Not Enough Babies Are Pooping

More than a year ago Kimberly-Clark, makers of "Huggies" diapers, announced it was closing the Corporation's Lakeview diaper plant and eliminating 510 jobs. In June of last year Kimberly-Clark laid off 105 employees. Some of those whose jobs were eliminated took early retirement. We don't know how many of those came to the Keys.

However, obviously the demand for diapers must have slowed. How can that be? Are babies pooping less? Although there may be fewer babies pooping, there is still plenty of poop in Key West. Maybe Kimberly-Clark could avoid more layoffs by providing diapers for all the chickens here in Key West - a kind of killing two birds with one diaper idea. Kimberly-Clark sells more diapers; Key West has less chicken poop. Everyone wins.

If the chickens are diapered, the chicken shelter the Assistant City Manager was once trying to build will never make it to the Superfund cleanup list no matter whether the chickens are rounded up, have escaped, been stolen or secretly released. Diapering beats trying to kidnap or kill them. Besides, diapers for the chickens certainly have a better chance with the City Commissioners than Truman Annex.

Maybe there will even be some left over diapers large enough to fit some of the commissioners who seem to be acting like chickens lately, now that elections are almost upon us. After all, if astronauts can wear diapers, why not the Commissioners?

For that matter, why not the TAMPOA Board and its lawyers. It may give them the stamina they'll need to sit through yet another round of mediation with the City come late October. Oh yes, in case you hadn't heard, thanks to being in federal court -- that brilliant idea hatched by the Board's lawyers and launched last February -- there is now to be more mediation with the City that wouldn't honor the first mediated agreement.

So we do hope, however, that they all (Commissioners, Board members, and lawyers for all sides, including the Navy) order their diapers early -- we wouldn't want any more workers to lose their jobs for lack of diaper demand. Besides, we've noticed that one size of diaper doesn't seem to fit all and some folks may need extra large, especially with the election and then the mediation coming. At the mediation alone there's likely to be enough methane generated to fill a greenhouse. When added to what will have been produced by the candidates and the BS generated during the election cycle, the need for diapers seems obvious. Who knows? Diapers may help the candidates contain themselves. As for the Board and lawyers? They're hopeless, unless, of course, the diapers were to be worn over their mouths.

Why Not Buy Southard Street?

Commissioner Jose Menendez, in a flight of fancy, has suggested that Wisteria Island be turned into a gaming mecca. Mayor McPherson wants the City voters to consider buying Wisteria Island, saying the issue is preservation and never has been annexation. Preservation? Really? Preservation from what? The island is already preserved if not pickled. Until some good citizens came along and organized a cleanup the island was a twenty-one-acre dump that neither the owners, the county or the city seemed to care about.

The City doesn't need to buy Wisteria Island to turn it into a park. The would be developers could do that and charge money to go there. It seems that the City Commission has linked annexation with development. Indeed, they are separate issues. The City could annex Wisteria Island any time its wants. The problem is the messed up laws the City has on development. If the City annexes the island, under the existing laws, the developers could build homes on the island. That's not an annexation problem. That's a development problem. That's what the City needs to work on, but, of course, it won't because the City is controlled by developers.

The Mayor is a realtor, after all, which is why one ought to be suspicious of any proposal that the City buy Wisteria Island. One has to ask, "Why?" The Mayor doesn't really want the voters' nod to buy the island; otherwise the proposed referendum would be given a green light and made a binding referendum. So what's behind all this wrangling over Wisteria Island? We're all ears, Mr. Mayor!

Meanwhile, we have a suggestion. If the City thinks it can buy Wisteria Island, why doesn't it buy Southard Street? It would likely cost a lot less and solve a whole bunch of issues for the City, not to mention that it would put an end to what may ultimately be a costly lawsuit for the City.

The reality is that the City does not have the money to buy (or even pursue eminent domain over) Southard Street. And the City doesn't have the money to buy Wisteria Island either. If the Mayor is proposing to ask the voters something, he 'd probably get a more positive response if he asked the voters whether they'd finance an eminent domain suit to take over Southard Street.

Piss And Vinegar Is It?

"When Harry Bethel was in his 20s and 30s, he was full of piss and vinegar, but people grow and mature. . ."

That they do. That's why we don't care whether or not Harry Bethel was fired some 33 years ago, or whether back then, as he reportedly has put it so colorfully, he was "full of piss and vinegar." Bethel is right that what happened 30 some years ago shouldn't be a factor in whether he gets elected to the Utility Board.

