Let's tax stupid people

According to Merriam-Webster the definition of stupid is: a: slow of mind Obtuse; b: given to unintelligent decisions or acts; acting in an unintelligent or careless manner, c: lacking intelligence or reason.

Some people may be offended by this blog, to which I will apologize that you are offended.  But I just couldn’t help it after reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about how Zynga made $600 million dollars last year selling virtual fish, cows, chickens, pigs and other livestock and assorted items. Now first if you don’t understand, virtual means that it exists only on the internet or in the imagination, like the tooth fairy.  It is not something that you can touch, taste, smell.  It is not a physical thing. 

People are paying $4.00 for virtual chickens and $3. to $4 for virtual translucent fish.  And it is estimated that the sell of virtual items will net some $2.2 billion in revenue for the companies who get stupid people to buy these pretend products next year.

So here is an easy way for the government to raise $220 million in revenue that I’m sure anyone with the common sense God gave lettuce won’t object too.  Let’s charge a 10% real tax on these virtual things.  After all if they will buy an imaginary chicken for $4.00 surely they won’t mind helping reduce the national debt by paying an extra 40 cents.  We can call it the virtual reality tax or taxing stupid people or practicing the theory of evolution.  In the games they can call it a livestock tax.

Now $220 million is nothing compared to the deficit but it’s still $220 million and it’s a tax that smart people can avoid.  After all we charge much higher taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol and gasoline which the majority of hard working Americans have to have for their cars since the government made a deal with GM many years ago to kill mass transit and put a car in every garage.

President Obama says that everyone needs to pay their fair share and I agree lets start making stupid people pay their fair share too, before we raise taxes on the job creators.

Plainfield Days Ecumenical Service Sermon from 7-10-11

Ecumenical Service Plainfield Days 7-10-11 Matthew 13:1-17 Bad Soil

For the first 13 years of my life I lived in Kansas City, Kansas in a house with a yard barely big enough to contain the driveway and my dad’s ’71 VW Beatle because my mom’s car was parked in the one car garage that was part of the basement. 

My father never liked living in the city.  As a child he spent his summers on his uncle’s farm in Bethany Missouri, and his childhood home had a large yard where his mother had a large garden.  My father liked to think of himself as a farmer trapped in the city.  He disliked everything about the city the small yard we had, the lights, the traffic…and so when I was 13 we moved to a suburb of Kansas City, KS onto a ¾ acre lot.  It was big enough for my dad to have a 1600 square foot garden which he proudly worked on for years.

The only problem we had is that the soil was terrible and when I say terrible that is an understatement.  It was nothing but rocks and clay.  Everyday one of the choirs my sister and I had was to clear a 5 gallon bucket of rocks before we could do anything.  In the beginning this was fairly easy as the rocks were large but as time went on the rocks got smaller and it took longer to fill the bucket.

The first year the garden didn’t do very well.  But my dad kept at it, he was big into organic gardening so he got some horse manure, and made me bag the grass with a push mower and all organic food leftovers went into the compost pile.  As my dad worked the soil year after year it eventually got better and we got some good harvests of tomatoes, green-beans, leaf lettuce, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers and zucchini.  The two things that never did well no matter what my father did were sweet corn and strawberries.  Although the strawberries did better then the corn.  We would get a couple of quarts of decent strawberries but the corn was never any bigger then my thumb.

In Matthew 13 Jesus uses a farmer and soil as the background for a parable He tells about how lives are affected by those who hear the Good News.  In the parable there are four types of soil, the path, the rocky ground, the thorny ground and the good ground.  Now with the first three soil types we often think there is no hope.  The seed falls on the path and the birds eat it all, it falls in on the rocky soil and the sun scorches it and in the thorny soil the thorns choke it out.  And I think we hear that and think that’s it, those poor people have no chance at all.

