Park and wreck the bored

I believe the time has come to fire all but one of the members of the Barry County Parks and Recreation Commission.

The reasons are straightforward — Nine of these ten “public servants” have been astonishingly derelict in their duties over the past year, particularly in the last six months. They sat on their hands after the millage renewal proposal’s defeat Nov. 7, doing nothing but sulking and pointing the fickle finger of blame at the media, County Board Chairman Mike Callton and any other straw men they could find, but meanwhile failed to look into the mirror.

This incompetent commission also has done nothing since Dr. George W. Shannon resigned in December in the middle of much controversy as to who’s to blame for the fiasco that has become Charlton Park.

Perhaps the worst mistake this commission has made is never bothering to ask the public why so many voted down the renewal in both the August primary and November general elections. That move finally was suggested by their newest member, Keith Murphy, at that telltale joint meeting of the Parks and Rec Commission and the County Board of Commissioners Jan. 11. And this is why I propose Murphy be spared the ax, that and the fact he has not yet caught that “deer in the headlights” disease so widespread among his colleagues.

The joint meeting was telltale in that it exposed how really lame the Parks and Rec Commission members really are. With the notable exception of Murphy, none offered a single viable idea in a “brainstorming” session about how to deal with the growing crisis in which Charlton Park may cease to exist.

The word on the street, in bars, coffee houses and on the Internet has been that the public has needed somebody to be a sacrificial lamb for poor public relations management of Charlton Park, a pretty place with lots of history, but nobody seems to go there. The word between November and December was that Shannon had to put his head on the block, but now insiders wonder if he really was the problem all along. Or was it Shannon and 10 others who must all plead guilty for the mess Charlton Park is in? I suggest the latter.

The fatal vision Shannon and this group has laid out has promoted the park only as a historical treasure with its unique village, so they’ve let events such as the Civil War Re-enactments and Nothin’ But Truck slip away and go elsewhere. As former Chairman Tim Weingartz suggested at the joint meeting, they don’t want any “wear and tear” on the facilities. So what you get when you discourage festivals and public activities is a park that is often empty. And what taxpayer wants to pay for something like that?

Another fatal vision was spending money and time promoting the park to larger metropolitan areas such as Grand Rapids, Lansing, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo (who have other attractions closer to home that aren't doing so well- look at the recent demise of Kellogg's Cereal City U.S.A. as but one example) and taking the local neighborhood for granted. This vision ignored the fact the residents of Barry County pay for this park with a quarter of a mill levy annually. And without that millage, the ballgame is over.

The Parks and Rec Commission has bungled the whole affair, and even worse, it has failed to accept responsibility. Therefore, nine of its ten members deserve to be pink slipped, to get their walking papers, to be placed on waivers, to get the hook.

Oh, sure, there was a very feeble attempt to drum up support for the park right after the August primary millage defeats. Former County Board Chairmarm Clare Tripp headed up a “Friends of Charlton Park” campaign, got a silly picture taken of her in the Grand Rapids Press, in which her girded presence looked like Godzilla towering over the historic village. The “Friends” had a few meetings with lots of talk and no action... unless browbeating and guilt count. The result was an improved margin of defeat, but a defeat nonetheless.

We’re going to have a public hearing Feb. 8, a bitch session for the public to tell the County Board just why they didn’t vote for the millage renewal in the last two elections, a meeting long overdue. We’re going to hear horror stories about how the park mistreats volunteers, how the public doesn’t feel welcome any more, how there’s no reason to go there any more, how area school children need to coaxed into going to the historic village to be taken on tours. We’re going to hear the best vision is to make Charlton Park both a unique historical treasure and a tourist attraction, two very different but compatible visions.

Right after the public hearing, I hereby challenge the County Board of Commissioners to fire everybody on this Parks and Rec Commission except Murphy and appoint a replacement statutory group that will meet quarterly, four times a year, so it can’t do this kind of damage again. And then let’s have a new, special Charlton Park Board selected to deal with Charlton Park alone.

After a new vision and changes in policy are promised, then let’s go back to the voters and ask for less money and pledge some county money as a combined support effort. Then let’s insist Charlton Park raise some of that money itself by charging fees for festivals and tours and by hiring a director who has some public relations savvy.
The message to Tripp, Ken Neil, Weingartz, Catherine Deyo-Young (regrettably), Sharon Rich, Donald Willcutt, Clyde Morgan, Tom Doyle, Hoot Gibson and Jeff VanNortwick: You’re fired.

