Go Jump in the Lake

"Here's My Point"
By Ron Fitzwater

I really do try not to be too terribly critical of local officials any more than is necessary. When I do come down on them, I try to be fair or at least not mean.

Honest, I don't go to board meetings looking for things to come back here and rant about, and unless it is something that is really important to point out (admittedly, in my opinion), I leave it alone. Mostly it's because none of you go to the commissioner or planning board meetings anyway, so I figure you don't care.

Now some members of the county planning board would argue these points, but now that the planners seem to be moving in a forward-facing direction, I have let up quite a bit.

I bring this up because two separate issues, that I think together reveal a worrisome problem for the people of Ashe County, have been weighing on my mind since last week.

The first of the issues is all the hoop-la over swimming pools.

Last week there was no story about the county commissioners' meeting in the AMT. Now the reason was I was waiting until after the planning board meeting so I could combine the two, since they were both scheduled to have updates from some of the different boards they oversee. I tell you this because making that decision was the catalyst for my point this week. That, and because I spent the weekend with the idea of it gnawing at my insides like a rat trapped in a box.

On Wednesday afternoon, upon returning from lunch, I was given a message to call a member of the county board commissioners. When I called, the first thing I was asked by the commissioner was "Didn't the Mountain Times have room for our statement?" "Your statement on the Defense of Marriage Act," I asked? "No, on the swimming pool," they said.

My vision blurred a little and I heard a buzzing in my head-I thought I was having a stroke. I had to slam my hand in my top desk drawer a few times to see if I had dozed off in my chair and was dreaming.

I wasn't being asked why I didn't put anything out about the Appalachian Health District update that gave such grim statistics as the fact that Ashe County has a significantly higher death due to injury rate than either of the other two counties in the district (Alleghany and Watauga) or the Cooperative Extension update which gave such positive statistics as the fact that Ashe County Friends of Agriculture has raised over $20,000 for improvements at the new Ag Expo Site. I wasn't even being asked why I hadn't printed information from the county's monthly tax report or the already mentioned Defense of Marriage Act. No, I was being asked why I didn't print the commissioners' pool statement. A statement which, by the way, gives such vital information as "as much as the communities would like a county pool, the need for general services is even greater for the people of Ashe County." Really? Is there some question about that? Another revelation in the statement was, "The commissioners' pledge to all the citizens of Ashe County to provide the necessary services required to make our county the best it can be." Aside from that being so cliché, it's sad, isn't that what you swore to do when you took the oath of office?

Then our ace number-one staff reporter Joel Frady came in from the County Health Forum he attended last Thursday and told me that the first point this same commissioner made when they spoke at the event was that the commissioners' wanted to get a new pool or wanted to at least fix the old one, but they just couldn't.
I'm sorry, when did getting a serviceable pool become the most important issue our elected officials have to wrestle with? Oh, but we were in such good shape!

We have received (one), that is one single letter to the editor over the swimming pool issue. Put that up against all the e-mails and phone calls coming in about why there aren't any jobs here or where can we find food for our children or ways to work together to survive the worsening economic crisis and it would not be a stretch to say that swimming pools are not at the top of most Ashe Countians' lists of reasons they can't sleep at night.

That leads me to issue number two-Jobs and why the need for them is more important than a stinking pool!

I know Pat Mitchell is searching for industries to bring here on a daily basis and I know the commissioners are pleased with her efforts in that area, because they say so, but what else is being done? We don't know because they want to talk about swimming pools.

I know there are people in this county that want to start a solar panel manufacturing facility here. What a great idea. Maybe we could get all sorts of green technologies here. It's the future of energy; it's coming, why shouldn't we get in on the ground floor? And if that means that we spend money on getting new industry off the ground instead of upgrading recreational facilities, isn't that money better spent?

If our elected and appointed officials are going to do things for the betterment of the county, why not start there? Why not at least talk about it? Want to release a statement to let people know you are on the job? Release a statement about how you are gong to find jobs for your constituents.

I bet people would be willing to give up an awful lot of concessions to bring jobs back. But you have to ask them.

I tell you what; if you don't find some jobs for the people here instead of focusing on why they have to find a pond or head down to the New River to cool off (until somebody else builds a YMCA), you better go on and build a bigger jail. Desperate people, who have hungry children and no hope, can do desperate things.

The federal government isn't going to help us and I'm not hearing a lot out of Raleigh either. Ashe County, North Carolina, is not on either administration's radar. Forget about the pools and baseball fields, because with apologies to county parks and rec director Joe Boccardy and his hard-working staff, pools and ball fields are great, but if the kids' families can't afford the price of participation and the price of gas to get them there, the facilities will sit empty.

Get your eye on the right ball. It's time to roll up your sleeves and get some jobs for these people.

And as far as recreation goes; wake up folks, we live in the most perfect place on the East Coast to recreate! We have the New, we have trails upon trails and most of it is within a 15 to 30 minute drive. Want your kids to go swimming? Go throw them in the river.

Of course as was pointed out to me by our business manager Heather, you'll probably have to walk them slowly into the river with lifejackets, a hired lifeguard and a secured perimeter and be sure that they have waterproofed portable electronics to enjoy since they will be mad to be outside in the first place.

We're doomed.