But I’ve seen that bad soil can be turned around.  I watched my dad labor with it for years in that back yard of my teen years.  That first year as I said was terrible but little by little with my dad’s earnest care the soil improved.  As I said it never was able to support sweet corn but I think another 10 years or so of my dad working on it and I think it would have been able to begin producing a decent sweet corn crop.  Now there is no doubt that my dad had to work really hard at the soil to get the garden to produce, there is no doubt that if had soil like I have over at the parsonage he could have grown a good garden with relative ease.  But the thing my dad’s work on that garden soil year after year that I learned was that bad soil can become good soil.

Now we may look at this parable and think about those 3 bad soils and wonder how could they ever become good soil.  The path for instance, we might think of that as the side walk or a paved road what can grow there.  But we all have seen that green stuff can work it’s way through even concrete, it can crack it and take root and eventually break up the concrete.  If grass and weeds can do that to concrete how much more so can the Good News do that with someone’s life if they are exposed to it enough.  Or if we help work on them, work on busting up that hard surface so that Word can get into their lives and start to take root.

What about the rocky soil?  Well it’s main problem was lack of water.  If you travel down to Kansas you will see lots of corn were there used to be nothing but wheat.  Kansas’ climate isn’t exactly conducive to corn takes a lot of water for corn to grow.  If you look close every corn field is irrigated.  So the irrigation makes it possible to grow corn where it previously didn’t grow very well.  So the Word of God sown in a person’s life with rocky soil can grow if it can be watered and nurtured.  Again we can help nurture that seed of the Word.

And what about the thorny soil?  Well the easiest thing to do with that soil would be to remove the weeds, clean it out I imagine it’s probably not bad soil once you get all the weeds out.  The same is true for the person who has a lot of clutter and worry in their lives if we can help to clear that out then the Word of God that is sown will have a fighting chance.

But what about the good soil?  You might be thinking what about it?  It’s good soil we don’t need to worry about it, it takes care of itself.  But does it?  How easy is it for good soil to become thorny or weedy soil?  How many of you farmers never have to pull rocks out of some of your fields at least?  What happens if you drive a lot of heavy equipment over the fields or try to plow in them when it is too wet? 

The house that Yolanda and I had in Kansas City had a large yard with lots of flower gardens, at least that was what they were supposed to be.  We bought it from elderly widow who had been unable to tend to the gardens for many years.  It took a lot of work for Yolanda and I to clean up those gardens so that they would once again be nice flower gardens.  You can’t just depend on good soil to continue to produce a good crop it takes work.

As I said we had to pull rocks out of the garden every day until my dad planted in the spring and then after the harvest until it got to cold.  So it was work to keep the garden rock free.  And weeds?  As I said my dad was into organic gardening.  That 1600 square feet never saw any herbicide.  Now fortunately my dad had a fancy tiller with all kinds of attachments and he cultivated and planted the rows far enough apart to get the tiller down to till up the weeds between the rows so we only had to weed in the rows themselves.  But we still had to weed to keep them from overgrowing everything and choking out the plants.

We never had any trouble with compaction but I know that you farmers have to take care of that because if the soil becomes too compacted it will be like the path and the crop won’t grow.

I think too often we hear this parable and think that it’s kind of a one time deal.  You hear the word and if your heart is hardened or you have lots of rocks and no spiritual death, or too many things choke out the joy you have at hearing the word then all hope is lost.  Or we think that we have received the word and we have allowed it to sprout in our lives and it has produced a good crop but we don’t need to do anything else.

True Jesus didn’t elaborate the way I did when He told his parable but the people who heard this parable first were farmers.  They understood the work that even good soil required to maintain a good crop year after year.  I imagine they too could even improve the conditions of soil whether it be a path, rocky soil or thorny overgrown with weeds soil.

One of the things that we need to remember today is that spreading the word, and following the word takes work.  We can’t just spread the word once and think that’s it, we can’t hear the word and let it take root in our life and think that’s it either.  We need to cultivate that word in our own lives and in the lives of others, we need to cultivate the soil of those we encounter, praying for them, tilling up the soil of those with hardened hearts, helping to remove the rocks of those with rocky soil and weeding the worries and concerns out of other’s lives.  Jesus told a parable about different soil types, and sowing to farmers, knowing that farmers would see and understand the deeper implications of what He said as they recalled the story.

