Down River – Oct. 31, 2013
By John Lipez
A Little Confused:
First let’s note upfront this new social networking stuff has changed the way we communicate, changed the way and the speed at which news is disseminated and changed the way and the speed at which misinformation can be circulated.
I’ve trolled enough on my wife’s Facebook page to know that misinformation of all kinds is out there, from political to personal to everything in-between. And I’ve been around long enough to know that, not unlike Hitler’s big lie, if you tell a tale or circulate a rumor long enough, it takes on a life of its own and that most often is not a good thing.
Which brings us to Monday of this week when parents of many secondary high school students in the southern half of Clinton County feared for the safety of their children.
As it thankfully turned out, their children were not at risk. But many of these parents initially could not find out about what proved to be a hoax, the warp-speed internet dispersal of a fallacious report of a shooting incident; or they chose not to try and find out and went off acting in what they believed was in the best interest of their child’s safety.
I’d like to write here that the events of Monday were a learning experience for all involved and would hope that will be the case, but I am not sure.
In retrospect one could be confused by the diametrically opposed reads from the school district and Lock Haven University relative to the young man described in a school district-prepared memo which sparked all the chaos.
The whole matter flared from the school district’s internal communication alerting school personnel to a Lycoming County young man described as one who “definitely seemed to be the type of person to be the next active shooter in our area.”
That and the rest of a warning-style poster were starkly straight forward and offer a sharply contrasting view of the 21-year-old Lock Haven University commuter later described by an LHU spokesman in different terms:
Rodney Jenkins told the Lock Haven Express the person in question “has been in good standing with the university, has not been involved in any incidents on campus and has posed no threat.”
So where is the truth here? Do we have two different standards, two different tellings, one for internal school district consumption and a completely different one (the LHU statement) for public consumption? Apparently so as we understand these messages were intended for separate constituencies with different “needs to know.”
From talking to school district officials it was learned the district wanted to be pro-active relative to disseminating information through its poster labeled, “BE AWARE OF THIS PERSON,” the warning underlined for good measure with a “mug shot” underneath.
The district gets points for being pro-active; its intention to provide for the safety of its students and staff, but this incident tells us the quality and content of its dissemination system need to be improved.
Somehow that system was breached and as a result there was chaos in the schools on Monday and a young man’s character, fairly or unfairly, badly besmirched through that breach.
The school district needs to look closely at its dissemination procedures, both in-house and to the public, upgrade that system and tell the public how it will proceed in the future.
The system didn’t work too well a few days ago; there has to be a better way.
And the Election:
Almost lost in the Monday school district fiasco is the fact that next Tuesday is November 5 and that means all kinds of local voting opportunities in Pennsylvania’s municipal election.
In Clinton County there is a race for just about everyone, from the tiniest township (we have plenty of those) to the biggest of cities (well, one city, just under 10,000 residents).
And we write and say this with every election, your vote does matter. But an ever increasing number of you don’t think it does.
The spring primary saw a voter turnout in Clinton County of less than 15 percent. 15 PERCENT!
Are you kidding me? Did you not take Problems of Democracy in high school? Do they still offer Problems of Democracy in high school? Do the kids have books for Problems of Democracy in high school (that’s another column item for a future date)?
It is incumbent upon you to register and vote each and every election; otherwise you can’t complain about issues from Obamacare to why utility companies can cut down trees willy-nilly.
So if you are among the 22,498 eligible voters in Clinton County, we expect all 22,498 of you to go to the polls next Tuesday.
There are a few feisty township races in Clinton County and a couple countywide contests.
There will be a new county coroner come next Tuesday night and voters will elect a treasurer from a field of three.
The one sure result is for Clinton County Judge where present district attorney Mike Salisbury is guaranteed election as the only candidate on the ballot to succeed J. Michael Williamson who has served this year as a senior judge after reaching the state-set retirement age of 70.
The big question is who will be acting D-A for two years once Salisbury assumes his judgeship. An answer could be coming as soon as election night; stay tuned for that.
And vote!!
