Time passes and we have to feel for Anne more

In the eye of the storm, I guess: Anne Hennen-Barber

We should all commend Anne Barber for being "in the arena." That's an expression for people whose activities are high-profile and can become matters of contention. The opposite approach in life would be to retreat into privacy. Most people would prefer the latter. 

"Contention" would appear to describe the state of affairs that Ms. Barber is in now. And the more time passes, the more I get into her corner. I told the guys at coffee this morning "I strongly doubt that Anne did anything willful that was really bad." 

But I had to add "you can never be sure about people, even those you swear are saintly." And therein lies the crux of the problem, I guess: the complete lack of elucidation by city officials. We learn through the very lame Morris media about "closed meetings." In the short term I could understand a closed meeting or two. But by now the public should have been able to learn more. 

The problem in not communicating is that it opens the door for the worst small town behavior. You know how "Peyton Place" can be, don't you? Unless some big revelation comes down about Anne having done something bad as opposed to maybe an oversight or two, well I'm on her side. I have known her a long time and it has been an enjoyable bond. I photographed her when she was in elementary school. 

I have known her parents. Her mom Dorothy Hennen-Barber is deceased and was much-loved. I understand her father Curt has health issues these days, and that can be said of many of my old contemporaries. One reason I stopped writing my annual Christmas song was that my Christmas email list included so many people who had died or were falling into very bad health. It was too much. I had an email bounce back to me once because the person had recently had a stroke. Some of these contacts are a little distant from me now. 

 

J'accuse

At this point I have to come down quite hard on our city government. Maybe I should indict the local media too: way too much ":puffy" coverage of harmless feel-good subjects. Jim Morrison would smile at that thought. A smile in agreement. I remember an editor that Jim upbraided once because he felt the editor needed to spend "more time developing story leads." Translation: roll up your sleeves, get into some messy subjects where people don't want to talk to you. 

We have seen the matter of our librarian devolve into what I have called a "pissing match" online. So, conflicts are growing between people who otherwise might get along. And in a small town we always have the angle of personal friendships, loyalty and cliques. 

Man oh man, have I seen this angle come into play through the years, especially in regard to our public school. We hire a new superintendent after a big celebrated search process including a big reception at Sunwood Inn where there were so many suits and ties, then we hire a guy and he ends up completely hamstrung by the influences of established cliques and "good old boys." The supt. of whom I speak is the late Dennis Rettke. On a personal level I got along great with the guy, but who knows what all words were spoken behind my back. 

I have never met the Morris city manager. There is no way I would pre-judge that person. Nor would I be influenced in my basic reasoning process by my long friendship with Anne. And I wonder if Jon Taffer of "Bar Rescue" could have saved Stone's Throw Restaurant. The business relied a lot on people close to higher education. A friend teases this group by calling them "the NPR crowd" and I have borrowed that. 

But right now, right on this Sunday morning there is a "firebell in the night" having arisen for our UMN-Morris. 

 

Storm clouds are real

Will you miss UMM if it's gone? I mean, even if you disapproved of the male person as Homecoming "queen?" I think we'd all miss it dearly. I awoke basically in the middle of the night, checked the current news and found out that Brown University was taking a huge financial hit because of the same charges that could be made about UMM. And UMM does not disguise its philosophy at all. Don't think the Stephen Millers of the world do not notice. 

I am very serious here: It has gotten to where I seriously think that UMM will not be able to open its doors next fall. To survive at all the place might have to grope to totally re-invent itself, and I think that would be very difficult in a short time frame. All this happens while the tariffs loom too. 

We could extricate ourselves by persuading our elected representatives to impeach Trump. Now, how do you suppose that suggestion would go over with Michelle Fischbach? But we elected her and so we must be comfortable with her. Or have y'all just developed a phobia with "Democrats?" Turn off "talk radio," please. 

Donald Trump will live very comfortably the rest of his life. It could even be in Russia. In the meantime our nation should be able to easily find new leadership, maybe someone like Mitt Romney. He would be sensible, mature and basically honest. 

But whither the Morris library and its current distress? Did our city council and mayor really have to allow this untidy matter to "hang out there" in a way that arouses suspicions about the library director? She does not deserve this ambiguity. We should all sympathize with her. 

Also, the city council should not have allowed the East Side Park project to be "sprung" on us in such a short time frame. I think that was the whole problem: the public felt disrespected, short-changed. Get it out there for appropriate public feedback. Maybe we would have been OK with it. 

Killoran stage, East Side Park

A person with a petition came to my front door. The first thing I said was "I hope you don't mind that I'm in my boxer shorts." She didn't, or she didn't say she did. I did not sign it. I respect the NextGen group. 

Can the city address the problem of the Killoran stage having sat for seemingly eons at East Side Park with negligible use? And the place costs money to maintain. 

If the city manager is having kittens over the library expenses now, maybe she and others should direct attention to the Killoran thing which isn't just a "stage," it is a "building." And it's in a park - parks are intended as "open spaces." 

I have been trying to get to the bottom of the current library matter. Trying to sense if Anne will be exonerated. Maybe I have made some progress. Here's an email I got from a friend this past week:

You are right about this being all blown out of proportion. It should have been handled by the Library Board, but they weren’t even included in any of it! HR also could have been involved but weren’t. To just march into the library and demand that Anne leave is reprehensible. A power move by a little tin god who is hell-bent on flexing her muscles the only way she can. I talked to a county commissioner who said the city manager was furious when the county refused to pay more to Viking Library System (the county already pays $70,000), so it looks like she’s getting her revenge by punishing the library. She doesn’t dare do anything to the employees, because they have a union.

 - Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com