Let us not neglect to continue to cultivate the word in our lives so that it may continue to bear fruit and may we also cultivate others lives to prepare them to hear the word and for it to take root.

gym Etiquette

I’m at the gym this morning, a little later then I wanted to be mainly because I like to use the steam room after my workout but also to avoid this older gentleman who is always wanting to talk to me.

Now the gym is my time.  I go to exercise and I don’t really like to exercise so I treat myself to a book for pure fun.  I only allow myself to read it while I’m working out and while occasionally they do have good stories that I sometimes work into sermons but for the most part it is just pure indulgence, cotton candy reading.  I’m not looking to make friends or carry on any deep conversations which is one of the reasons that even when I don’t need to go so early I still do to avoid the older crowd that is there to socialize.

So as usual I’m on the recumbent bike and I’m reading my latest book and I’m pretty into it because it’s just a fun read.  When the guy I started coming earlier because of walks in and plops down on the recumbent bike next to me, and asks, “What are you reading now?”  I pretend not to hear him like I’m deeply absorbed in the book because like I said it’s my time, I didn’t come there to talk.  But as usual he doesn’t take the hint and asks again, “What book are you reading now?”  Fortunately my current book doesn’t have any religious overtones or double meaning like the last book I was reading and he tried to strike up a conversation.

Now, first I want to say the guy is okay, nothing against him he’s just an older pastor.  I know this because I’ve overheard him talking about it in the locker room.  So I know he’s just trying to be friendly and maybe possibly witness to me but I’m on limited time here and he’s cutting into my prime book reading for fun time.

So I tell him the title, which is “King Dork” last time it was “Adam” by Ted Dekker.  Of course he had never heard of Ted Dekker and was telling me he knew of an “Adam” the first man and blah, blah, blah and was asking if it was about that and so on and so forth and the whole time I’m thinking man I just want to exercise and read my book in peace.

Well this time he didn’t have anything to relate to it and asked if was a novel or something and I said yes just a novel pure enjoyment.  Fortunately he let me finish my exercising in peace.  But as soon as I was finished and got the cleaning stuff he’s asking what it’s about.

And the whole time I’m thinking isn’t there some etiquette for the gym?  Like if you’re reading or have head phones on it means, “I didn’t come here to make new friends please don’t talk to me.”  I mean I’m sure that the co-eds that come don’t really want the creepy older guys hitting on them.  I mean if I was one of them I wouldn’t.  I say hello, good morning if I pass them walking by on the way to the locker rooms or where ever like I do to everyone but that is the extent of my conversation.

And then there is the other guys that like to carry on a conversation while their butt naked in the locker room.  What’s up with that?  I don’t really want to be talking to naked guys just something wrong with that.  Don’t they cover that in gym class?  Maybe it should be in the orientation when you join the gym.

So I’ll be getting up earlier and make sure I’m done before the ones who want to talk get there.

The importance of voting

Dear Editor,

A wise man once told me, “People who don’t vote deserve bad government.”  So I will start off by saying shame on us for not voting.  I will also say that people who do not vote have no reason or right to complain about the decisions of our government.  Those who will not participate and contribute to their self government at the most basic of involvement by voting should expect to be disappointed by our government.

However I believe the greater shame should be upon our elected school board directors with their decision to follow the Chickasaw County Auditor’s recommendation to consolidate our polling station and have only one poling station at the welcome center in Nashua.

Now while voter turn out in the last school district election was dismal, in both districts, 25% of the total voter turnout came from the now closed District 1 (Plainfield) polling center.  District 1 voter turnout was 1/3 of the District 2 (Nashua) polling center.  Statistically those are not terrible numbers and should be interpreted, by any reasonable person who wants to encourage voter turn out, as justification to keep both polling centers open.

