Compelling Conservative Commentary

Today I was drawn toward the headlines of several columns written by authors who are generally considered to situate themselves to the right of the political center, some closer to the middle than others, and one teetering on the fringe.

I see myself as a little bit left of center, and since I consider it important to try to know what the entire spectrum is thinking, I regularly seek these opinions out. It's easy enough; just surf Drudge and HuffPost and you'll have most of it covered pretty well.

I found three of these columns of particular interest and entertaining to read, and thought I would share some highlights from them, along with some miscellaneous thoughts.

By far the most high profile of the three is David Frum's cover story for this week's Newsweek, which details many of the ways that Rush Limbaugh is the wrong choice to act as either a point man for conservatives or as the de facto head of the GOP:

"Rush knows what he is doing. The worse conservatives do, the more important Rush becomes as leader of the ardent remnant. The better conservatives succeed, the more we become a broad national governing coalition, the more Rush will be sidelined.

But do the rest of us understand what we are doing to ourselves by accepting this leadership? Rush is to the Republicanism of the 2000s what Jesse Jackson was to the Democratic party in the 1980s. He plays an important role in our coalition, and of course he and his supporters have to be treated with respect. But he cannot be allowed to be the public face of the enterprise—and we have to find ways of assuring the public that he is just one Republican voice among many, and very far from the most important."

What Mr. Frum appears to be saying is that, as I've said before, Rush comes from an industry in which hype, exposure, and influence are tangible commodities. His quest for those in the quantities that satisfy his ego will maintain and exalt a dedicated base of listeners and GOP voters, but not in sufficient numbers to establish a winning consensus among the American electorate. Quoting again:

"Forty-one percent of independents have an unfavorable opinion of him, according to the new NEWSWEEK Poll. Limbaugh is especially off-putting to women: his audience is 72 percent male, according to Pew Research."

Of those within the Republican Party lining up to try and steer it toward continued relevance in the current political and economic climate, Rush Limbaugh is the nuclear option.


Speaking of fingers you would not want to have on the button, Michelle Malkin penned an interesting column trying to establish a connection between the 'tea party' protests popping up at different locations around the country and the philosophy of Ayn Rand, most effectively communicated through the character of John Galt in her novel Atlas Shrugged. Ms. Malkin passed along the stated interest of many 'tea partyers' of "going Galt", or deliberately reducing or eliminating their personal productive output so as to deny the government revenue, or at least get below the $250,000 income level.

I haven't read that book; I was more interested in The Fountainhead, which is rumored to be based on Frank Lloyd Wright. Both works contain within them as essential to the story Rand's core philosophies on individual achievement and liberty, laissez-faire capitalism, and according to Wikipedia:

"...holding that the sole function of government ought to be the protection of individual rights, including property rights. Rejecting faith as antithetical to reason, (Rand) opposed any form of mysticism or supernaturalism, including organized religion."

My first gut feeling when confronted with this approach is that it is inherently selfish. The attitude of scorn being stated in some circles for those with mortgage default and other problems is disturbing to me.

While I see some of the inherent value in an uncompromising approach to one's own productivity, this approach also raises a question that the Republican leadership will have to deal with, given Rand's disdain for religion and a stated contempt for what she termed
"today's mawkish concern with and compassion for the feeble, the flawed, the suffering, the guilty."

How do human beings act toward one another when they truly believe that they are not accountable to someone greater than themselves? How does the GOP balance something like that with its' evangelical base?

Thanks to Rick Wagner for highlighting the Malkin column. Ann Coulter with curves, indeed.


In the food for thought department, George F. Will deserves considerable attention for today's column on the Department of Agriculture and its' new head, former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack. The real topic was this Department's self-stated importance to so many facets of American life, primarily through our food supply.

Will went on to cite and lament the overabundance of corn-based foods and animal feed (which winds up as part of our food supply), and how this has contributed to obesity, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease since the end of World War II:

"Vilsack's department is entwined with the food industry that produces a food supply unhealthily simplified by the dominance of a few staples such as corn. This diet, (food author Michael) Pollan says, has made many Americans both overfed and undernourished."

I resemble these remarks. Leslie admonished me this evening for, in part, spending too much time typing and not enough being active in doing more things. It's up to me to change that, so I will start doing that. Small moves at first, but with the extra light of the day and a more temperate climate, it's time to break out the bicycle and start paying closer attention to what I stuff in my face each day.

Have a good rest of the week.

Council Candidates and Public Safety

I don't get a daily newspaper on a regular basis right now, and that's probably how I missed the LWV City Council candidates' forum last night. Mike Wiggins of the Sentinel didn't, though, and his coverage of the event provided some good insights into what the candidates are thinking, particularly about the need for better public safety facilities.

It seems that the consensus among all of the candidates was to try to break down these improvements into smaller projects, with a little more of an austere approach. This bodes well for other improvement issues within the main project emphasis that I have mentioned before, such as the construction of a new Communication Center in a location better suited to emergency planning and security concerns.

Had I been there, I would have likely have tried to incorporate into a question the five points for public safety improvement that I detailed in a post and Sentinel commentary this past November. These are in addition to, and complementary of, any efforts to improve on the physical infrastructure of the City's public safety agencies.

I would have also attempted to elicit a response from each of the candidates on these points, which I will summarize below:

Regionalization / Consolidation - Begin discussion on the feasibility of resource sharing, and eliminating certain components of public safety that are duplicated unnecessarily. Conduct a feasibility study of a regional police force serving the entire Grand Valley.

Annexation Reform - Re-evaluate the current system of annexing property into the city, including a re-negotiation of the Persigo agreement of 1998. Delay additional annexations, especially in outlying areas, until a formal plan for improving public safety infrastructure is in place and underway.

