Wendell Peters, Floyd County Circuit clerk, couldn’t hide his displeasure when I showed up Tuesday to report on the latest court session.
When I approached Peters to pick up a copy of the court docket, he looked with disdain and asked: "Are you sure you can accept this from a Republican?"
"Of course," I said. "I deal with Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents and even a Socialist or two."
Peters wasn’t amused. He was upset over that Capitol Hill Blue column that was highly critical of the Republican Party in Washington.
"I was offended by it," he said. "I hope you weren’t talking about present company."
I wasn’t, of course. The column was aimed at the President and Republicans in Congress. The last time I checked, the Constitutional officers of Floyd County weren’t part of that group.
But someone with a copy machine used up a toner cartridge or two copyed the column and distributed it around the courthouse, the town hall and other places. One was stuffed in the door of The Floyd Press. Another was found in the parking lot of the courthouse. Town Manager Mike Maslaney said one was stuffed in his Sunday Roanoke Times.
Too bad the person with the copy machine didn’t take the time to copy one of my many columns which said even worse things about Democrats and pass it around too. Guess they weren’t interested in balance.
Peters took my comments personally. He shouldn’t. What I do is never personal. My problem with the Republicans is focused at those in Washington who, I feel, have abandoned the GOP principles of a small, less-intrusive, government. It was the Congress and the President who gave us the USA Patriot Act, a rights-robbing piece of legislation that takes away many of the freedoms that used to be part of the foundation of this nation.
The folks in Washington are professional politicians. Most local officials are not. They are true citizen officials who actually try to help those they serve. Wendell Peters is a good clerk. Shannon Zeman is a good sheriff. New Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Shortt is living up to voter expectations and delivering on her campaign promises. I’ve had great experiences dealing with county offices, both as a journalist and as a taxpayer and resident of Floyd County.
The same is true with Citizens Telephone. All of my customer service experiences with Citizens have been great. The cooperative’s DSL service is far more reliable than the Verizon service we had in Northern Virginia. I let the company use, without charge, one of my professional video cameras to shoot football games this past season.
So I was surprised recently to hear that some at Citizens felt I had a personal grudge against the company or someone who worked with it. I don’t use this site to pursue personal agendas or grudges. I reported what I did because enough employees of the company came forward with concerns that I felt should be part of the public discussion. Citizens is a publicly-owned telephone cooperative. We, the public, own it and we deserve to know if the company is in trouble.
So let’s stop trying to make this personal. It’s not. Let’s stop the anonymous notes on the door, the invective-filled no-name emails or the nasty, anonymous phone calls left on voice mail. If you have a problem with me, my address is 201 East Main Street, Suite 6, Floyd, VA. I’m there six days a week. Have the courage to walk in the door and discuss your concerns with me in person. Wendell Peters had the common deceney to express his concerns to my face. Others should as well.
It’s message, not messenger.
When 70% of the population recognizes that there is a problem, then we should not squander our time with trivia about who’s punctuation or couth may be out of the mainstream. Many people feign offense at the truth to avoid the discussion of the subject.
The old story about treating the mule with love and respect; but first you have to get his attention- well it applies to the public as well.
We are shortlived people, we have squandered the time we have on this earth. The sooner we recognize the complexity of the adage “follow the money” the better we will comprehend problems in decision making both corporate and government; then I think we’ll be better off.
Let’s contribute to this process, have faith that the truth will set us free. We have far more in common than the powers would have us believe, let’s overlook the small stuff and focus on the big!
When I started reading Capitol Hill Blue in the late 1990’s–living in Roanoke, VA, one county away from Floyd and unaware that apparently Doug Thompson had worked with my father many years before at the Roanoke Times–I was a diehard Republican on every issue except the environment, and I was immediately attracted to CHB because of the anti-Clinton articles.
I was still a diehard Republican when Bush came into office, but over time I not only quit supporting Bush, I fell out with the Republican party entirely. Much of this was due to Bush’s behavior, and much was due to educating myself about what was really happening in Washington, and the consequences both here and abroad from those actions. And part of that education came from Doug Thompson and Capitol Hill Blue.
I wonder, as that former Republican who remembers being extremely uncomfortable in the initial stages of my turning against the D.C. GOP, if the folks doing the smearing and anonymous copying are themselves trying to fight personal doubts in an extremeist way. Thinking is dangerous to a zealot.
I do know Doug and I know his lovely wife through her involvement with Angels in the Attic.
They are good people who love this county. It is too bad that some of the more narrow-minded among us can’t see beyond their blinders.
Doug
I try to catch your blogs daily – although I don’t always agree with your line of thinking (but frequently do), you always make a clear case for your views and give me something to think about. Maybe that’s the problem, some folks don’t want to think.
Of all the “rights” we US citizens lay claim to, Freedom of Speech is the hardest to live with, but it’s is also what sets us apart from many of people around the world. So to all those out there that are trying so hard to silence anyone that says (or prints) things you don’t agree with (or who have the courage to speak up about issues that no one else will talk about) – it’s time you went back to Civics class! Study the Constitution again (there’s more to it than the right to own and carry guns) – be patriotic – support Freedom of Speech!!
Keep up the good work Doug – my brain needs the exercise.
On average, national polls show Bush’s approval rating to be 30.2 percent so 70 percent of those polled – in a number of polls — disapprove of the job he’s doing. Congress fares even worse with an average approval rating of 18.7 percent and only 15.6 percent of the people think the country is headed in the right direction.
Doug, your columns express your view of the world around us and seem to reflect the concerns of the majority. Those with minority views clearly have the right to disagree. You give them the opportunity to do so, but it appears most of your detractors are too cowardly to stand up publicly do so. Or perhaps they are upset with the facts.
John Adams once said “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes , our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of the facts and evidence.”
I don’t live in Floyd and am not a Citizens Telephone customer so have no frame of reference for those battles. I am, however, an American and I’m actively working to rid this nation of Bush and Cheney and so many others whose lies and arrogance and, in too many cases, sheer stupidity continue to take their toll on my country’s well-being. Bush and his administration will be gone in 242 days, 13 hours and 56 minutes — not a second too soon.
Doug,
You must be doing something right if you’re stirring up so much fuss! I agree that Wendell is a nice guy and a fine Clerk. Like more and more folks these days, I don’t affiliate with a political party and I vote my conscience. I believe in unifying people and political parties are designed from the get-go to divide us.
It is disturbing although not surprising that there are some folks sneaking around like vermin attempting to discredit you and/or interrupt your livelihood. The fact that they don’t understand the bigger picture of who you are and what you’re about further testifies to their cockroach-level intellect and equally loathesome ethical values. If they had any self respect at all, they would step into the light and at least own up to their own words and actions.
It’s unfortunate but true that the vast majority of national-level politicians are cut from the same cloth. Those with higher ethical and moral values have a more difficult road to travel if they want to raise enough money to get that far. Most of the entities that are capable of financing today’s nine-figure (eventually ten-figure I’m sure) campaign bills will at some point ask them to compromise those values. Add to this the fact that the game is rigged so third parties don’t have a chance at all and it’s hard keep a positive attitude about our system.
We can only hope that someone will come along that can buck this trend (and that we’ll have the good sense to vote for them). Then we would have to clean up the legislature! The odds are incredibly out of balance, but the change has to start somewhere, doesn’t it?