Sordid macro picture, so let's talk local

Will we get a sense of peace here?

Now we're dragged through Jeffrey Epstein et al. Seems futile to plunge into that, based on how the "big fish" always extricates himself from trouble. He pulls strings with that relentlessly, predictably. 

I can easily predict the pattern here. So I shall not devote a post where I might suggest the end to the MAGA chapter of the U.S. story. It won't end. 

In the meantime we get a mountain of media-based speculation. Lots of headlines. Trump will emerge bigger than ever. Try getting a skeptical comment about Trump from our congressperson, Michelle Fischbach. Are you on her email communication list? 

I have typed too many words already. So let's shift to the local Morris scene. There is a need to weigh what is going on with our public library. This is the summer of the library mystery or scandal. Maybe I wouldn't write about it, if the local news media could help us out. For whatever reason it won't. That heightens suspicions. 

I have a knowledgeable acquaintance who has faith in the library director. Here's how I broached the subject with this individual in an email Friday morning:

 

Could you refresh me on where we're at with the library matter? The next meeting or whatever? Anything new from Anne's perspective? And I'm not assuming that Anne is faultless. Should I be? 

 

My friend's response:

 

You should not think that Anne had any misconduct at the library! Her appeal hearing is ongoing - the next (and hopefully last) part will be at 10 on Aug. 6. The attorney the City hired just tried to crucify Anne at the hearing about "blatant fraud." She was really nasty. The "investigator" the City hired couldn’t find 68 items from the purchase orders for the library. She never asked the staff there where some things might be! She just looked online in the MPL’s book list. After Anne came back from her suspension she went around the library and found all but one of the items and put them in a box in her office. Immediately after she said that the city manager leaned over and whispered to her minions, who took off like rockets. They scurried over to the library to see if this was true. Anne’s husband Gary followed them and filmed them from the doorway of Anne’s office. Meanwhile, Anne had rational, calm explanations for all of the disputed items on the list. Made the city manager look like a fool.

Cost? Well, the manager billed the library for $9000 before the appeal came up. It will be more with the subsequent hearings. Colossal waste of the taxpayers' money. All she had to do was ask Anne! But no, she had to make a huge production out of it to try to justify the expense. I don’t think much of her. I understand she left her last job under a cloud. Wish she would leave this one!

(end of quoted passage) 

 

He hovers

I actually think the excitement with Trump and how he is dragging down the country should warrant my commentary. My opprobrium. But it seems a futile proposition. I have seen what DJT is made of for years. Opining on this has gotten me nowhere. I have lost friends, friends with whom I will never reunite. They need to be deprogrammed. 

But I am weary fighting the battle. I won't anymore. 

Let's get back to the Morris library matter. BTW our former librarian Melissa Yauk was here for the most recent East Side Park concert. I'm so thankful she never got dragged into a sheer nightmare like Anne Barber has. 

I sent a follow-up email to my background person. I asked a question as follows:

 

If Anne was able to explain everything satisfactorily, why didn't our elected people decide to just drop the whole matter, right there and then? This has got to be uncomfortable for them. It makes me wonder if there is more going on. Certainly the newspaper could have served us better through this. And Reed Anfinson always talks about how the newspaper is a "watchdog." Bullcrap. 

  

And I got another response. Remember that with the local media not doing its job, we have to look for background wherever we might find it. To quote my source person:

 

The reason that the City Council didn’t drop things is because they didn’t talk to Anne, and she wasn’t allowed back in the library until after her suspension was over. Why they didn’t talk to the staff there is beyond me. BTW the city manager doesn’t use the library at all and she doesn’t even live in Morris! She was pissed because she went to the county commissioners and demanded that they pay a bigger percentage to the Viking Library System than they do. They already pay 70% of the fee. They declined to pay more. So she had it in for the library and took it out on Anne. I’m looking forward to having it all over. Huge expense for Anne personally with attorney fees and lost wages. Ugh. 

(end of quoted passage) 

 

You know, I've wondered about this thing called the Viking Library System myself. It may have good features but are we spending too much money for it? Really do we need it at all? Have you ever gone into the library, looked at all the books along the new non-fietion shelf along with fiction, and wondered "who would read some of this stuff?" I wonder that all the time. 

Of course I'm on record wondering if we even need a big expensive public library in our unbounded age of the Internet. Maybe I'm like the boy who says the emperor has no clothes. And do we need a city library, a public school library and a UMN-Morris library? Well I'd suggest no.

I feel for Anne Barber and I'd like for her to come out of this looking honorable. And then we'll have to elect a whole new city council. 

At the macro level with Trump and Epstein, we might wonder if the whole U.S. is about to crumble. Sodom and Gomorrah, yes. The Catholic Church continues to act independent and that's because it's a true worldwide network/organization. Some other church denominations have chosen at path of disgrace.

 

Addendum: Re. the concert at East Side Park, I told my friend/resource person I was relieved that I did not see Jim and Liz Morrison there, because I know from my personal background that Jim dislikes Christian pop music more than anything in the world. Also not a fan of the Three Stooges. I'm actually negative on the Christian music thing too. But I love the Three Stooges. My favorite short is "Grips, Grunts and Groans." As time passes I appreciate "Shemp" more.

 

(Irondale image from facebook)

How about the Irondale band?

It's the best thing that happens at Big Cat Stadium all year: the Irondale marching band's visit for intensive rehearsals. They always invite the public toward the end. It's a semi-formal performance, not intended to be fully polished. It's fascinating to see how the kids develop skills for this. I shared in an email with the same person quoted elsewhere here: 

 

I'm amazed every time I watch an Irondale rehearsal. Not your grandfather's marching band. The boomers are now the grandparents and in some cases great-grandparents. The Irondale rehearsal looked like an alien scene to me. It's wonderful to see all the kids engaged like this. But I wouldn't last five minutes trying to take part. It all seems confusing and sophisticated, beyond me. When I was in high school, we just got lined up in rows and marched forward playing the same tune over and over.

 

She responded. Hey, I gave a clue with gender! Well, who cares?  

 

I really wish we could see the Irondale band’s complete performance, but I know that they have many more rehearsals after they leave here. (Name withheld) and I were also commenting on how very complicated their routine is - we could never do that now, but probably could if we were 50 years younger! My high school band did formations at halftime at the football games but I don’t remember them as being very complicated. Maybe my mind has blocked out that part! I didn’t see the Sarlettes there - were they up on top? We stayed until about 9:15. 

(end of quoted passage)

 

No I did not see the Sarlettes there. I don't see them in church very often either! 

 

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