Citizen Advisory Board - Establish a Public Safety Advisory Board, made up of interested citizens that apply for appointment in the same manner as any other City or County volunteer board.

Emergency Management - Grand Junction is one of the largest cities in the state without its' own Emergency Manager. Reliance on the county for these services flies in the face of the City's stated commitment to effective service delivery, and creates an unreasonable span of control for the County's Emergency Management department.

Human Resources - Critical to making any infrastructure or shared resource solution work is adequate personnel to plan, implement, and manage the various technical and process systems that must accompany any new facility, as well as effectively manage and maintain the legacy systems that our public safety responders depend on to do the job now.

I'll be forwarding these points to all of the City Council candidates I can reach, in an attempt to secure their opinion and input on the issues surrounding those overdue public safety improvements that must be undertaken in a tenuous economic climate. I'll let everyone know what I receive.

My birthday is tomorrow. I think I may give myself and some newspaper a present with a home delivery subscription.

Have a good weekend.

Finance in Perspective

I'm going to have to start taping Jon Stewart. In the course of one evening, he placed our financial system in sharp perspective, and laid waste to those who report on the system, and whose credibility is like the house of cards that our markets have become.

Yeah, my retirement took a big hit thanks to some of these jokers. I can't go on living every day in worry about those things. I've been there, and I feel that leaving things up to God, and receiving direction from him, is a far better arbiter of my life thus far than any balance sheet or talking head on the tube.

I pray for the awareness and resolve to use my God-given skills and abilities to focus on what is truly important, just as I pray for resolve, stability, and courage among those in government and the private sector who we trust to run things honestly and fairly.

Enjoy:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

The Dow Knows All

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Do It Yourself Annexation Protest

I'm still feeling unsettled. For better or for worse, it translated itself into fits of creativity punctuated with bouts of insomnia. Must be my version of spring fever.

I thought that I would try something different today. This would have been less frustrating with a faster computer, but I'm reluctant to let the old standby go to the scrap heap for something more up to date. I'm trying to resist becoming a pack rat that can't let go of anything, and I'm pretty sure that I can't rationalize keeping the old machine because I might just want to look at a 3.5 inch floppy someday. Let's just say that this year's spring cleaning is going to be interesting.

Anyway, this took way too much time, but it was fun. I'll let the pictures and sound tell the story (I hope), and add more after this:



I prepared most of my remarks to City Council last night in advance. I've posted a revised version below for anyone who might be interested in re-visiting this topic with Council, every time there is a public hearing on an annexation. I'll try to be there every time one is on the council agenda, so that these comments can be provided as part of the hearing, and duly recorded.

If you are a city resident concerned with the effects of continued annexation and/or the development that triggers it, then consider using the below as a template for your own annexation protest. Council needs to hear it regardless of whether they want to do something about it. The candidates running for Council seats in April need to hear it.

Given the city's obligation to annex new development within the 201 Sewer boundary under the current Persigo Agreement, this effort may seem quixotic to some. I'm inclined to agree, but that doesn't really change my opinion that the need to communicate our concerns to our elected officials is a significant part of our duty as citizens.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a few other windmills to joust with, a son to raise, a woman to love, and a life to get on with.

Have a great rest of the week.

Unsettled

The wind is blowing harder now, blowing dust into my eyes.
The dust settles on my skin, making a crust I cannot move in,
and I'm hovering like a fly, waiting for the windshield on the freeway...

Genesis, from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974)

The semi-warm temperatures herald the beginnings of spring in Grand Junction, but my past experience tells me that March is one of the most unsettled months of the year. I've been feeling it since the beginning of the weekend, and continuing through today.

A general sense of recklessness, sadness, disingenuous behavior, moving to downright stupidity, has pervaded the last few days, and I feel directed to let them off here and thank God that my loved ones are safe, despite questionable decisions and bad judgment all the way around.

Friday's final edition of the Rocky Mountain News was a sad but not unexpected event. I won't elaborate beyond that other than to say that I didn't read it enough to really miss it. There is another tabloid-style paper in Denver that could pick up some of the slack, even if it's a weekly and has a slightly more irreverent style. But when I'm in Denver, I never miss an edition of Westword, nor their robust online presence.

Best of luck to the Rocky staff, and the remaining Scripps papers in the Denver metro area.
Sunday's Sentinel printed a column from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, written by one of their columnists who lives in my hometown. He said it very well:

The irreplaceable service of newspapers is the practical presence of that legion of reporters they employ and dispatch to monitor government in all its forms, starting at your local town hall...Democratic societies need facts to function. They need watchdogs to bark and arouse us to certain facts -- and those watchdogs need to be paid somehow.

The recklessness continued into Friday night, and to the credit of our local law enforcement they are doing whatever they can to stem the tide of some of the behavior that has resulted in an inordinate amount of fatal accidents involving young people.

As today's Sentinel reported, a task force of local police and state liquor enforcement was out over the weekend targeting potential underage drinking parties and liquor sales to minors. Unfortunately, one of the places they happened upon was my house, while I was at work.
It looks like I have my work cut out for me in more ways than one.

I was working when the victims from the latest fatal crash (right in my neighborhood) descended on St. Mary's. I'm hoping that when the names of the deceased are released, they will not be people that I know or know of. That's happened one too many times already this year.


On the safety front, I was flabbergasted when I read the account of the events at the old County Courthouse that precipitated a discussion about permitting county office employees to arm themselves. The gun part wasn't what floored me. This did:

An upset county resident made the clerk feel so threatened she clandestinely sent an e-mail to (Commissioner Janet) Rowland, who was in her office on the third floor at the time, while the man stood in front of her desk...Rowland said she did not know what to do and called Mesa County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Heather Benjamin. Deputies arrived within minutes, but by then the man was gone.

