A (sometimes) tongue in cheek review of the news published this week regarding Wise County.
Normally posted every Sunday around 6:00 p.m.
For the week ending 6/24/00:
| The Story | The County refuses to declare July 3rd an official holiday but instead encourages workers to take the day off anyway (presumably at their own expense). |
| News worthiness (on a scale of 0 to 5) | *** |
| The Spin | When a taxpayer finds the door to a county office locked on Monday, we're certain he will be thinking, "I would be frustrated at this moment but since the workers aren't being paid today, I don't mind being inconvenienced". |
| The Story | The Chico School Board delays action on eliminating the local homestead exemption. During the meeting, School Board member Greta McDaniel asked, "Do you think we'll have to increase the tax rate if we do this?" |
| News worthiness | *** |
| The Spin | Huh? You're going to eliminate the exemption and increase taxes? |
| The Story | The Bridgeport School Board balks at allowing a fund raising event involving wrestling among students. Gaylord Kennedy objected because a similar event held in the past led to "obscene gestures between the wrestlers and some of the people in the audience." |
| News worthiness | ** |
| The Spin | Wow, BISD Smackdown. |
| The Story | The Chico City Council considers allowing a sports complex built on city land with "private money". The complex would include two football fields, six softball fields, a basketball court, a tennis court, a track, and hopefully an outdoor amphitheater and a swimming pool. Interestingly, no money exists from the "private" source yet although the group intends to "raise" it. |
| News worthiness | ** |
| The Spin | The Spin announces it will build the Bass Performance Hall on the land as soon as it raises the money as well. |
| The Story | The Runaway Bay City Council votes to "drop participation" in a newsletter written in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce. The skirmish began after the May edition of the newsletter contained an article critical of the city council's handling of the repair/purchase of a city pool. The Council will also consider kicking the Chamber's offices out of a city owned building. |
| News worthiness | *** |
| The Spin | One possible scenario: (1) The Council gives full control of the newsletter to the Chamber, (2) the Council hacks the Chamber off by booting them out of a city building, (3) the Council reads an unflattering article regarding the office space problem in the July newsletter, (4) the Council realizes it lost its chance to control the content of the newsletter when it "dropped participation" in the publication. |
| The Story | The Sheriff's Office will begin a "R U OK" program that utilizes a computer to contact elderly people on the phone ( who have requested the service) to simply check on their well being. The computer makes the call and, if there is no answer, it then calls a designated contact person to alert them to a potential problem. |
| News worthiness | * |
| The Spin | Of course, now we have elderly folks all over the county scrambling to answer the telephone on a daily basis. |