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If you would like to comment on anything about Tangent or the articles that appear, you can click on the "comment" word that appears next to the article and then write your comment in the box provided. If you would like to request that some other subjects be discussed, please write a comment to that effect. This is yet another way for citizens and others to be involved with the City of Tangent. If you sign in as anonymous, I will receive a notification email from "anonymous" with your comment. I will post it as soon as I can afterwards. I hope to be able to provide links to other areas of interest in Tangent, like historical information, festivities, events and some pictures to go with it. This is an ongoing interactive site. Please try it.
The first article was one of the controversial subjects in Tangent. Make a suggestion of a topic you would like to talk about.
Lastly, I was asked if I would be moderating the comments. As one visitor has noticed, the moderating option has been enabled. I will do my best to post the comments as written but will not post articles that are derogatory, defamatory or disparaging to any one individual, and I will remove any foul language. Otherwise, the comments will be posted as writen. However, I will be posting one defamatory, disparaging comment made to me personally by someone who wishes to remain anonymous. After this, I hope that this site can become a fast growing, responsive, information gathering and distributing hub.
Thank you all for participating.
Seaton
posted by Seaton McLennan @ 9:49 AM
10 comments
10 Comments:
Please post information on drainage
Trust In Tangent -
Today, (May 20, 2006) we saw yet another case that indicates how low trust is between some Tangent residents. Seaton made an error when he tried one of his audio CDs (with recording of a city meeting) in one of the City Computers. In raising an alarm about this, some of which may have been warranted, the Mayor questioned why anyone would want to record city meetings on their own and seemed to imply that some nefarious motive was behind this.
In fact, the audio quality is superior to that provided by the City's little tape recorder, it records a lot longer without having to change any tapes, and duplicates can be made in a very short time, very inexpensively, for anyone who wants one. Seaton is simply doing this as a public service and I applaud his effort.
It seems so strange that any other motive would be suspected. And, even if there were another motive, citizens have a right to do so.
A similar situation arose when Seaton reported the presence of "family and cake" at the most recent Brush Remand Hearing. He was reporting a simple fact; nobody denies that Brush family and cake were present! Yet, some saw this as criticism of the Brushes!
May I simply suggest that we, all of us, curb the tendency to read undesirable motives into our neighbors actions? Tangent is too small to be able survive this for very long. We have to live together and when we view are neighbors actions with automatic suspicion, we ALL loose.
Thanks, everyone....
Jim Wagner
Thank you Jim & thank you Seaton. There is no problem with recording the meeting.
OK, let's talk about trust. Mr. Wagner's analysis is his own perception and does not accurately reflect my words. Seaton has expressed remorse for his action, which proves two things. He made a misstep and he is man enough to own up to it. And that's god enough for me to say it's water under the bridge and we have all learned from it. My alarm "which MAY have been warranted" was not so much at the action but more so at the boldness and audacity that someone would help themselves to other peoples stuff!! And irregardless of whether or not it is "public property" and without acknowledgement. I can hear the uproar now if I had been the one to help myself to Georgia's computer as Joe Citizen under the previous administration who now are defending Seaton and faulting the City for being stupid. Now if Georgia were to lock the door when she leaves we'd be critized again. It's like the fable of the Man, his boy and the donkey. Sheesh!
So for the record, I did NOT "question why anyone would want to do this" (record meetings) in fact I said I thought it was a good idea to make it easier for citizens to access minutes and such without a paper trail. And refering to Seaton's action I said "while it may have been innocent enough" is a @#$% far cry from "seemed to imply some nefarious motive"! It is extremely difficult if not impossible to build trust when this type of libel exists. There was also a slanderous flyer 2 summers ago that had no authorship that kind of started this gathering snowball of "mistrust". I geuss if you don't like how the ship is sailed, then slash the rigging or punch a hole in the hull. In other words sling mud, but folks when you sling mud you "lose ground". More on that later.
It is disappointing that there is in existence this twisting of my words in an effort to undermine the credibility of myself and the Council. And if this is what is said in the public eye I can only imagine what is being said in private.
Now I could go out and say that this person is a felon or that person is a child molester and it would be harder to disprove it even though it isn't true. Same thing with twisting my words. If you are going to paraphrase me please be fair, and accurate.
Page 2.
Re: A plea to "can't we all just get along". Mr. Wagner in a public forum has called us derogatory names, threatened to sue us and/or take us to task with State or Federal agencies for every action he opposes. And yet, in spite of all this, the Council, albeit haltingly, just appointed him to the Planning Commission! Talk about trying to get along, I don't know how I could bend over any more than that!
The only thing that keeps me going on the Council is all of the good things I hear from the silent majority about what a good job we are doing. These are the people who don't want to come to meetings or otherwise be involved in civic affairs but who are my inspiration to carry on. So since we now have a forum for those folks to remain anonymous I would invite and encourage some positive comments from those people to counter the negative ones from a consistent few.