The various public safety agencies across the county, along with the Regional Communication Center, spend thousands of dollars annually on public education and emergency awareness and preparedness training. Yet one of the county's highest elected officials, who approves much of those expenditures along with many more thousands to pay law enforcement and the county's lone Emergency Management professional, did not know what to do when faced with a perceived imminent threat to her staff?

Isn't it obvious, or were there other mitigating factors, such as message control? God forbid we call 9-1-1; that might bring a quick response, but also the media behind them.

The county says there are emergency plans and training, but they haven't been exercised or trained on in some time. Fail to plan, plan to fail, or as an old girlfriend admonished me almost 30 years ago, "complacency is death".

Media watchdogs, keep an eye on those consent agendas for contracts with a certain security consulting firm run by a local legislator.


Among other things the Sentinel reported on this weekend was the so-called 6th Man that is credited with giving Grand Junction and Central High's boys' basketball teams superior records at home this past season.

I went to the GJHS-Central game a couple of weeks back, and watched the student section for some kind of inventiveness, irreverence, something to really get inside the heads of the visitors. Instead, the atmosphere was almost subdued in its' predictability. Two Assistant Principals and the Athletic Director stood guard in front of the student section, quickly admonishing any call or taunt that they found out of line.

To add to the surreal atmosphere was a PA announcement at the beginning of the contest, encouraging all spectators to engage in something called "sporting behavior". I thought that was too weird even for District 51, and after some research I was right.

It seems the Colorado High School Activities Association, which governs high school athletics here, put out a list of these little announcements on their website, along with articles on enforcing political correctness and tolerance in the athletic arena.

I agree with a lot of this, especially when it comes to racial and cultural issues. It just seems that the heavy hand of administration is taking all of the original thinking and innovation out of athletic fandom at the high school level. An example is the 2001 and 2002 Fruita Monument fans, one of which dressed as a can of PAM cooking spray when the Wildcat football team was playing Loveland High. Details here. Classic stuff, that.

Of course, the schools have the right and responsibility to see that their athletic events are conducted in a way that makes the participants and spectators feel safe. Safety is one thing; impinging on creativity and free speech rights is something else. Don't count on seeing me there again anytime soon.


Speaking of statements of personal freedom, today marked the first sign of spring for many of us in the Grand Valley, and perhaps the last great act of defiance for the valley's agricultural community. I saw it on the way to church; the high, almost mushroom-shaped column of smoke from a controlled agricultural burn.

To be sure, the fire departments were running fast and furious today for those folks who let their fires get out of hand, but the air was still hazy with smoke from the big, well-managed burns on both sides of the valley. This provided a twist of irony to the first day of the "Breathe Easy" restrictions imposed by three of the valley's 4 hospitals. As of today, all tobacco products, including smokeless, are prohibited from use on the property of St. Mary's, Community, and Family Health West. Indoors and outdoors.

Breathe easy, breathe carefully...it's burning season.

I was unable to contact anyone at the Grand Junction VA Medical Center to clarify their smoking policy, but imaginary sources report that budgetary restrictions prevented the VA from joining the 'Breathe Easy' effort. Seems they don't have the funds to keep a SWAT team on standby all the time...
Seriously, we appreciate your sacrifice for us. Smoke 'em if you've got 'em, boys.


I'll close on a congratulatory and cautionary note. I was impressed by the accolades heaped upon our local print media at the annual Colorado Press Association awards. A special shout out to Denny Herzog of the Sentinel for receiving what amounts to statewide recognition for his lifetime achievements as a newspaperman.

One recent development on the virtual side of the Sentinel's product has raised some eyebrows, however. It seems that the Junction Daily Blog has been removed from the list of community blogs on the Sentinel's website. This without any explanation or notice to Ralph D'Andrea, the Daily Blog's creator and Curmudgeon in Chief.

The Sentinel can put whoever they want in their list of blog links, and I appreciate their appreciation of the content produced here. Ralph says he isn't angry about it, but that doesn't excuse the lack of some type of private or public explanation for the Sentinel's move.

Denny, this is bad form, and not in keeping with your status as a journalist, editor, and manager, especially in light of your recent recognition.


There, I've got all that out. Time to get ready for bed. Along with that will be prayers for patience, firmness, perseverance, balance, and organization. Perhaps the month ahead will be better than its' opening weekend.

Have a blessed week ahead.

Super Spelling and Slumdog

I watched the Oscars on Sunday night, and was very pleased to see Slumdog Millionaire formally recognized for the brilliantly conceived and executed work that it is. There were many really good films this past year, but this one accomplished many things. It told a great love story, combined it with a rags-to-riches tale that would have made Horatio Alger and Charles Dickens proud, and displayed for the world both sides of the paradoxical culture and society that is India today.

One other thing I saw over this past weekend was also pretty exciting and maybe personally gratifying in a small way. Lindsay Gnesios of East Middle School won the Mesa County Spelling Bee, and will represent our area in the state bee in Denver next month.

I remembered Lindsay as a somewhat precocious and articulate fifth grader when her class participated in the Words program two years ago. She picked a good word, MONOCHROMATIC, and wrote a great sentence to back it up. I put Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" behind it, and it turned out rather well.

I'm happy that Lindsay has found joy and a gift in the printed and spoken word. Best wishes to her, and to all of the spellers headed to Denver.

Call Before You Dig...