I’m willing to give our directors the benefit of the doubt and choose to believe that they made this decision solely based on the Chickasaw County Auditor’s desire to save money.  However, it does appear as though the school board is trying to discourage voter turnout from District 1.  And given that the school board is planning on putting our school district millions of dollars in debt to expand facilities in Nashua while at the same time underutilizing existing facilities in Plainfield, as well as reducing staffing to cut the budget one could surmise that the board is penny wise and pound foolish.

Most likely this letter will anger some and they will resort to calling me names and insinuating things about me again.  But the facts speak for themselves.  Our elected officials are running the school system how they see fit with little regard to the will of the people.  And why should they care what the people want if we cannot even make the effort to vote or inform them of our opinions.

I encourage all eligible voters to vote in the up coming purpose statement vote.  I also encourage us to use this vote as a referendum on the recent decision the school board made to consolidate grades 7 through 12 at the high school and to place the district millions of dollars in debt.

Sincerely

Shawn Geer

Plainfield, Iowa.

How many votes are too few to count?

In the last school election only 23 people voted from the Plainfield district.  Based on that number the Chickasaw County Auditor recommended moving to one voting precinct.  That 23 sounds like a small number and standing all by itself it sounds reasonable to justify their decision.  However the total number of people voting was an astronomical 92. Which means that 25% of the vote came from the Plainfield district.  So I guess supplying 25% of voter turnout doesn't qualify you to have a polling place.  Now I will agree that 23 is a dismal number but so is 69 from the other district, so shame on all of us for not voting better.  But it would be helpful if the school did a better job of letting the community know what is going on.  And publishing it on the website or the 700 circulation Nashua Reporter is not doing a good job of informing the community.

If you buy it for a lot of money and sell it for a little money they will come

Haven’t bloged for awhile but just had too blog.  First I stand corrected.  Ms. Franzen was correct the houses were sold at auction.  Well two of them anyway.  Two properties purchased for a grand total of $200,550 by the school district.  Two properties sold for $2750.  Yes that’s right $2750 no typo.  Two houses one bidder receives a $180,000+ tax payer subsidy I hope I get a thank you note at least.  I should be getting a kiss.  Well I guess that’s two houses we don’t have to tear down.  But who will take care of the foundations and the holes?  Should have thrown the third one in for him.

Also for the up coming purpose statement renewal vote we have one polling station at the Welcome center in Nashua Iowa.  I guess this is the process of bringing community together make it difficult for people to get to polling stations.  Maybe they will run a bus for those elderly who have trouble getting around.  Where’s a community organizer when you need one?  Or ACORN?  Is it too expensive to have more then one polling station?  We can come up with 5.5 million dollars to build a MS/Tech/Science Wing and Physical Education/Wellness/Athletic facility but not to have two polling centers?

Just remember that any general bond issue needs a 60% approval.  But they will tell you your taxes won’t increase.  Provided that the revenue doesn’t go down.  And gas doesn’t go up.  And food doesn’t go up and utilities don’t go up.  And pennies start falling from heaven.  In fact the school can afford this provided nothing changes, no cuts in funding from state. No sudden decrease in property values, (Like that could happen.  Oh wait didn’t that happen and is continuing to happen?)

Of course next on the agenda is to buy all the students iPad2’s shortly before the iPad3’s come out.

Just in case you couldn’t tell yes it is laced with sarcasm and tongue in cheek witticisms.

Midweek meditation for April 6 on Exodus 3:1-4:17

Ex 3:1-4:17

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight — why the bush does not burn up."

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

And Moses said, "Here I am."

5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey — the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

16 "Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — a land flowing with milk and honey.'

18 "The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.' 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

21 "And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians."

Exodus 4

4:1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?"

2 Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?"

"A staff," he replied.

3 The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground."

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 "This," said the Lord, "is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has appeared to you."

6 Then the Lord said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.

7 "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

8 Then the Lord said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."

10 Moses said to the Lord, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

11 The Lord said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."

14 Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."

NIV

In his book, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life, Os Guinness reviews the theology of call and just what is involved when one is called of God.
Guinness describes the call of God as "the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do and everything we have is ... lived out as a response to his summons and service." There are two dimensions to the call of God, the first being our essential role as a disciple of Jesus, and the second being the call to function in the church and the world using the gifts God has given us. When we are faithful to these two callings, God is glorified.