Finally I would like to say thanks to Seaton and Joanne for doing this site and during perusing it so far I applaud them for their fairness and objectivity presenting it.
I would also ask that in this forum and at meetings we treat each other with civility and respect other opinions even though we may be polar opposites on an issue. Like growth, or taxes, or policies.
Thank you.
And today, remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. Like speech.
Mayor Chris
I'm confused. I guess I don't have all the information. Can someone comment on what happened. What exactly did Seaton do? It would be helpful to understanding these comments.
Thanks
Hi folks,
For the benefit of the last commentor, here is the original email sent out and my response:
Greetings to all,
It was reported to me by Georgia yesterday that while she was gone to a meeting and had left a sign at her desk saying so, and the sign also directing those needing any assistance to continue upstairs to Kathy's office.
Kathy came downstairs and found a citizen at Georgia's terminal and when she asked what they were doing, the reply was, " I wanted to see if my disc would work on Georgia's computer".
Everyone knows that as a government entity the City of Tangent's business is open to public access. There is also an extra terminal for citizens to use for exploring those business activities, such as minutes of meetings, archives of history, City plans, and pending proceedings and actions. While citizens may use this computer generally without "over the shoulder" supervision, there are some security measures in place to ensure that the files are not compromised.
The City of Tangent and it's current administration have nothing to hide nor are we clandestine in conducting the business of running the City, and I personally find it ironic that this person who has testified that this administration HAS "developed a pattern" of behind closed doors business activities would help themselves to a City administrator's computer without any authorization or permission. I can't think of any business in the world that would allow a customer to do that.
Their intention may have been innocent enough but what if a virus was being introduced or a major crash would have occured from the wrong keystroke?
(We can all relate to that one folks!)
Who is responsible for the results? The City? The unauthorized citizen? And consider if the person had come and gone without our knowledge and a catastrophe had occured. Personally it would seem to me that if a person were trying to help us, common courtesy or some semblence of etiquitte would dictate our acknowledgement and/or approval and some subsequent guidance.
I also understand from the Planning Commission chair that this same individual has taken it upon themselves and with their own equipment to tape record all meetings and put them onto a CD/DVD for the City's website. I also have just been informed that there is a blog entitled "cityoftangent".
I think I can speak for the Council and state that, while these may be good ideas and allows people to have easier access to the City's business than the old paper versions, that both the blog site and the CD/DVD have NOT been authorized by the Council nor has the Council even been approached about the ideas. And that this person has NOT been appointed to be a spokesperson or representative of the City of Tangent. And they are certinaly not authorized to administer or alter the City's website.
I therefore and hereby call for an emergency meeting of the Tangent City Council on Monday May 22nd, 2006 immediately following the Budget Committee meeting to discuss this matter and hereby reserve the right to enter into executive session in the event of possible legal action.
Thank you
Mayor Chris Schaffner
For the record, I (Seaton) was the person who was at the city office. Also for the record, I entered the office, found no one inside and proceeded to write a note on the disc that I was delivering to the city on behalf of the Commission Chair, Del Shirley who had asked if I would drop off the disc as the recorder had stopped during the meeting. As I was writing the note, Cathy showed up. I was not at the terminal when she arrived. I explained I was leaving the disc for Georgia then said maybe I should see if it will work before I leave. This was a mistake I realize in retrospect. It was innocent enough. It was to test the disc to see if the document was ok to run on the computer. I apologize for my action and will be available for any further questioning on this.
With respect to the recordings of the city’s business. I do this for my own purposes. Others have listened to it and remark on the quality of the recordings. In fact, I have provided others with copies. One such copy was given to Mel Brush as he had remarked at the meeting of the poor quality of the tape recordings. In fact, Commissioner Shirley was going to suggest that the city look into it. It is much clearer than the tape recordings.
With respect to the Blog site. It is a personal blog that I have set up to write about things that happen in The City of Tangent. It is not affiliated with the city’s official website. However, there is a link to the city’s website on that page. It is a way for citizens to view on-goings or read about things that happen in Tangent. For starters I gave an introduction to the site, then posted some pictures of this year’s flood and the detention pond for comments. I also mentioned at the last meeting that I would be happy to post other activities that happen around Tangent. The reaction at the meeting seemed very positive. In fact, Curt Smith suggested that it could be put into the newsletter. Posting pictures of festivals, or city events. A place where citizens or others can comment about issues. Here is the website: http://cityoftangent.blogspot.com/ The name of the site can easily be changed. It was great to get so many comments so early on.
Perhaps the first mistake was leaving the door to Georgia's office open. Next time close the door and post the note on the door. It was an inocent mistake, except the apolige and move on.
Eileen, you can't be serious??? My car is unlocked...I guess anyone can help themselves.
Please, Please, Please people! Use spell checker or something! Do we really need to prove how rural we really are???
Thank you Eileen for contributing to this site. Thank you also to the anonymous contributers.
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