Today's compromise of a Bresnan Communications fiber optic cable along Patterson Road in Grand Junction did more than just inconvenience a lot of people. It illustrated some potential vulnerabilities in our telecom infrastructure that may have to be addressed.

I got the first clue about a problem when listening to the scanner this morning, and hearing the Grand Junction High School office advise someone that all of their computers were down. I was then checking the TV channels, and noticed that the CBS and Fox channels (KREX and KFQX) were black, as well as Channel 16. Since these stations have largely transitioned to digital broadcasting, the likely majority of cable subscribers were likely unprepared and unable to tune their TV's to the over-the-air signal.

When I first read about the problem on the Sentinel's website, I put these together (KREX is still in the WCCC building, operated in part by District 51), and when I heard that it was the crew working on burying the Independent Ranchmen's Ditch along Patterson, the reported scope of the outage started to make more sense.

KJCT reported that an equipment operator had cut a cable containing 96 strands of fiber. The proximity of this cable to Bresnan's local headquarters may have contributed to the widespread scope of the outage, although my section of downtown did not appear to be affected.

School District 51 goes through Bresnan to support a significant portion of its' data and telecommunications networks, which explains the problems spread out across so many schools that were likely cut off from their database servers or phone switches by the cable cut.

Bresnan's responsiveness to the outage appeared to be effective and impressive, even if it did occur during the business day in close proximity to their offices. This was of particular concern because of Bresnan's position as a provider of local phone services, particularly 9-1-1 service, that were unavailable due to the fiber cut.

The word got out quickly via the media so that people with a service interruption could prepare to use another way to contact help if needed. This differs from Bresnan outages for scheduled maintenance, which have occurred in the middle of the night with no notice to customers at all.

This is not the first time that construction in the Patterson Road area has caused something like this. When 25 1/2 Road south of Patterson was re-constructed several years ago, a Qwest fiber cable was broken, resulting in interruption of phone and data services to the immediate area, including the fire station there.

One has to wonder how these kinds of things happen despite the requirements and resources in place to have buried utilities located before digging. One thing lacking from the broadcast media coverage was any attempt to interview the contractor responsible for the broken cable. I wonder why...

This doesn't happen very often, but when it does it definitely tends to create some widespread inconveniences, with the potential for some serious problems to develop if the root cause is more difficult to rectify than this one. When they say call before you dig, they mean it.

I believe that Bresnan takes its' responsibilities to the community seriously. I also hope that the contingencies and plans to address a catastrophic failure of their infrastructure (whether by an intentional act or not) are well established and reviewed regularly. There is a significant amount of the population in our area that trusts them to maintain the bulk of their connections to the outside world, 24 hours a day.

Saturday Spinfest

I didn't get to phone in to Mesa County's first telephone town meeting on Saturday, but from Mike Wiggins' excellent account in the Sentinel I read some statements that had me scratching my head. For example:

(County Commissioner Craig) Meis responded by saying county residents can enjoy both a high quality of life and the economic development that comes from drilling. He said the industry slowdown will give the county time to catch up and plan for further development if and when drilling ramps up again.

I'm not sure I see the direct connection between energy development and a higher quality of life. Perhaps it's a mathematical figure based on the total amount of particle board and stucco used in a calendar year, divided by the number of white 4-wheel drive dually pickups registered in the county. Maybe it's the time of one's daily commute, multiplied by the cost of operating your vehicle.

Perhaps quality of life can't be derived from balance sheets, employment figures, the consumer price index, or the S & P 500.

Perhaps that quality is derived from knowing we are loved, and being able to love and care for others. Does that love emerge from material wealth? I don't think so.

Perhaps in the wake of the inevitable adjustments that have occurred in the wake of the greed and mismanagement in the world's credit markets, some people are becoming more inclined to take stock in those intangibles that truly define quality of life.

Perhaps the economic adjustments that have resulted in limited credit availability and reduced market prices for energy (the real reasons behind the downsizing) will result in greater acceptance of simpler living. If that happens, I feel bad for Craig Meis and those like him.

“If it were any other sector pulling back hundreds of millions of dollars, the leadership of this state would be sitting down saying, ‘How can we keep you here? What can we do to keep you here?’ ” (State Senator Josh) Penry said. “But that’s not happening in this case. It’s making a grim situation only worse.” The senator said he is confident that, in the long term, there will be “a growing bipartisan recognition that we’ve got to fix these rules.”

Any other sector of industry wouldn't be leaving the raw materials of its' business behind. The energy sector has no choice. The reason they are scaling down is because the price they stand to get for those materials has dropped to the point where it is no longer profitable. The almighty marketplace has determined this.

Growing up in the shadow of the steel industry in the 60's and 70's, I got to see the direct effects of steel production on my neighborhood. I later watched those effects diminish as tighter controls on emissions drastically improved air quality. When the bulk of the steel industry went away in the late 70's, market conditions were the primary cause.

The rule changes are in response to several years of energy activity without the rules. When energy prices and credit availability recover sufficiently, the drilling will ramp up again because the energy is still here. However, it will be extracted under conditions that will help to protect those intangible features that provide Coloradans with an exceptional quality of life.

In response to a question about alternative energy production, Meis said it’s important for other areas of the country to step up and provide energy, whether it be extracted minerals or alternative forms such as wind and solar power.
“I don’t want to be the only place supplying energy for the country,” he said. “Just because Martha’s Vineyard doesn’t want to see windmills in their backyard doesn’t mean we need to be drilling here in our backyard (alone).”

Fortunately, there are several entrepreneurs in the Grand Junction area, who along with many property owners have sufficient vision to leverage our preponderance of sunny days with solar power solutions for residential and business properties. This is an example of thinking globally and acting locally.