What does matter is what kind of candidate Bethel is today and whether the current happenings in his political life as well as his political views make him the best person to represent the citizens on the Utility Board.

Now that Bethel is "mature," it's his record on the City Commission and current doings that need to be measured to see how he stacks up against the other candidates, Charles Lee and Ty Symroski, in the quest for the Group 1 seat on the Utility Board.

Now Six Are In The Race

There are now six mayoral candidates. Joseph "George" Claing has joined the Mayor's race.

He along with five others, current mayor Morgan McPherson, Jimmy Weekley, Rolland Montefalcon and Sloan Bashinsky will compete in the October 2 election.

Bethel Has A Challenger

City Commissioner Harry Bethel who is not seeking re-election to the City Commission but, instead, is seeking the Group 1 seat on the Utility Board finally has a challenger. He is Ty Symroski, the former City Planner of Key West. He is 55 years old and has lived in Key West since 1984. He was City Planner from 1998 to 2006 when he left to take a job as the Growth Management Director with Monroe County. He left that job this year, indicating differences with the County Administrator. (Given the messed up County situation, voters should not hold that against him). As for his other credentials, Symrosky has a bachelor's degree in land-use planning and a master's in regional planning.

It should be an interesting, but tough race. Bethel will be a formidable candidate, despite his troubles. He is being investigated for an ethics violation in connection with a dinner on Sunset Key that he and City Commissioners Danny Kolhage and Clayton Lopez allegedly attended with a VP of one of the companies involved with the development of Wisteria Island. Bethel later returned a $1500 campaign contribution from the family of developers who had supported the annexation of Wisteria Island when it was before the City Commission.

Stay tuned.

And Guess What?

The City has published a notice that on August 7, 2007, at 6:00 p.m. in Old City Hall, the City commission will finally take up the tattoo parlor matter by having a "first reading" of a proposed ordinance "creating Division 13 Tattoo establishments."

Of course, there is a hearing on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 in Circuit Court on the lawsuit one tattoo parlor, Key West Ink, has brought against the City. Don't you suppose that 's what the City Attorney's Office is going to tell the Circuit Judge in an effort to buy more time for the City. Will it also buy settlement leverage for the City? It's anybody's guess on this one.

And Now There Are Five

Candidates for the Key West Mayor's job, that is. The current mayor, Morgan McPherson, will have to run against former mayor, Jimmy Weekley, as well as candidates, Joseph "George" Claing, Sloan Bashinsky, and the newest entrant, Rolland Montefalcon.

Weekley and McPherson are the front runners. Will any of the others be spoilers?

The Dems Debate

Did you watch Democrats' debate on CNN Monday night? Probably you watched in KW only if you are into politics or were curious about how the YouTube-asked questions would play. Actually the debates were interesting if only for their illustration of the coming shift in electoral politics on a national level.

The pitch now really is to the computer generation. The candidates are learning that this is (perhaps) the only group of voters that still believes it can make a difference and that who's in the White House really matters. Many, if not most, other voters, have come to recognize politics for what it is: money rules -- and with a vengeance.

Another reason the candidates are pitching the computer generation is that, next to the moneyed crowd, the computer generation has greater communicating power. It is a group that actually talks to each other, albeit in a way few others may understand. That, of course, is why each candidate has a commuter-savvy staff or blogger consultant who is likely to be twenty something.

In case you didn't know, it is these twenty and thirty-somethings that have the Congressional staff jobs in Washington. You almost have to be that young (or be on some serious drugs) to be able to stay awake for the 20-hour days (and sometimes more) working in Washington often requires. Think about that the next time you want a waking nightmare. The most crucial recommendations that turn into decisions for the country are being made by twenty-and-thirty-something staffers on something less than 4 hours sleep a night! They only bring in us older folks when the smelly stuff hits the fan, and then only to clean it up. What a life!

BTW, those in the twenty-something crowd outside the Beltway are the harshest critics of politics. So the candidates know that if they can reach these folks, they can really strike a nerve in the country, and perhaps for the long term. In that sense the stakes are really high.

However, as one long-term Speaker of the House -- the over-65 crowd will know who he is -- put it, "All politics are local." Thus it will be interesting to assess the situation in KW once the candidates get rolling. Particularly interesting will be the style of "appealing" to the voters. Do any of the current flock really look appealing?

Ugh! The very thought makes me want to go for a walk along the beach to clear my head of all the nonsense, with more to come, that I just dread.

