War and peace
You will, I hope, excuse the usurpation of the title of a book I haven't even read. I just got home from the Whatcom County Council meeting a bit ago; I was covering it as part of a journalism assignment--not for the paper, though. The story I write up tonight is due in about 11 hours. I have a ton of material to go through and I'm afraid it may be some time before I hit the pillow again. I also have something on Wednesday night (ok, tonight) which I may or may not go to. There's a distant voice telling me that I might forget how to sleep if I'm not careful.
The council meeting was insane. You see, one of the councilmen had proposed an emergency moratorium (freeze) on building, development or subdivision in the large Lake Whatcom watershed. This would basically mean that anyone who earns a living by building primarily in that area would suffer near bankruptcy. Other's less fortunate would most certainly suffer that fate because of the land investment they have on the lake. This was all justified by questionable science about the declining water quality. The "emergency" status of the proposal was designed to cut a ton of corners and leave little room for public input or complaint.
So the short version of the meeting is that the council room was jam packed with people from both sides of the issue. From 7 to 10:30, that's all we heard about. Me and my fellow journalism students had a time of it going from person to person, getting this quote and that. The issue was finally put to a vote and it failed by one. After that, they continued to discuss the issue in terms of the next step and finally moved on...so I did too.
I don't know if they are still there working on things this very minute, but it wouldn't surprise me.
When I got home and got out of the car, I noticed that the night was unusually mild and the moon was shining bright. I decided to take a few minutes to let my ravaged mind settle and I sat down on a rock overlooking the cranberry fields in back of the house. It was good to sit there and try to bring life back into focus after being so saturated with contention and political wrangling and then ask God's grace as I faced the rest of the week. I had a little time of devotions while I sat there in the moonlight still having all tools of my trade packed away in my pockets--a recorder here in this pocket with a pen, and a pad in the other pocket.
And life goes on...
The council meeting was insane. You see, one of the councilmen had proposed an emergency moratorium (freeze) on building, development or subdivision in the large Lake Whatcom watershed. This would basically mean that anyone who earns a living by building primarily in that area would suffer near bankruptcy. Other's less fortunate would most certainly suffer that fate because of the land investment they have on the lake. This was all justified by questionable science about the declining water quality. The "emergency" status of the proposal was designed to cut a ton of corners and leave little room for public input or complaint.
So the short version of the meeting is that the council room was jam packed with people from both sides of the issue. From 7 to 10:30, that's all we heard about. Me and my fellow journalism students had a time of it going from person to person, getting this quote and that. The issue was finally put to a vote and it failed by one. After that, they continued to discuss the issue in terms of the next step and finally moved on...so I did too.
I don't know if they are still there working on things this very minute, but it wouldn't surprise me.
When I got home and got out of the car, I noticed that the night was unusually mild and the moon was shining bright. I decided to take a few minutes to let my ravaged mind settle and I sat down on a rock overlooking the cranberry fields in back of the house. It was good to sit there and try to bring life back into focus after being so saturated with contention and political wrangling and then ask God's grace as I faced the rest of the week. I had a little time of devotions while I sat there in the moonlight still having all tools of my trade packed away in my pockets--a recorder here in this pocket with a pen, and a pad in the other pocket.
And life goes on...
posted by Mark at 1:18 AM
Went well enough.
Yeah, when I came down at quarter to seven you had the distinct mark (no pun intended) of a poor wretched human being who had forsaken the natural instincts of civilization. Tie loose, eyes bleary, voice croaky, and a bright screen in front of you! What a lovely scene to start the day to! =/
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