Also, I'm wondering if Mr. Meis has ever been to Cape Cod and the Islands. If he hasn't, then he knows not what he's talking about. If he has, then he needs to be reading up on the issue. If he wants to see windmills, Nebraska and Iowa are a lot closer anyway.

Not every participant was pleased with the tenor of the discussion that leaned in favor of the energy industry. Rowland, who acted as the moderator, indicated about halfway through the meeting that one person wanted to know if the commissioners had “given thought to having anyone on the panel with a differing opinion.”

Rowland responded by saying the meeting wasn’t intended to serve as a pro-and-con discussion of the industry, but rather as a forum for people to ask questions.

Well, they organized it, and I suppose they can invite who they want. It's still disingenuous to utilize cutting edge technology to link the community in such an innovative manner, and then try to structure the message and the participants to allow for criticism of people and ideas that have no representation, no way to defend themselves.

If, as Commissioner Rowland says, the forums are intended for people to ask questions, then the people should have the opportunity to ask them of stakeholders on all sides of an issue. Fair and balanced, right?

I'm interested in these electronic town meetings, and will probably participate in at least one over the next few months. I would hope that the commissioners will not attempt to stack the newer forums with like-minded advocates for the position espoused, in hopes of spinning the message unchallenged.

Have a good week ahead.

Farewell, Mike Saccone

Daily Sentinel political reporter Mike Saccone is ending his all-too-short tenure on the Western Slope to take a job with Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.

I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Mike on several occasions. His expertise in reporting on political issues was something that the area really needed and benefited from.

Mike, I don't have much to say except that we as a community will miss your acumen on politics at all levels, combined with a reporter's insight and determination to get the information right, and get it into print.

While I have some concerns about you going to work for a conservative Republican Attorney General, after your predecessor left to become the designated apologist/spinmeister for COGA, I have nothing but good wishes for your personal and professional success.

As the Communications Director, it's probably a good bet that you will end up being the public face of the AG's office more often than not. Should a Press Secretary role be something that you find attractive for your future career path, my hope would be that you follow the example set by Bill Moyers, as opposed to say, Ari Fleischer.

Of course, an lot of this depends as much on who you work for as anything else. I do think that your taste in suits will help your chances, though.

Godspeed, Mike, and may fortune favor you in all your endeavors. Enjoy the Front Range.

Support Your Local Dispatchers

Two Sundays ago, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel printed as its' Page One story an overview of the challenges facing the Grand Junction Regional Communication Center (GJRCC) in trying to recruit and retain personnel.

The week prior I was contacted by reporter Mike Wiggins, and we met to talk about the challenges faced by today's communications professionals. Even with some stark differences and varying challenges, I couldn't help thinking that this was familiar territory being traversed anew.

In 1995, GJRCC began a national recruitment for Supervisors. This followed a large exodus of employees in 1994, along with another Sunday Page One story in the Sentinel on the staffing crisis, and a consultant's study that determined that a first tier of management 24 hours a day was needed to provide operational oversight and continuity.

It was felt that more responsive management and problem-solving would improve working conditions, and thereby employee retention. I was one of five supervisors hired as part of that recruitment. The challenges and rewards of relocating to Colorado and doing the job were significant.

The staff of GJRCC is highly skilled, and performs their appointed tasks in an admirable manner under very stressful conditions. I cannot see fit to level criticism at any member of the Comm Center staff. This does not extend to the Grand Junction Police Department, or City administration.

I know this is a lot to read, and if you're interested, read on. If you just want to know the gist of what I'm getting at, here are some bullet points for you:

1. The issues surrounding staff retention extend well beyond the recruitment, hiring, and training process. It goes into the realm of the organizational structure and operating processes and policies of the agencies that use GJRCC, as well as the nature and service provision of other government agencies.
   


2. Stakeholders in the future of this essential community public safety resource need to suspend disbelief when it comes to the future of the center, and begin to brainstorm ideas for the future structure, administration, and functional location of GJRCC and the Grand Junction Emergency Telephone Service Authority. Nothing should be off the table at the start.


3. The community at large has a significant stake in the success of its' public safety agencies. There are many things that can be done, and issues that can be advocated for, that can go a long way toward improving both our collective quality of life and the work environment of our public safety professionals.
   

In response to the community's growth, the center has needed to hire more people to do the job. Some new employees find that they can't handle the job, or decide they don't like it, and 'wash out' or leave shortly after starting. Legacy employees find other paths for their career, or their lives change significantly in a way that requires a change or adjustment. Either way, they move on. I'm one of those people.

It's not my intent to generate some grand expose' or indictment of the GJRCC management team, insofar as I share in the responsibility for some of these conditions that have resulted in the latest staffing shortfall. I do intend to illustrate some of the ways that best practices could be applied to the existing workplace environment, with the hope of optimizing efficiency and minimizing the unnecessary stress that often creeps into a complex and high-energy work environment such as this one.

As those of you who read my post from November already know, I like to divide these kinds of issues into the three components of a best practice; Technology, Processes, and People. I found a possible example from the Feb. 1 story:

"During the busiest times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, the call volume can rise to the point where officers wait 20 to 30 minutes for a response after they ask dispatchers to check a license plate or a driver’s name through a computer database with information about stolen vehicles or arrest warrants.

That can compromise officer safety, according to Deputy Police Chief Troy Smith, who said some officers don’t even attempt to check for stolen vehicles or wanted subjects during times they know the dispatch center is swamped."

The City and County have spent thousands of dollars on computers, infrastructure, and software to provide a mobile data network for law enforcement officers in the field. This network is designed to provide access to, among other things, the same criminal and vehicle databases that the dispatchers use.

