I’ve attended a lot of meetings of government entities in the county during my more than 21 years as a reporter. One of my favorites is Medora town council meetings.
It didn’t use to be that way because meetings in this small southwestern Jackson County town back in those days could run on for two or three hours.
The present council, especailly President Jim Davers run meetings much more smoothly and they’re usually over in 30 minutes or so. And these are truly some of the most democratic meetings I’ve covered.
Most other governing bodies only pay lip service to the patrons attending their meetings. Sometimes they allow those people to talk if they’ve called and asked to be put on the agenda, but those people rarely if ever get any kind of reply from one of their elected officials.
It’s not that way, however, at Medora Town Hall. After the council finishes conducting its business, Davers asks the town’s department heads if they have anything to add. He then moves on to the townsfolk sitting around waiting to talk.
He asks each one by name if they have anything. Some say no, but others speak up voicing their concerns all kinds of issues. Topics include the dogs roaming town, yards that aren’t clean enough to meet their standards and just about anything else that they can think about at the time. The council rarely can do anything about the issues brought up by the people except to nod and agree.
But I think the people voicing their concerns leave the meeting happy that someone was willing to listen to them if just for a few minutes. I’m as guilty as the next person about taking the time to listen when I’m being spoken to, but maybe we all need to listen a little more and talk a little less.

A year ago, I spent four days and three nights in Washington, D.C., with my son’s eighth-grade class.

I’m not sure about the kids, but it was an exciting time for me since I hadn’t visit our nation’s capital in more than 35 years.

It hasn’t changed much since my first visit with the exception of men guarding key buildings with weapons and the checkpoints e

veryone has to pass through before be allowing in almost any building.

We hit all the high spots during this most recent visit including the Lincoln and Washington memorials, the Capitol, the White House, Arlington National Cemetery, Ford’s Theatre, the Holocaust Museum, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the National Archives and Union Station.

When we were on our way home at asked my son what he liked most about Washington and he gave me an answer I didn’t really expect. In fact, I was so surprised by it that I later asked some of his classmates if they agreed and they did.While they all told me they enjoyed seeing all the old building and monuments, the thing they remember most about the visit was an 80-something World War II veteran who stopped to talk to them just outside the Washington Monument about his war experiences.

This guy was no Audie Murphy, but he talked about the time he spent during the war serving on a Navy tender, a ship that supplies and services other ships. The man had pictures of his ship and spent a good 20 minutes or more talking about the war and why he gave up his Sunday afternoons to come the National Mall and talk to anyone willing to listen.

What had been a pretty rowdy bunch of kids set listening quietly and even asked a lot of good questions.I can’t even remember his name now, but ask some of the kids and they can tell you. That’s just how much of an impression he made on them. What a priceless gift that man gave to those kids.

I watched a video on the Web the other day in which it was stated that one billion people on this planet make a dollar a day.  That same video also said that even more make less in a year than the cost of a laptop.

I don’t know how true those statements are, but if they are it sure seems sad especially when compared to Forbes’ seventh annual list of top-earning dead celebrities.

Do you know that Elvis, who died 30 years ago, made $49 million to top the list and that John Lennon, who died in December of 1980, was second with $44 million. By the way, Elvis has topped the list six of the seven years that Forbes has published it. The only year he didn’t wn was in 2006 when Kurt Cobain brought in $50 million, 8 million more that Elvis.

The top 13 dead-celebrities grossed $232 combined this past year. The remainder of the list in order are Charles Schulz, George Harrison, Albert Einstein, Andy Warhol, Dr. Suess (Theodor Giesel), Tupac Shakur, Marilyn Monroe, Steve McQueen, James Brown, Bob Marley and James Dean.

I not one of those people who believes that someone needs to take charge and redistribute the wealth, but it is amazing how much some celebrities are make long after they died.

The list is located at http://www.forbes.com/lists/

Election day is just around the corner, but you can hardly tell it by driving around the streets of Brownstown.

That’s because there’s only one contested race in the county seat this year. That race pits two-term Clerk-treasurer Becky Fee, a Democrat, against political newcomer Terrisa Brown.

All five council members are running unopposed just as they did four years ago. Fee also ran unopposed in 2003, which meant there was no election at all.

The last time there was a race for a council seat was back in 1999 when Republican Dave Lewis ran against Democrat Robert ”Bob” Persinger. Persinger won that time although he has since died and been replaced by his wife, Emily.

There were two contested council races in 1995 and you have to go back to 16 years to 1991 to find a time when there were contested races for all five council seats. There wasn’t a full slate that year, even, bacause long-time Clerk-treasurer Pat Forgey ran unopposed.

It’s a shame more people haven’t decided to step up and commit themselves to a run for an office.  Sure it saves the town a couple of thousand dollars every time there is not an election (that’s how much taxpayers have to pay the county clerk’s office to run an election).

Not having an election at all demonstrates a real apathy on the part of the citizens of Brownstown and seems to be touting the message that everyone is happy with the work of the present leadership. Fee said that some town residents have no idea she has to run for office every four years because they think she is appointed. That just demonstrates a total lack of knowledge about how government works. That’s a shame.

I’m not unhappy with what our past or present officeholders have accomplished for the community. They managed the town’s money pretty well (with Fee’s guiding hand), made some major infrastructure improvements and even begun working with the park board to improve the park.
But I think we need to have a choice at election time.

The more choices the better.