ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BLUE

Having been out of town for awhile and letting my friends take care of my blog, I have to admit I could not believe the number of phone calls I received while out of town.

People, I do not know what to say to you. I have provided the Public Access Counselor's number to certain Taxpayer Advocates and I have provided Charlie Pride's number to same.

Myself, I spoke with Gail Schneider; the person who took Denny Stroud's position, eventually. She will be matching the legal(s) up with the ordinance and taxpayers do have the right to file a remonstrance and appear before her about same and we have a right to take the "legal issue" to the Public Access Counselor. The Law DOES NOT LAY SILENT ON THIS ISSUE.

The '07 Budget was ordered cut by $600,000.00. The Controller was given the discretion to make the cuts where she saw fit. The Mayor's office is limited to $100,075.00. If the full-time Secretary and the other positions are within that office and exceed that budgeted amount, only then will you have a case.

As far as the legal which ran this past Sunday stating they over budgeted for salaries for Fairview Cemetery and are taking $30,000 + from the Cemetery in order to fund some one's position...gee...are we that bad off we have to siphon monies from the Cemetery and dead people? As I do not know the "Friends of Fairview", I sure hope they are aware of this legal as I can not speak with knowledge as to the needs and conditions of same and whether this is a good thing or not. Any of you know them, please ask -- thanks.

As I have deliberately not read other blogs in order to somehow remain neutral while all of these things play out, I have to admit I am not aware of the "10" things promised to certain people. Gotta admit, I do not want to know. As I was asked what "I" wanted -- and my answer was simply an "ethical government"; I do not want to even know what else was promised to others. Only time will tell, and none of us have a crystal ball.

When we did all of the wrangling with the police and fire over monies not available; spent all of our excess monies out of "Riverboat" and the "Rainy Day" fund...I'm not sure how our streets are going to be paved and the other things taken care of we all care about, i.e., CODE ENFORCEMENT. We already have a Code Enforcement Officer named Pam Badger and I simply did not (nor did others) understand why we need another one. This Mayor's zoning and code enforcements will need to be started in his own backyard and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. I kid you not.

Peace, NA. Glad to be back and I thank everyone who commented and kept my blog up and running while I was gone.