Moses had an interesting life, saved by being placed in a basket on the Nile, plucked out by the Pharaoh’s daughter raised a prince in Pharaoh’s court, exiled by his own guilty conscious and now settled in a comfortable life as a shepherd far from Egypt and the worries and pressures of his people and the life of a prince.

He had many unique experiences and opportunities in his life.  He was educated, and brought up in the royal court.  He knew Pharaoh.  He was a hard worker, and knew about sheep now.  I imagine that he was pretty comfortable, settled in his life when we encounter him again in the desert having a conversation with God.

From the way the conversation is going I’m betting Moses wished he had walked right on by that burning bush.  Moses sees the bush and decides to go investigate.  When He gets closer God calls to Him and says I have job for you.  You are going to be the one to lead my people out of the hand of Pharaoh.

And I’m sure it is at this moment that Moses thinks, why couldn’t I just walk on by.  So Moses thinking very fast comes up with the excuse. “Who am I?  I’m no one I can’t go to Pharaoh he’ll say who is this yokel that is coming to demand the release of my slaves?”  Well he is only Pharaoh’s nephew is all.

But God says, “It doesn’t matter who you are it only matters that I will be with you.”

So Moses thinks fast again, “Well that’s all good and well but what if the Israelites and say you sent me and they ask, ‘What’s His name?”  Surely that will get me out of doing this task is what Moses is thinking.

But the Lord tells Moses His name.  And so Moses has to think again real fast because what it boils down too is Moses doesn’t really want to do this.  It is a disruption to his current life, it moves him out of his comfort zone.

So Moses says, “Well what if they don’t believe me?  I mean let’s face it I tell them you appeared to me in a burning bush that didn’t burn up and spoke to me and said your name is I Am, and that I’m to demand that Pharaoh set you free…There more likely to whisper to themselves who is this crazy old shepherd.”  And I’m sure Moses is thinking surely this will get me off the hook.  The Lord will see the logic of my thinking and the error of His ways.

And God says, “What’s in your hand?”

Moses is probably thinking okay where is this going cause if he knew he would have been tossing his staff as far away as he could to try and hide it and answered nothing.

But Moses is caught off guard and answers “A staff.”

So the Lord gives Moses not one but really 3 signs to convince the people.  He turns Moses’ staff into a snake and back into a staff, he gives Moses leprosy on his hand and takes it away and then he turns the water into blood.

So Moses has to think real fast again. And what does he use as an excuse next?  “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."   Yes we have just witnessed Moses’ slow speech and tongue repeatedly as he comes up with one excuse after another why he shouldn’t be the one.  And what happens?  God lets him off the hook…

Nope not at all God reminds, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." In short all Moses has to do is repeat what God says.  

But Moses won’t relent he has one more gambit to play the honesty gambit, the whiner gambit, “Lord I don’t want to please send someone else to do it.”

And what happens?  The Lord’s anger burns against Moses and He says, “what about your brother Aaron I know he can speak well and you will tell him what to say…”

God had called Moses and all of what Moses thought where good reasons for Moses not to do what the Lord was calling him and had equipped him to do were nothing but excuses and you know what Mr. Frost says about excuses…they are just like butt’s everyone has one and they all stink.

Remember Jonah?  He didn’t want to do what the Lord wanted him to do either.

Sometimes we are asked to do things by the Lord or by the Lord’s proxies, a friend, a spouse, a pastor, most often times it is something that we aren’t entirely comfortable with, but the Lord has prompted His proxies and told them that you have what it takes, or He has told you specifically that you have what it takes to do this for Him and His glory.

But like Moses we balk.  We think fast we come up with all kinds of excuses, I’m too busy, I don’t speak so well, I don’t know about technology, I don’t relate to this generation, I’m too old, too slow, too poor.  But the truth is if you can’t say the Lord doesn’t want me to do this then chances are it’s the devil whispering in your ear because the last thing he wants is for you to feel that you have what it takes, that the Lord can and will use you.  Because a well formed tool in the hands of a master can work marvels and when the Lord calls us to do something that is exactly what we are when we yield to His will.  Well formed tools in the hands of the Master.