Assuring that this mobile data system is fully operational (technology), that field personnel are properly trained in its' use (people), and are required to use it when they can safely do so instead of relying on dispatchers (processes), may help reduce the workload and multi-tasking burden that dispatchers at times face unnecessarily.

In my November post about the Public Safety Initiative, I identified several focus areas that I believe are critical to achieving a best practice in the eventual expansion of our public safety infrastructure. Communications is no small part of that. Some of these areas that apply specifically to improving the work environment at GJRCC are:

Regionalization / Consolidation - GJRCC functions at a higher level of overall efficiency because of its' county-wide scope of operations. However, the idiosyncratic nature of multiple independent agencies creates additional stress on regionally-based personnel. A dispatcher forced to remember how an animal complaint or runaway report is handled in Grand Junction vs. Clifton vs. Fruita vs. Palisade, because they may all be handled differently, is going to have an increased stress level in comparison to processing those calls the same way for everyone.

Better yet, having one metropolitan police department across the Grand Valley would appear to make enormous sense from a fiscal and operational standpoint, regardless of obstacles such as politics, parochialism, and hubris that stand in the way of even a meaningful discussion. There needs to be some meaningful discussion about resource sharing and modifying operating processes (especially in this economy) before any more buildings get built.

If Police Chief Bill Gardner was serious when he told City Council “We cannot continue to do what we’re doing”, then he's smart enough to realize that statement also applies to a lot more than just the Communication Center.

Annexation Reform - A more common sense method of annexing territory into the City will serve to reduce the stress involved in determining jurisdiction. For example, not having to worry about whether or not the crime occurred in the victim's backyard or on the canal road behind it, because the yard is in the City but the canal is not. Seriously.

Emergency Management - Critical incidents may be unpredictable, but the manner in which they are responded to shouldn't be. Since 9/11, one thing that FEMA has done a lot of work on is the National Incident Management System (NIMS). This comprehensive framework for managing emergency operations includes the Incident Command System (ICS), which FEMA describes as follows:

"ICS is flexible and can be used for incidents of any type, scope, and complexity. ICS allows its users to adopt an integrated organizational structure to match the complexities and demands of single or multiple incidents."

Many good dispatchers get that way by learning to anticipate the needs of the resources they are coordinating, and planning the notification of additional resources or other related tasks in advance of the actual request. Consistent use of ICS by public safety responders allows for the anticipation of resource needs according to a plan, and allows dispatchers to function in a much more informed, empowered, and efficient way.

Those public safety agencies that are tacitly resistant to integrating NIMS/ICS into their routine daily operations make a dispatcher's job more difficult. Given the national focus on better coordination and accountability of emergency resources, this resistance is becoming all the more indefensible.

Human Resources - In the January 19 Sentinel, another Mike Wiggins story detailed what each City department was trimming back from their planned expenditures after a spending freeze was imposed by City Manager Laurie Kadrich. The Police Department's tally included:

"..held off on hiring another dispatch center supervisor (emphasis mine), an investigations sergeant and a corporal to work in professional standards and

training."

From 1995 until 2007, the number of dispatcher positions at GJRCC increased at a slow but steady pace, but the number of Supervisors remained constant. This steadily widening span of control was a cause of concern for myself and some of my colleagues.

According to a national call center consulting firm, span of control should be evaluated when:

· Quality monitoring needs to be improved.
· Supervisors are stressed due to workload.
· Agent turnover is increasing or too high.

· Budget cuts are needed.

· Changes in the company’s organization.

I'm hopeful that among the 15 proposed new positions are sufficient supervisory staff to maintain an acceptable span of control. Critical along with those providing operational direction and supervisory oversight are those legacy employees who function as training officers. Their experience, patience, and ability to document progress and provide effective feedback to new trainees is invaluable.

New Technology and Infrastructure - As if those attempting to deal with the current staffing issues didn't have enough on their plate, there's the pressing need for a new communications center facility. With the Public Safety Initiative headed back to the drawing board, it seems an opportune time to revisit exactly how to make that happen from a regional perspective, as opposed to a 'City-centric' view.

The Fall 2008 newsletter of the Academy of Architecture for Justice included an article on 9-1-1 Center design, which offered the following:

"In Will County, Ill., the design team undertook an extensive process to select appropriate sites within the entire county. The two-pronged approach involved eliminating all areas deemed less suited because of natural hazards (such as flood plains or wetlands) or man made hazards (such as major roads, pipelines, or nuclear power plants), followed by a nomination process of available sites in strategic zones of the county. All sites were subsequently ranked and recommended to the Emergency Telephone System Board."

With the current and planned future sites for a new Comm Center located in an urban core area, between two major transportation routes and a quarter-mile from a major rail corridor, perhaps this is the time to begin a careful reconsideration of where to locate a critical facility such as this.

Community Involvement - What can we as a community do to support the efforts of these professionals to provide us with the most efficient service possible, when we need it the most?

• Prudent Use - Yes, ma'am, the fireworks in the park are a sanctioned City event. It is not a crime in progress. You may want to contact the City Manager in the morning....Is there an emergency associated with the power outage? I'm sorry, but we don't have any control over when the power will come back on. Would you like the number of your power company?....I'm sorry, sir, as much as I understand that your daughter is afraid of the lightning and thunder, we don't have an officer available to talk to her and calm her down. Would you like our non-emergency number in case you need it later? Seriously.
  