Right now turtles seem a lot more "appealing."

Giving Back The Money

Key West Commissioner Harry Bethel: "The Walshes give money during campaigns, so does Pritam Singh, so do all developers," he said. "But with all this going on, I simply chose to return the money."

Like, hey, yeah, guess so. Already under investigation for an alleged ethics violation, Commissioner Harry Bethel, who is not seeking re-election to the City Commission but is running for the Utility Board, decided to come down from his mountain vacation long enough to give back a campaign donation of $1500 from the family of developers who had recently asked that the city annex Wisteria Island so they could build about 150 plus homes there. Without annexation, under Monroe County's current rules, the developers could build two homes.

While the now withdrawn annexation request was was an issue before the Commission, Bethel along with Commissioners Danny Kolhage and Clayton Lopez just happened to have attended a dinner on Sunset Key with a vice president of the Walsh family companies.

By way of background, in many places there would be nothing wrong with several legislators meeting and talking with others and among themselves including discussing how they might vote on a piece of legislation. In Washington, DC it's done all the time. But that is not supposed to be the way it's done in Key West. Commissioners here are not supposed to have a meeting where pending matters are discussed unless the public is given notice of the meeting so members of the public can attend. That is, as we understand it, the gist of the Sunshine Law. There are also ethical issues with accepting (if it happens) something of value from a person interested in seeing a piece of legislation pass. So, in Key West, we are supposed to have open and ethical government.

But whether there are violations of the Sunshine Law or other ethical proscriptions depend upon what happened at a particular meeting and, of course, what was discussed. That is what no one seems to know, except those who were present on Sunset Key. And that is what the investigation is theoretically about.

What do you suppose these Commissioners were talking about? They certainly are friends (from time to time at least in the political realm). It is hard to serve on a political body for as long as these folks have and not like, or at least respect, each other even if your views are miles apart. So we think these Commissioners should tell the public in some detail just what went on at the dinner.

It would certainly be nice to know that, in fact, these Commissioners had only come for chicken and camaraderie and to listen to the sound of the ocean. After all, it is nice out there on Sunset Key. We've been there. Of course, never have we been in such august political company.

As for giving back the campaign contribution, that was certainly the right thing to do. Unfortunately the damage is done in political terms. The trouble is that the contribution now makes Utility Board candidate Bethel look bad politically. Now the savvy voters may well question whether Bethel should be their choice in the election; not because he returned the money, but because he got himself into the sticky wicket in the first place by attending the dinner on Wisteria Island.

It is ironic, sometimes, how the money every candidate needs to raise to run for office can, when obtained, be an unexpected political blunder that raises questions about the candidate's worthiness for office and provides grist for his opponents. But that's politics and what makes it exciting.

Quit Whining

The Commissioners and the Mayor should quit whining about the fact that they can't collect more property taxes and may have to spend less money. This Commission hardly has been frugal. They could have paid a ton more to the police in salaries and other benefits had the City not engaged in dumb behavior that has gotten the City embroiled in lawsuits that have needlessly sapped taxpayers' money.

Will the public and City staff understand when the City Commission and current Mayor plead poverty while spending on lawsuits (and losing). We don't think so.

And Now Deleting Records

Not only does the whole Jim Young code enforcement situation makes the City look bad, but it appears that the City may have gone ahead and deleted electronic records it should have known were going to be the subject of controversy or litigation.

In other jurisdictions and in the private sector, the courts have dealt rather severely with such conduct. In one instance we know of the court made the defendant pay for the reconstruction of the records from backed up computer records and also gave the jury an instruction that it could assume that the destroyed records would have been unfavorable to the defendant. The jury ultimately found against the defendant. It will be interesting to see how the judge in the Young matter deals with this situation.

Wouldn't it be nice if the City just played it straight for a change, so that cases like Jim Young's become a thing of the past. Does anyone really think that will be the case? Or will KW always be politically like the wild wild west?

Timed Sex

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle says the city should buy a $250,000 robotic toilet for the beach because it has a timer that would prevent gays from having sex there according to a question being asked in a recent poll. What does the robot do when time's up? Ask R2-D2 to lock the door? Is this guy on the right star ship?

Are You A $10 or $15 Plucker?

Did you watch the Democrats' Debate last night? The Republicans will have their turn on TV soon. In Congress, however, the debate has not been quite as lofty as it was last night. It's been about money all right, but the subject -- well, that's the curious thing. As we listened with fascination, it occurred to us that the proper home for such a discussion topic would be right here in the Southernmost City.

