Mrs. Raymond made a fatal error in inviting Mr. Uher into her campaign. Wes Monhollen could honestly plead ignorance when he invited Mr. Uher into his campaign. And when he discovered how badly he had erred, he acted decisively to dissociate himself from Mr. Uher.
Mrs. Raymond has no such excuse. She has seen on this website the sickening things Mr. Uher and his hand puppets have said and done in her name. Unless she comes forward now and clearly repudiates Mr. Uher and his friends, we must impute to Mrs. Raymond every vile and libelous remark that they have made about Mrs. Reade, just as if she had made those remarks herself.
That's enough for me. We need to see an end to such behavior in this community. We should not elect to public office any candidate who countenances, or tries to take advantage of it.
Now to CommUnity First. Since when it is illegal for a group of citizens to get together to discuss the future of their community? Must they invite the press to every meeting they hold? Must they invite every voter in the community to each of their meetings? Absolutely not.
Mrs. Raymond herself attended CommUnity First meetings. Did she break the law in doing so?
And, contrary to what Mark Uher recently has claimed, lawyer Nicholas Pittner never told anyone that such meetings were illegal, or that school board members or administrators should not attend them. Although the school board did meet with Mr. Pittner following after a meeting by Mr. Uher with certain administrators, which Mr. Pittner attended, that is not what we discussed. Mr. Uher should know that from the response he received to his protest -- which can be summarized in three words, ''Go pound salt.''
One of Uher's handpuppets called for an audit of CommUnity First -- an odd and ill-informed request, since the association never had any money.
People also forget that Lisa Reade was not in charge of CommUnity First. The association's founding members included Wes Monhollen, Sara Rose, Bill Wright, Dave Shaver, Gary Weltlich, Lou Stemen and myself, as well as Mrs. Reade. She and Mrs. Rose chaired our public meetings because they were good at it.
Every one of us, including Mr. Wright, agreed not to invite the general public or the press to our initial meetings. We hoped that sending written invitations to neighborhood association presidents, local clergymen and other community leaders, rather than broadcasting a general invitation to the public, would produce a better turnout and also would lead, in the end, to wider public involvement. We also believed such people would speak more freely if they were not doing to for publication.
We were correct. The more broad our invitation, the poorer the turnout -- even though Mrs. Reade, myself and others spent considerable time putting flyers on windshields, and even though Mr. Weltlich put an add in the paper inviting the public to our meetings.
Our aim was to involve this entire community in a spirited and informed discussion of our common future and, hopefully, to help this community articulate a common vision. We were open to all suggestions. We made clear that there were no wrong answers. And Lisa and Sara were insistent in steering discussions away from particular office-holders.
It is too bad that the association was not a success. Hopefully we will be able to revive this effort in the future.
Mrs. Raymond has no such excuse. She has seen on this website the sickening things Mr. Uher and his hand puppets have said and done in her name. Unless she comes forward now and clearly repudiates Mr. Uher and his friends, we must impute to Mrs. Raymond every vile and libelous remark that they have made about Mrs. Reade, just as if she had made those remarks herself.
That's enough for me. We need to see an end to such behavior in this community. We should not elect to public office any candidate who countenances, or tries to take advantage of it.
Now to CommUnity First. Since when it is illegal for a group of citizens to get together to discuss the future of their community? Must they invite the press to every meeting they hold? Must they invite every voter in the community to each of their meetings? Absolutely not.
Mrs. Raymond herself attended CommUnity First meetings. Did she break the law in doing so?
And, contrary to what Mark Uher recently has claimed, lawyer Nicholas Pittner never told anyone that such meetings were illegal, or that school board members or administrators should not attend them. Although the school board did meet with Mr. Pittner following after a meeting by Mr. Uher with certain administrators, which Mr. Pittner attended, that is not what we discussed. Mr. Uher should know that from the response he received to his protest -- which can be summarized in three words, ''Go pound salt.''
One of Uher's handpuppets called for an audit of CommUnity First -- an odd and ill-informed request, since the association never had any money.
People also forget that Lisa Reade was not in charge of CommUnity First. The association's founding members included Wes Monhollen, Sara Rose, Bill Wright, Dave Shaver, Gary Weltlich, Lou Stemen and myself, as well as Mrs. Reade. She and Mrs. Rose chaired our public meetings because they were good at it.
Every one of us, including Mr. Wright, agreed not to invite the general public or the press to our initial meetings. We hoped that sending written invitations to neighborhood association presidents, local clergymen and other community leaders, rather than broadcasting a general invitation to the public, would produce a better turnout and also would lead, in the end, to wider public involvement. We also believed such people would speak more freely if they were not doing to for publication.
We were correct. The more broad our invitation, the poorer the turnout -- even though Mrs. Reade, myself and others spent considerable time putting flyers on windshields, and even though Mr. Weltlich put an add in the paper inviting the public to our meetings.
Our aim was to involve this entire community in a spirited and informed discussion of our common future and, hopefully, to help this community articulate a common vision. We were open to all suggestions. We made clear that there were no wrong answers. And Lisa and Sara were insistent in steering discussions away from particular office-holders.
It is too bad that the association was not a success. Hopefully we will be able to revive this effort in the future.
