Opinions are like noses

Don’t know about you, gentle readers, but I wouldn’t mind if this new year of our Lord 2002 was a little less eventful than the 12 months just completed. Personally, I could stand a little boredom and monotony about now.
The traditional “year in review” story that appears in this issue was compiled in the last couple of weeks during the so-called “slow period” at the end of the year. In writing this story every year I am reminded of just how much goes on here abouts. Martha Shinley does the story for DeValls Bluff, and I’m sure she is no less amazed by how much happens in a place with such a small population.
Back in the late 1980s when I moved here with my family, I harbored the illusion that Prairie County was a sleepy little place with little in the way of excitement. And compared to a major city, I suppose that’s true. Relatively little crime, no drive-by shootings or bank hold-ups. Few real scandals involving local officials. I’ll grant you we’ve got a few folks in positions of authority and public responsibility who would probably be better off doing something else, but that is the case everywhere I’ve been.
In case you are a person in a position of authority and public responsibility and you are offended by what I’ve just said, just take a look at the title of this column. This is the way I see it and not only you, but everybody else is free to disagree with me. Nobody put a gun to your head and made you take the position you’re in. Like I have to remind my wife from time to time, when she gets a certain look in her eye, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it. (I wish that was an original quotation, but I stole it from an early 1960s animated cartoon character, Super Chicken.) Incidentally the look in her eye to which I refer is the one that clearly says, “Now tell me again, why did I marry you?”
At least I put my name on my opinions unlike some folks who write letters to the editor containing vicious and usually unsubstantiated charges against somebody but decline to sign their letters. We don’t publish those. So in case you were thinking about writing one and signing it “A Concerned Citizen,” save yourself the trouble. If you’ve got a problem with somebody that’s really on a personal level, work it out yourself. Don’t try to drag me into it. I’ve got enough to contend with.
On the other hand, if you have a serious concern about a matter of public importance, and are willing to sign your name to it, this newspaper will be more than willing to give you a soap box from which to state your views. We may not share your opinion, but by golly we’ll certainly give you a limb to climb out on. Just don’t make it a running commentary, make your point and then get on with your life. Trust me on this one, it really isn’t healthy to dwell on things like that too long. heaven knows what unpleasant things might happen to you. You might even suffer the tragic consequence of blundering into the newspaper business. You wouldn’t want that, now would you?