Some Thoughts on the School Board "Informational" snooze fest Thursday

Went to the School Board informational meeting Thursday night.  Not all that well attended for several reasons.  First poorly advertised per usual.  Second think a lot of people believe that the school board is going to do whatever they want to do regardless of what the citizen’s want or think.  Someone asked about letting the people vote on it and the gist of why they won’t do that is because letting the people decide wasn’t a good idea.  So much for representative government.

I’m not sure that all I learned is accurate or what they wanted me to learn.  The first thing I learned is that we ought to take some of the $60,000 a year in technology budget and educate our administration and school board members on using it effectively and well.  And maybe invest in some bigger screens, but of course if we spend 3.5 to 5 million on the middle school science tech wing and gym, performing arts wellness center perhaps we will get a good sized screen.

Second they sure can put on a mind numbingly boring presentation that I found somewhat more obfuscating then illuminating.  It raised more questions then it answered.

Third Plainfield will be loosing the rest of our school in probably the next 10 years the board president as much as said so.

Fourth we can afford this project provided our current funding and expenses stay the same.  For instance as long as state doesn’t cut per pupil spending or our enrollment doesn't drop too much.

I was wrong about their belief in “if we build it they will come” apparently this is for staff efficiencies so we have to spend 3.5 to 5 million dollars to make our staff more efficient and or to save money.  How much would it cost to lengthen the days 15 minutes so the teachers would have time to commute?  I guess it’s like when the wife says, “Honey look how much money I saved on all these clothes that were on sale”  and I’m like “really, I could have saved us double that amount by not buying it.”

Then there is always the savings of geo thermal.  Now I’m not against geo thermal I think it is a good environmental option.  However, I just don’t believe the savings are there.  According to the EPA geo thermal energy savings are somewhere around 30%-40%.  The website I looked at said most units in residential areas pay for themselves in 5-10 years.  That may pay for the unit in 5-10 years but not the installation which can run 10,000 to 30,000 or more plus the heat pump.  Geo thermal units run about 2,500 dollars per ton of heating or 7,500 dollars for a 3 ton unit that makes total cost on low side of a residential unit $17,500 at minimum.  To pay back in 10 years it needs to save me $1750 a year.  That’s more then I pay now to heat my home.  So obviously 10 years isn’t going to cut it.  My annual heating cost is about $1350 so if it saved me all of my heating cost every year I would actually take 13 years to pay for itself at the low end.  Which isn’t bad 5.5% return on investment.  However if you remember EPA says geo thermal really only saves about 30-40% so lets say my unit saves me 40% or about $540 a year.  It now takes 32 years to recoup my investment a return of 2.25%.  T-bills are paying better rates of return.  If I’m tying up $17,500 worth of money I’d be better off with 10 year treasury bonds which closed at 3.49% today.  At that rate after 20 years I’d have $35,000 with an investment in geo thermal if I set aside my savings after 32 years I’d have $17,500.  In 8 more years with treasury bills I’d have $70,000 so how much have I really saved on that expensive geo thermal unit?

Don’t let the board or anyone else fool you.  When they talk about savings by purchasing these expensive gadgets it’s not the same as “real” savings or investing.  Besides anytime a government agency saves money most likely it is spent on something else.

Anyway what is sad to say is that I think if the school board persists in this course of action I predict our school will be gone in 15 years if we are lucky and things go according to their plan.  Unfortunately I believe the decision to remove 7-8 grade from Plainfield will actually increase our open enrollment out from the southern half of the district thereby exacerbating our declining student population and speeding up the demise of our school.

