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Norma's Wanderings around a small section of Montana |
Well, hey there! Welcome to Roundup, Montana! If it's a nice day, we'll sit a spell on my porch and talk awhile. A poem captured my attention the other day. Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget Falls drop by drop upon the heart, Until, in our own despair, Against our will, Comes wisdom Through the awful grace of God. Aeschylus What's on your mind today? |
Let's see - there is trouble in town. But then in a small town, there is always trouble of some sort. The latest is what happened at the school board meeting on Monday. My newspaper publisher urged me to go. "Norma, I hear that this meeting may get 'spicy'." Her exact term. So I went not knowing exactly what that meant. Oh yeah, spicy is what you call Wendy's Chili. Mildly hot. This gathering was Carolina Reaper - tear your throat out - spicy. Seems there was a big kerflugle between a HS teacher and the HS principal and the superintendent. The teacher, a female, is the cheer coach. She raised monies for new uniforms. They were due, they uniforms were over 10 years old. Fair enough. So the cheer team raised a great deal of money from the local community for this. Then she goes to the principal to ask about the uniforms - to purchase and whatever. He disses the idea. So she goes over his head and approaches the superintendent. The superintendent pretty much calls her a liar and tells her she has until Monday at 4 PM to either resign or be considered a 'not to rehire' for next year. Pretty much resign or be fired. She let them know at 3:55 on Monday she resigned. So the board meeting called for public comment. At least 15 people spoke. Students of the teacher, parents, teachers who were co-workers all spoke of this kind, caring, smart person who really cares about her job and her students. Public comment was over. The vote was taken, they accepted her resignation. Move on to the next topic - buying a bus. And there was more discussion about the bus than the idea that this person, whose life is now torn up, was perhaps treated unfairly. The next day students walked out of school. Billings TV channels came up. I wanted to do a story, but another reporter got the assignment. So I may reach out to the teacher in a week or so. I got her personal information after the meeting. I told her never to stop fighting, ignore the small-minded people in the world. I also told her of a teacher I had in HS. My English teacher who instilled in the love of words, of writing. A good teacher can have such an impact. And then that night I also learned there was a small fire at one of the refuse sites in the county. WHAT!!!! So I quickly emailed some people to see what I could find out. We had a refuse committee meeting last night. The people that tend to that little dump site set a fire a week ago, but didn't keep a good eye on it. Then when some wind came up on Monday, the fire reignited and burnt an acre or two. Outside the dump site, on private land. Two fire departments responded - Roundup and Hawk Creek, a small rural group. The worst of it all, no real damage was done, is that there was no 'burn permit' issued to the dump. You have to have a permit to do open burning. No big deal. No cost. But you need to let the powers that be know if you're going to be doing any kind of open burning. So we had a prolonged discussion about this last night at the meeting. The guys involved will get their 'hands slapped' and reminded that they need to take care of business properly. Egads. I am still getting rid of this cold, or whatever, I have. Coughing still. I went to the dentist the other day and the hygienist told me she's had a cough for a few months. Oh great. But at least my extraction site, where they pulled the tooth, is healing. Because they had to 'drill' it out, it will take longer to heal. Again, oh great. I told them, it was like taking that tooth out 'released the kraken'. The dentist was a little taken aback. But think about it. Tooth out, fainting spell, getting sick, getting sicker, needing drugs and antibiotic, still coughing. Yep - released something. |