Then let’s put VanNortwick and Murphy together with a new Charlton Park Board with some vision that has been so sorely lacking over the past couple of years. And then let’s hire a risk-taking carnival barker-style director who sets about the task of bringing people back to the park. Meanwhile, hire a history-minded individual to be a meticulous curator, a keeper of the artifacts that continue to be precious and the centerpiece of the uniqueness that is Charlton Park.

With the old Parks and Rec Commission retired unceremoniously, the old director gone and a fresh new approach, the public just might buy into the dream that many of share about preserving history and sharing it with future generations while offering a great way to attract tourist dollars and educate the public all at once.

Fear or freedom?

About 70 years ago the world was taught the lesson of what can happen when a charismatic figure skillfully manipulates ordinary people’s fears, ignorance, hatred and greed and creates a mob of willing accomplices to evil, murderous acts. But have we learned? There are far too many people in West Michigan who are willing to give up some of the most cherished (or so I thought) principles in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution.

One of the most well documented recent examples is the incident in which a woman of Muslim faith was denied a ride on a public transit bus because she was wearing a birka that covered her face. The driver and the transit authority have since recanted the decision, thanks to the tremendous sense of fairness exhibited by GR Mayor George Heartwell.

The woman apparently strongly felt she was wronged, and she was. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion,” nor no shall it exercise authority over “the free exercise thereof.” By not allowing the woman the same rights and privileges afforded all other U.S. citizens because she was following a customary practice of her religion, a public transit service was denying this woman her civil rights, which she is entitled to like the rest of us.

Afterward, the much-maligned ACLU caught wind of the incident and stepped in to force public transit officials to admit their error and now there has been talk of her getting some kind of monetary compensation in the wake of her “public humiliation.” I’m not particularly pleased about the financial compensation part of the issue although one wonders whether cmmunities would act responsibly without the threat of a financial penalty hanging over them, but I do believe a strong message must be sent to the public that religious bigotry and discrimination will not be tolerated in a free and
democratic society.

Many in the public apparently need to hear that message. The Grand Rapids Press has published a number of letters from local and area citizens who contend the transit driver was correct in denying her a ride, arguing something to the effect that “Have we forgotten what happened on Sept. 11, 2001?” Thus the disgusting specter of fear and ignorance has reared its ugly head. Apparently there are many paranoid bigots that seem to have forgotten Roosevelt's refrain that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

I can’t believe we are so afraid of any Muslim woman enough to deny her the rights and privileges the rest of us enjoy. While it is true she, or anyone else for that matter, could be carrying some kind of explosive device and blow up the bus, but the chances of that happening are no better than the likelihood the bus will be struck by lightning or crashed into by a meteorite. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has used the tragedy of 9/11 to win political battles and the media has been used by the administration and other sources time and again to whip the people into a state of frenzy to sell the war in Iraq and just about everything else. Hitler and his henchmen were successful in demonizing the Jews, communists, gays and any other kind who didn’t look and think just like the majority (or even a powerful minority). And they were able to whip the masses into a frenzy with tragic consequences.

I know it’s been said many times before, but it apparently needs to be said again. If we allow fear and ignorance to overpower our ability to reason, we will repeat mistakes that lead to tragic consequences that should never be forgotten. We must be smart and use common sense. We must measure the threat, if any, a woman in a birka might pose versus the damage it does our society to let fear and hatred rule of lives. And remember, there is risk in getting out of bed and living every day. If we live in constant fear and turn away from the principles that supposedly made this country different from all others... then the terrorists indeed will have won.

We’re often hearing that we go to war and that our soldiers risk their lives to preserve our freedoms, but we’ve got to make certain these freedoms actually exist and that the battles are worth fighting. If we don’t truly respect freedom of religion, freedom of speech and yes, the right to bear arms, then “freedom” will be just an empty buzzword and this country won’t be worth fighting for. True American patriots should rally around this Muslim woman and everyone else who is under attack for having beliefs, appearances or customs that put them in the minority. While I've made several references to the people of Germany being manipulated during the reign of the Nazis, let us not forget several dark chapters in American history that prove it can also happen here... now. The question is: fear or freedom?