation. It’s amazing to see democracy at work. It’s tense. It’s necessary.

Unlike the word-salad tossed by the street preacher, people are articulating well-formulated arguments about specific issues, giving elected officials useful input and timely observations.

We hope that we have played a small part in this new activity. We hope our stories have been informative and useful. We hope that people see they can make a difference and make their community better.

We feel like this is a good time to be in Fallon. There are so many opportunities right now to be a part of shaping our future.

We’re glad we’re here and glad you are too.

Know that we’ll be here…

…keeping you posted,

Rach