Letter to the Editor-Reply to The Busy Bee in the Middleton Gazette 5-9-2013

Letter to the Editor-Reply to The Busy Bee in the Middleton Gazette 5-9-2013

In response to The Busy Bee’s “Buzz about town” in May 9th edition of the Middleton Gazette I first submit the original words from the article:

“To whom ever wrote this article in the Gazette-We assume it was Mr. Munds who wrote the article in the April Buzz! We can only guess this because it was similar to the one write up he wrote announcing his candidacy. We were going to call the School Board and the Administration on the carpet, but first decided to call the County elections office to see why Middleton Schools did not do their job, as you alluded to! We were informed by the elections lady you were incorrect in blaming the district for not publicizing these school board openings. We learned that over two years ago the legislators passed an Election Consolidation Bill that transferred all of these election duties over to each county. The Counties handle all of these duties-running elections, setting poll places, providing ballots publicizing all election, legal ads in the paper, verifying paperwork and providing for dates of elections. No schools in the entire state handles these duties, nor have they had to for the past two years. I also got on the website of the District and found timelines showing dates for school board elections-even though it is now apparent to us that was not their duties, nor their responsibilities to even do so! We despise individuals that are always pointing fingers and harping on “Their basic rights being denied.” We are so fortunate to be living in this fine Middleton Community. Wake up and smell the roses Mr. Munds.”

My reply:

The older I get the more I learn from my mistakes and one mistake I have learned, that I think we are all guilty of, is making assumptions, guessing something and basing that something on one’s character when we don’t know the facts. Although I am 50 and human I have still been known to make mistakes but I hope that I am big enough and wise enough by now to admit when I am wrong.

To begin with, Buzz, I have frequently written articles pertaining to such subject matter in the Gazette but have never written an article in the Buzz nor have I ever responded to an article in the Buzz or the Gazette and if I did, I would have certainly affixed my name to it because if I cannot back up what I say, it really isn’t worth saying, is it? If you know anything of my activism, you know I am not afraid to stand publically on principle and have people know who I am. Do you really think that I am the only one in town that thinks like I do, or am I the only one that is loud enough to be heard? Since you assumed it was me, that wrote an article in the Buzz, allow me to reply to your article.

Your article is absolutely correct, for the most part, about the legislative action to for election consolidation but my question was not pertaining to the part of who controls the elections. This was about why a small rural loving and caring school district did not seemingly care about informing its citizens of the open seats available for election, which may not be the duty of the district but instead the desire of a loving community to inform people about new positions, like the city council elections. Should the reason why the election consolidation was enacted be considered and could knowing this support the questions raised? Was it because people did not trust the individual school districts to perform their own elections for favored outcomes? If the people’s concerns were for favored outcomes, would it not stand to reason that the upcoming open seats would be hidden to protect the existing board?

First of all, to my recollection, in all my articles I try not to blame anyone, I put it out there as questions to be considered. I have declared candidacy before, I know the people at the Elections office and, as you know, I ask many questions. Listed in the Consolidation handbook, it states that the districts should be announcing the open seats for the upcoming elections; the county just runs them and posts legal notices of who is running, there is a fine line. The question is why wouldn’t a Patriotic community celebrate the electoral process by advertising open seats in the electoral process and why would they refuse to unless it was a duty?

I did declare my candidacy; I am bold and a bit aggressive at times and say things that are not normally said because I believe in the people’s right to question their government to remain vigilant to ensure government is kept in check, to make sure the rights of the people are not violated. Our founders warned us about being apathetic and going with the flow and knowing it allowed government to rule over its people which is contrary to American Exceptionalism that I know Middleton seems to love and cherish, so are we really that different?

People know me only by my articles, but if people knew my love for my community, my kids, your kids and the preservation of freedom that made this country great, perhaps I wouldn’t be viewed only through what is written.

One of the biggest problems I have seen is the ability to meet with large numbers of people in this district to communicate the issues. I will admit, I spend all my time reading constitutional law and history books and spend free time with my family but when I have been out in public, it has been an exhaustive effort to fight for what most people don’t even know what they are losing. There are people that donate time to charities, do community service or paint or clean up the town, my time is spent in the fight, on the radio, public speaking and in hearings in city councils and the legislature trying to get people to consider what is happening to our country!

With all due respect, while you may like to think you despise someone you don’t really know, you may also want to ponder where your rights come from, and what they are and how they are protected before you can say that your rights aren’t being denied.

You are right in another aspect, I agree we are fortunate we live in Middleton and I do need to wake up, smell the roses from time to time and be thankful for what we have but please do not suggest that I am clueless when it comes to the proper role of government, the proper role of representation and the principles of freedom.

Is one that truly cares, someone that goes with the flow, without question or one that diligently attempts to hold our government’s feet to the fire to preserve freedom for our kids? Shall I just sit quietly if I knew my fellow citizens were being taken for granted? Dear God, I forbid it!