It is a catch 22.  The district really needs to explore some wild and creative outside the box ideas like maybe extending the school day so teachers can drive back and forth between Plainfield and Nashua.  Or perhaps doubling admission to sporting events and charging admission to all events like band and choir concerts.  Maybe we should take the money we are planning on spending on this building project and higher a full time football coach to develop a superstar football program that could fund our school that we could then charge $20 a ticket for admission.  Sound crazy?  Perhaps but people pay more then that to see the Hawkeye’s play.

One more thing I learned if we would just be interested in having a wellness center, which Ms. Franzen says we all need because we need to walk, then the YMCA would be willing to come in and partnership with us.  So part of the problem is that we aren’t really interested in a wellness center or the Y coming in and running some classes.  So adjust your thinking and get with the program.

Post your thoughts I love hearing them even if they disagree with me as I love open debate and free speech.  Unlike some people I think when people disagree and discuss it and listen to one another new and better ideas can often be found.

What exactly does Mr. McMichael mean by community

I'm re-posting a portion of Mr. McMichael's original letter he has not taken the opportunity to comment but it still exists should he choose to exercise it as well as anyone else who wishes to comment.

"People tend to get caught up in the specifics and not look at the big picture. The big picture is community! Our school is the heart and soul of our community and whether you want to believe it or not, extracurricular activities are a big part of community.  You attend a football game or basketball game and you gather with your friends and neighbors. You get that hometown feel. You know what I’m talking about. You go to a game, you hear the cheers of the crowd, the singing of the national anthem, the band, the students all coming together.

It is a sense of family, a sense of belonging. That is what living in a small community is about and that’s why I live here. I want that quality of life for myself, my children, and my grandchildren.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the NP middle School basketball tournament.  I will be honest the only reason I was there was because my daughter was playing, if she hadn't been playing I wouldn't have been there.  I saw Mr. McMichael there also. However, Mr. McMichael left as soon as the girls were done playing and didn't stick around for the boys tournament.  I did stay for one game because one of our youth was playing but if Mr. McMichael is so sold on the school being the heart and soul of the community, like it was 50 years ago, and that extracurricular activities are a big part of that, why did he not stay for the entire tournament?  Or where was Mr. McMichael last night at the mid-winter band, jazz band and choir concert?  Well it's probably because he's like most other people if it isn't varsity boys sports or his children aren't involved he doesn't care.

I don't think we should cut our extra curricular activities.  I think we should increase the admission to all sporting events, we should double the price of admission and double or triple all the concession stand prices.  What I object too is that I don't think tax dollars should be taken away from things that benefit all students to pay for the things that only a minority of students are interested in.  But then again I think it's time that our government got out of the business of education and let the free market take over again.

religion in public life to win a book

My beliefs about religion in public life are summed up well in the Steve Taylor song

It's A Personal Thing: “I'm devout, I'm sincere, and I'm proud to say
that it's had exactly no effect on who I am today I believe for the benefit for all mankind
in the total separation of church and mind”

Many of Steve Taylor’s songs are sarcastic but I think many, at least those who follow a more secular thought process anyway, believe that our faith should have no effect on who we are or the decisions that we make. Which has lead our society down a path to worshiping the constitution, and our government believing that it is the be all and end all arbitrator of what is right and what is wrong.

But if there is no higher law then our constitution and the laws of the land then anything can be declared right by virtue of it being declared legal. I think one of the reasons that religion is taboo in public and politics is that it forces us to acknowledge that we are not the ultimate authority on anything and that we must answer to God sooner or later.

For a review of a book I’m trying to win by blogging on this go here

Friar Tuck's Fleeting Thoughts: End of Secularism Book Review and Giveaway

Our Aveo experience

The van broke down; again, and so we had it towed into the shop Friday morning. They didn’t get it fixed so we rented a car. We didn’t want to spend the extra $4 for the weekend and went with the economy model.

When we pulled up to Hertz the only economy model was a Chevy Aveo. I said, “That’s our car and laughed.” Yolanda said, “Nooo.” I was thinking we could always upgrade. Unfortunately they where all sold out for the weekend and the Chevy Aveo was our car.

Now I thought it’s a 2011 surely Chevy has made some improvements in the small car area since the Chevette. I think they’ve gone backwards.