• Community Support - There's no doubt that these critical workers, and and many of their police and fire counterparts, are in need of better facilities. Participate in those community efforts to gather input, and strongly consider lending your support at the polls.
• Community Advocacy - The abysmal state of our mental health and alcohol treatment programs results in a revolving door of Chronic Public Inebriates, the chronic mentally ill, and increased suicide attempts, most notably in places like the Monument. From system access to treatment and transport, public safety resources are misused and stretched too thin by the failure of Colorado West Mental Health to maintain their hospital status, thus requiring dispatchers to send resources to transport patients to and from local hospitals and CWMH. Additional support, funding, and understanding is needed to allow the full potential of these resources to be properly realized.
  

As a growing community, even in the face of recession, we face significant challenges to our quality of life by the effects of that growth. Crime, overcrowding, and depletion of insufficient resources are contributing factors to this. Examination and modification of the way we grow and allocate resources is a big factor in how public safety responds to the needs of citizens.

Those who competently serve as the first voice of help to those truly in need are themselves in need of your support and understanding. The next time you have a need to call 9-1-1, remember the work and dedication that goes into making that person a professional, who can respond to the most routine or horrific circumstances with the same level of compassion and efficiency.

That respect doesn't come easy. Nor does effective change to assure that all components of the system function with that same level of efficiency. I'm hopeful that those barriers to understanding that exist within our public safety hierarchy will fall in the face of economic and operational realities that will hopefully serve to reshape the way our layers of government interact.

Have a safe week ahead.

Stimulus Scare - A Different 'War on Wrong'

As it seems to happen so often in our unfortunate world of media and politics, the language of fear-mongering often trumps the calm, dispassionate distribution of the truth.

So it seems that my post on Tuesday regarding the questionable assertions of Betsy McCaughey was more relevant than even I thought. As I observed then, this commentary was seemingly picked up and trumpeted by just about every news site and self-described pundit who derives sustenance from the conservative trough.

I spotted it on Drudge, then Newsmax, and then Father Limbaugh, until, in ironically Stockman-esque fashion, it "trickled down" to our own Rick Wagner, who included a reference to the report in his Sentinel column this week. Oops.

Last night Keith Olbermann took the time to deftly break down Ms. McCaughey's assertions, as well as analyze her motivation for writing what turned out to be some very thin stuff:





Ezra Klein of The American Prospect broke things down even further, revealing Ms. McCaughey as a practitioner of this same kind of disinformation all the way back to the Clinton years. Olbermann's report went even a little deeper, finding a trail leading straight to big Pharma.
Surprise, Surprise, Sgt. Carter.

Tonight as I write this the compromise stimulus bill has passed the House and Senate, with no support from House Republicans and enough in the Senate to prevent a filibuster.
I'm not particularly thrilled with the haste at which this was pushed through. I'm also thinking that there will be sufficient time for deeper analysis, lots of praise and hand-wringing, and the occasional litigation to stop implementation of one segment or another.

Just like with the Patriot Act, and other questionable pieces of legislation enacted in haste in a time of false fear and unjustified war.

I'm also not thrilled with the seeming disconnect between Congress and the majority of the people they're elected to represent. I do believe we have a representative that is responsive to our needs, but feels he must also be responsive to the needs of his party. That's the great dichotomy between representative government and party politics, and I fear we won't be rid of it anytime soon.

For some reason I feel that the current batch of politicians in charge is the lesser of two evils, but there is a nervous level of comfort that goes along with it.

Have a great weekend with someone you love.

Stimulus Section Spin-Fest

Something I read this morning, and decided to find out more about, taught me to take Internet opinion and other information with a larger grain of salt, regardless of the purported credibility of the source.

A commentary on Bloomberg Media yesterday raised the collective eyebrows of quite a few people, including myself, concerned with this country's health care system. To quote this article:

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States”...Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.
But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions. These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

The article by Betsy McCaughey goes on to assert that many of these provisions in the Stimulus Bill are extensions of some of Mr. Daschle's assertions made in his book, and will marginalize health care choice and the activities of physicians.

Given the pressure that the Obama administration is placing on Congress to get this bill passed, my initial reaction to this article was "Holy Patriot Act, Batman!".

The reactionary conservative site NewsMax.com put a lot of this under a headline that blared "Socialized Medicine". Another site got a reaction out of Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, one of the three Republican senators favoring the Stimulus, and thus a marked man. Father Coughlin reincarnated also weighed in as expected.

On the other side, a lawyer with a blog specializing in health care issues carefully dissected Ms. McCaughey's comments and found a few areas of distortion.

What to think now?

As much as I believe that government-supervised universal health care is a lesser evil than for-profit insurer-controlled health care, I'm thinking that I agree with only one assertion in Ms. McCaughey's commentary:

"On Friday, President Obama called it 'inexcusable and irresponsible' for senators to delay passing the stimulus bill. In truth, this bill needs more scrutiny."

Alas, the Senate passed their version of the bill this afternoon, so the only hope for a little sanity is in the House/Senate Conference committee. There appears to be at least one Democratic senator who is carrying a torch for common sense. Let's hope he can spread some light around.

A Weekend of Haunting Beauty

I worked all weekend, and kept pretty busy. I'm due back in a little over seven hours, but I have to get this out before turning in.

Saturday night after work I took in The Reader at the Regal Cinema. This is third of the films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar that I've seen, along with Milk and Slumdog Millionaire.
The Reader is a hauntingly beautiful film that tells a very poignant and sad story in a way that will stick with you, especially if you appreciate fine acting. Kate Winslet was incredible.

Tonight I'm watching The Quiet Man with John Wayne and a very lovely Maureen O'Hara. The film won an Oscar for cinematography, primarily for its' depiction of a very beautiful Irish countryside, all shot on location. Leslie wants very much to see Ireland someday, but for the moment she'll have to settle for the DVD I'm sending her.