The subject was chicken plucking. That's with a "P" if you please. There are, after all, more chickens of all varieties in KW that need plucking than anywhere we can think of. In fact, many have turned into turkeys just waiting for things to hatch. But, back to Washington where the debate over chickens is raging. Here's what they're saying:

KENNEDY: “I would like the chicken pluckers to pay $10 or $15 an hour. They do not do it. They are not going to do it. Who are you trying to kid? Who is the Senator from North Dakota trying to fool?” [Senator Ted Kennedy, Congressional Record, S.6452, May 22, 2007]

DORGAN: “Mr. President, let me stand up and say a word on behalf of chicken pluckers. I had no idea that was the debate. But they will never get $15 an hour as long as we bring in cheap labor through the back door to pluck chickens.” [Senator Byron Dorgan, Congressional Record, S.6452, May 22, 2007]

If this is what they are doing with your spare change in the Senate wing of Nation's Capitol, imagine what they are doing with your real money.

BTW, both Senators are Democrats.

A Thought For The Week Of June 4, 2007

"Politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed frequently and for the same reasons."

-- Anonymous

City Manager's Contract Up For Vote

The City Commission is scheduled to vote on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 on the Contract with the new City Manager designee. But a complete contract has not been worked out. The most important item, salary, has not been agreed to. The City's chief negotiator, Commissioner Bethel, has offered the lowest part of the salary range, $165,000, and the proposed City Manager wants $180,000. The parties are $25,000 apart.

What kind of "negotiation" did Bethel do? Sounds like slim to none to us. According to Bethel's letter of May 31, 2007 to the City Commission, he had "several conversations [presumably by phone] and a [meaning one] meeting with Scholl."

In fairness to Bethel, he notes that "he only gathered information for presentation to the Commission" and that he has "not rejected any options available to Mr. Scholl."

But it sounds like $165,000 was Bethel's first and last offer (since the Commission authorized a minimum of $165,000). According to his letter to the Commission, Bethel says he told Scholl at their meeting that he could not "support or justify any starting salary except $165,000." If that's the way it went, while that may look like tough negotiation, it is really not the give and take of negotiation on the salary at all, since, at least with Bethel, there was no room for agreement on another number. What is worse is that the tactic is also positional bargaining, which is the worst kind of bargaining when you are trying to make a deal. What Bethel did, in essence, was to put the whole matter of coming to an agreement on the essential provision of the contract back in the lap of the City Commission.

In support of his position on the salary, Bethel makes the argument that "Mr. Scholl has absolutely no experience in local government." That may be a moot point, since the Commission knew that when they chose Scholl as their number one candidate. As far as we know, their number two candidate is also a similarly situated person in that regard. If local government experience was the sticking point, then a person with local government experience should have been the first choice of the Commissioners. He was not.

Moreover, Mr. Scholl's Navy administrative and management experience has included dealing with local government, including the likes of these Key West Commissioners. And Scholl's federal responsibilities were awesome compared to those of a Key West City Manager. So it seems to us that Bethel's argument doesn't hold much water and is not the result of a serious look at the interests of each side. He can do better.

We realize Bethel has to keep his rep as a fiscal conservative, but he seems to be playing a game of "salary chicken" here. Will the City blink or will Scholl blink? If the game continues, win or lose, there will be hard feelings and perhaps an unwise less durable agreement. Besides, the negotiation with the new City Manager is not, we hope, about winning. It is about problem solving.

There has got to be a place of compromise somewhere between the two positions. Perhaps the parties can find ways to expand the pie and find desired value in non-monetary options. Also, there is often value in difference. Creating it is what smart seasoned negotiators do all the time. Perhaps the parties may want to think about the possibility of deferred value. Are there things the Commission can agree to implement later that will have equivalent or greater value than what is presently desired by Mr. Scholl?

It seems to us that there is much negotiation left to be done and that Commissioner Bethel's efforts have barely scratched the surface. $25,000 is not a very big gap between the parties as gaps go. Closing that gap should not be hard. That Scholl did not insist on the top of the salary range is significant and indicates a willingness to compromise. But the City should not read that willingness as a sign of weakness. That would be a grave mistake. We fear that's how the Commission may see it, however.