Leslie is of the opinion that it is not the awards that make a great film. I'm in agreement, but it is still nice to see films like these in the running for some mainstream recognition. I need to see Slumdog again; there's so much energy and life amid location shooting in the slums of Mumbai, it takes more than one sitting to take it all in.

Speaking of awards, several months ago I sent Leslie a song from a CD by two performers who you would not expect to be together doing duets; Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Turns out they go together like Bing Crosby and David Bowie. Seriously.

The song is beautiful, and the mainstream award show wags thought so too, by giving it the Grammy for Record of the Year tonight. It's too good not to share.

Back to work in the morning. I've been working on something else that speaks to me a lot; maybe it'll be ready soon.

Have a great week ahead.


Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Please Read the Letter

Caught out running
With just a little too much to hide
Maybe baby
Everythings gonna turn out fine
Please read the letter
I mailed it to your door
It’s crazy how it all turned out
We needed so much more

Once I stood beside a well of many words
My house was full of rings and
Charms and pretty birds
Please understand me,
My walls came falling down
There’s nothing here that’s left for you
But check with lost and found
Ah

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

One more song
Just before we go
Remember baby,
You gotta reap just what you sow
Please read my letter
And promise me you’ll keep
The secrets and the memories
We cherish in the deep
Please read the letter
I mailed it to your door
It’s crazy how it all turned out
We needed so much more

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

Please read the letter
Please read the letter
Please read the letter

Kadrich Kaption Kontest

Dean Humphrey - The Daily Sentinel

Grand Junction City Manager Laurie Kadrich is seen hard at work yesterday in an atypical work environment for her daily job routine.

What is she doing?

***

Digging a grave at Orchard Mesa Cemetery, fulfilling a pledge to do a "dirty job" if a certain amount of holiday charitable giving was accomplished by City employees.

Imaginary sources also report a simple granite marker was being prepared at nearby Snyder Memorials, bearing the inscription THE PUBLIC SAFETY INITIATIVE 2008-2008.

***

At the request of certain City Council members, providing a visual illustration of the shortfall in projected sales tax revenue for this fiscal year.

***

Assisting with the preliminary ground work for a secure facility from which to conduct City business, in the event that Bill Pitts is elected to Council in April.

***

Participating in the groundbreaking for a new, stand-alone Regional Communications and Emergency Operations Center. Located on an Orchard Mesa hillside, the new facility will feature state-of-the-art security with video monitoring and RFID badge access, secure interior parking, fortified construction and building ventilation systems, and emergency generator capabilities for up to three days of uninterrupted service if necessary.

The EOC will feature redundant broadband Internet connectivity, as well as the capability to communicate with emergency management officials via satellite, secure telephone, and amateur radio.

The 9-1-1 and regional dispatch operations floor will be fully windowed on three sides, with individually climate-controlled workstations and sufficient personnel and equipment space to accommodate 15 years of potential expansion.

And then I woke up....

Anyone have other ideas?

Random Thoughts from Steeler Nation

Now that I've had a chance to exhale after what was perhaps too close a call for the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII, I thought I would throw out some thoughts that came to mind during and after the game.

Leslie and I were talking during the last minute or so; the celebration was underway shortly thereafter, with horns honking and fireworks going off in her small suburb as well as the usual bad craziness in Oakland and the South Side. My friend Steve is a Shift Commander at Allegheny County 9-1-1, and was relating to me some of the public safety preparations in place, win or lose.

Head Coach Mike Tomlin, asked after the game what he was thinking when Larry Fitzgerald scored for the Cardinals with a little over 2 minutes left, said:

"I cannot say enough about these guys and what they are willing to do for each other and for Steeler nation..I was thinking if they were going to score that it would be fast, so there was a lot of time left...Steelers football is 60 minutes...It's not gonna be pretty, you can throw style points out the window, but these guys are gonna fight to the end."

Tomlin is a man of passion, honor, and integrity; it's easy to see how he impressed the Rooney family that hired him as only the 3rd Steeler Head Coach in 40 years. There's a formula in place within the Steeler organization that allows and encourages people to excel according to their strengths, but also expects those strengths to grow and be consistently displayed..

The rewards are rich ones, but for guys like Tomlin there are intangibles at work. The material trappings, the atta-boys, the fame and media attention, all pale in comparison to having a vision in your mind for success and seeing that vision brought to fruition for the glory of your chosen profession. There's a personal angle to this that I may explore more tomorrow.

To give some props to the Cardinals, they played at the same level they did throughout the post-season. Kurt Warner steady and consistent. Larry Fitzgerald is one of the most skilled players in the NFL, and definitely the cutest. They did a fine job.

Ben Roethlisberger continues to excel as a journeyman quarterback of consistency, poise, and distinction. Some of his improvisations and responses to pressure were just magnificent. Fortunately, the Steeler offensive line was equally consistent, providing Big Ben enough time to work his magic.

James Harrison, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year who scored on an interception return that is the longest play in Super Bowl history, played his college ball at Kent State University.
Among those who played their college football there as well include Steeler legend Jack Lambert.
In Lambert-esque fashion, Harrison was penalized for a nasty personal foul in the second half.

Santonio Holmes, the game's MVP, switched to another gear for this game. I thought it interesting that the Holmes continued to handle punt returns (he returned one for a TD against San Diego on Jan. 10), but the Steelers put their larger running backs in to handle kickoffs.

It was great to see Joe Namath, the pride of Beaver Falls, walk up with the Lombardi Trophy and be met by many Steeler players who wanted to touch it before it got to the podium.

It's time for bed. Early start for work tomorrow. Enjoy your Groundhog Day.