It is in the interest of the City to compromise. Will they? How the Commissioners handle this negotiation will likely set the tone for their relationship with the new City Manager. The Commissioners in their ego-driven zeal forget that they are not in the driver's seat on this one. Mr. Scholl does not need this job. He lives up the Keys where it is cheaper than Key West and has his Navy retirement to fall back on. The City needs a City Manager. Will the City Commissioners be penny wise and pound stupid here? The voters should watch and stick it to them in November if the Commissioners botch this one. What is about to unfold will likely be pure politics and coupled with a good deal of grandstanding.

Absent from this episode will be the Commissioner whose district includes Truman Annex, Bill Verge. He will be on vacation. He has asked the Commission to delay its consideration of the annexation of Christmas Tree Island (Wisteria Island) because of his vacation. Does he have his priorities straight? Isn't choosing a City Manager more important than Christmas Tree Island? Did he ask the Commission to postpone the vote on the City Manager? Shouldn't all the Commissioners and the Mayor be present for that vote? We think so.

If the vote on the City Manager's salary issue were to be put off, it would give the City time to re-think its negotiating stance and allow the parties a chance to back away from their positional bargaining; maybe even reach a compromise. Wouldn't that be something to cheer about?

The Veto Pen

We're happy to see the report that Governor Crist vetoed the $1.3 million for street beautification for tourism for Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale; the $840,000 for Exponica International, a three-day Latin America cultural and trade festival in Miami; and the $900,000 for a gospel music museum planned in Broward County for which the pork bubbas in Tallahassee were going to spend our tax dollars. We had blogged recently about such excesses.

While we have some reservations on his vetoes of tuition hikes, we do agree with the governor that now is not the time to burden families and students with those hikes. We know also that there is a good deal of waste in higher education and therefore some ways for the institutions affected to ameliorate the effects of the loss of a tuition hike. Moreover, we don't think a 5% tuition hike can be called "modest" as the State University Chancellor would have us believe.

As for the Florida Board of Governors' threat to mount a legal challenge to the veto, our view is save your money. It will cost more than the rise in tuition, and, win or lose, you will lose in the end. Remember, politicians, like elephants, have a long memory. Politicians don't get mad, they just get even. And the governor is, above all else, still a politician.

Getting Even

As we have observed, masterful politicians don't get mad, they just get even. And City Manager, Julio Avael, that master of politics, has done just that to his detractors and their efforts at control by granting raises to the Chief of Police and the Assistant City Manager. These raises were neither small nor (in the case of the Assistant City Manager) uncontroversial. Avael's payback not only rewarded these public servants for their loyalty and hard work in certain areas, but exercised a prerogative granted by the City Charter to the City Manager that the Commissioners and future City Manager are now stuck with. Avael's move also emphasized once again the message of all good bubbas: that if you stick with this bubba, you'll do all right. And do all right in the pay department they did.

The Mayor and some Commissioners had been out to get Avael. They made no secret they wanted him out, and some even wanted him fired or worse. They were playing for keeps, but they were playing with fire.

Now, the sputtering Mayor and seemingly politically inept Commissioners have been caught napping at the game of politics while the shrewd and knowledgeable Master has cunningly out maneuvered them. It was so easy; it must have felt like taking candy from a baby. And all the Mayor and Commissioners can do now is put their best face on it and whine a bit.

Undo the raises? Not a chance, which is why the whines were not screams or howls. The Mayor and Commissioners knew they'd been had by the Master, and all they could do is wonder how it happened and what just had occurred. It was all so smooth.

Even when gone and as he moves into retirement, Avael has, of course, unwittingly insured he will remain in the good graces of the Assistant City Manager and Chief of Police. Should Avael remain in Key West, his bridges to important influence in City government remain in tact.

In many ways Avael plays the game of politics like another master, Sam Rayburn, maybe the most masterful of all House Speakers at the game of politics. It's a gift few have. Rayburn taught it to Lyndon Johnson, who forgot it during Vietnam by listening to the wrong crowd. We dare say Avael didn't have such distinguished mentors; but regardless of what you think of him, he sure has the gift. Let's hope he is willing and able to pass some of this gift to his successor, who surely will need it.

The Commissioners also could learn much from the masterful political lesson Avael has just administered. But in their arrogance, we fear they won't. What they really should be worried about is what else is in store for them in the remaining days of Avael's term. There may be more to this than meets their dollar.

So now the fun begins. As granddaddy once said, "He who laughs last, laughs best." Or, as Jackie Gleason used to say, "How sweet it is!"

What Is Plan B ?

The Monroe County School Board has announced that it is looking for money to replace the four school resource officers the Sheriff has told them he may have to cut from his budget. The School Board and the superintendent have met with a representative of the Sheriff's Office.

But just what is the School Board's plan? To say we are looking for more money, we are lobbying Islamorada or Marathon officials, or we'll have to talk to the municipalities are not plans. What is it besides look for more money and talk to the municipalities that the Board is going to do? Will it cut other services to meet the shortfall in funds? Will it cut administrators? Will it do without the officers? Will it seek private funds? Will it ask businesses to help? What, exactly, is the School Board going to do? A plan would be good and now would be a good time to tell the public what it is.

The way the School Board is proceeding makes us (and perhaps others in the public) think there may be no Plan B.

Ignoring Education and Obesity

Don't you just love the Florida legislature? The fat cats there can refuse to increase the amount of money for teacher merit pay; refuse to provide 400 more reading coaches for Florida schools; and refuse money for obesity prevention.

However, when it comes to their own pork, they can provide $100,000 for a shrimp processing plant in Nassau County; $840,000 for a three-day Exponica International cultural and trade festival in Tamiami Park in Miami so the sponsoring organization can get out of debt and promote the event; $725,000 for a new YMCA in Miami; $100,000 for a new trolley depot in Coral Gables; and a cool $1,300,000 to improve Las Olas Boulevard (which runs down to the beach) in Fort Lauderdale to make it more attractive for tourists.

Of course, there are also other items, like $1,500,000 to convert a canal on the campus of Florida Institute of Technology in Melbournne into a rowing training center. What do you suppose they'll do with the alligators? There's also a plan to give $50,000 to an organization hosting an annual World Orchid Conference in Miami; as well as $800,00 for for new synthetic football fields in Miami. Whatever happened to grass?

The bottom line, if the bubbas in the legislature have their way, Florida kids will be too fat to learn row, assuming the alligators don't get them; and they'll be able to play on Astro Turf. But they'll be dumb as a stump and unable to read well enough to get that job in the shrimp processing factory in Nassau County, thanks to the departure of good teachers for better pay elsewhere. That's the future for the new bubbas. Along their future path, there will have been $50,000 for orchids, as well as money for tourism beautification and cultural trade fairs. What a life!

Cutting The School Resource Officers

What we don't understand about the announced potential cuts of four school resource officers by Sheriff Rick Roth's office is where the School District Administration was when all of this was happening. We don't believe for a Conch minute that the School District was unaware of the potential for cuts. The School District has a liaison with the Sheriff's Office. It is reasonable to assume the School Superintendent knew what was going on. If school officials were co concerned about the potential cuts why weren't they revving up the parents before now?

We wonder whether this situation is not another one of those forget-about-it-until-it-happens situations that has continued to plague this school district's operation. Maybe the School Superintendent is confident that the positions will in fact not be cut or will be restored in the end. We don't know.

What we do know is that the Sheriff's Office doesn't just willy-nilly make cuts. Position cuts are a matter of the tough choices that have to be made among scarce resources. Does one increase this response team or that response team? Does one devote more resources to the schools or to the road? Does one put more resources into crime prevention or to apprehension? Ideally, the Sheriff's Office would like to have the resources to put more of them toward every one of these activities. But the resources just aren't there. So the Office has to make some hard choices about where to put the resources it does have. At the end of the day, it all comes down to money.

The County Commission or the School District (or both) could allocate more money for the school resource officers. Of course, it is still the Sheriff's call whether to assign the officers to that duty, but there is no reason to believe the Sheriff would not do so. Alternatively, the Sheriff could "find" additional money or back away from the potential cuts. However, that seems unlikely at this point in time.

Now if the Sheriff is about to fight with the County Commission over his budget, it is a well known budgetary strategy to cut cows that seem sacred to politicians to increase the likelihood that money for those cows will be added to the budget without reductions being made to other priority items. Do school resource officers fall within this category of sacred cows? Probably not, but the announced potential for cuts may generate enough calls to Commissioners and School District politicians to save some of the resource officer positions or give the sheriff some budgetary wiggle room.

The potential cuts may have one salutary effect. They may force the School District to focus more closely on its own goals and priorities and develop back up plans for situations like the potential loss of the four resource officers. If the School District has a Plan B the District has not announced it. That is not surprising since to do so might lessen the chances of insuring the survival of the resource officer positions. What worries us is that there may be no Plan B on the drawing board.