I read a quote I think it was from GM complaining about the small car market and basically saying American’s won’t buy small cars. But really American’s don’t buy American small cars because American car companies still have no idea how to build a small car.

Okay let me remind everyone that I have been driving small cars for as long as I have been driving. My first car was 1977 VW Rabbit, loved that car and am still a big VW fan. Overall I would say that my 1977 VW Rabbit was a better car then this 2011 Aveo.

At first sight it’s not too bad in fact it looks rather large on the outside. But I think Chevy has perfected the T.A.R.D.I.S. except haven’t figured out that it is better for the car to be bigger on the inside and smaller on the outside then big on the outside and small on the inside. It honestly looks bigger then the 1998 VW Jetta but it feels a whole lot smaller.

For the numbers the Aveo is slightly smaller then the Jetta. Its width is 66.1” campared to 66.7” for the Jetta. Wheel base is actually longer though at 97.6” vs. VW’s 97.4”And the Jetta is over all longer at 173.4” vs. Aveo’s 154.3”. In height the Aveo is 59.3” vs. the Jetta’s 56.1”. So these are cars are close to the same size. The Aveo weighs in at 2546 lbs verses the Jetta at 2590 lbs.

The Aveo with automatic transmission is rated at 27/35 the Jetta was rated at 24/31. I’ve gotten 34 on the highway in the past.

Engines: for the Jetta 2.0L I4 SOHC 8V FI Engine developing 115 h.p. and she uses every single one of them to good advantage. For the Aveo 1.6 L DOHC I4 16V developing 108 h.p. I think it has a couple of hamsters under there running on a tread mill.

I will say this at least Chevy is having Dawoo make the thing so that’s something. However, this car gets an F overall grade as a car. The wife said, “It’s a golf cart with a body.” I play golf I’ve been in nicer golf carts plus they are fun to drive. Aveo not so much.

It has no cruise control but power windows and power door locks, of a sort, and power mirrors. There two redeeming points it has plenty of head room, which you will need as the suspension seems to be tuned by the Amish for their buck boards, and an MP3 input for the stereo. You will need this as the radio cannot pick up any radio stations.

Everything about this car screams cheap. And at a base price of $12,000 I guess it is cheap except you can step into a used Jetta TDI for around that price and get about a 30% increase in fuel economy and a whole lot nicer car. The key feels cheap you can feel the door moving when you open and close the driver side window. The doors feel cheap as they open and shut with a comical clown like feel and sound. The horn fortunately is a manly sounding and one and I was quite surprised that the horn sounds so well coming from such a clown car.

The car does ride like a go-kart, bumpy as heck and unfortunately not as fun to drive. The huge A pillars create massive front blind spots.

I’m not really a GM fan but this car has convinced me that I am correct in avoiding GM products. If they can’t get one car right why should I believe they could get any car right. If this car had been built under the Government take over one might blame Washington on this fiasco of a car but alas this one is all GM’s.

The car does have great acceleration from 0-5 mph but after that I think the hamsters are over taxed. I’m still trying to figure out who the target audience is. Perhaps people who live within walking distance of work but want to say they own a car.

The other day I heard Click and Klack the car guys talking about how the Yugo was the worst car of the 20^th century. I think the worst car of the 21^st century will probably be the Chevy Aveo. Makes one long for the Geo Metro. Maybe if they come out with a convertible that will help.

I think if I was GM I wouldn't allow this to be a rental car and if I was a rental car company I would not be having this in my fleet. I have half a mind to ask for a refund from Hertz because we were way over charged to rent this thing.

Continuing comentary on Ms. Franzen's editorial

Ok today we are going to look at the committee. First a refresher of what Ms. Franzen said.

“First in forming the committee the administrators set specific criteria they felt most beneficial to the productive meetings. The committee needed to include both mayors, someone who would represent younger citizens as well as older citizens, fine arts, athletics, academics and overall community leaders. Included were: Mark Moine (architect) Tim Neil (my edit Plainfield Mayor), Shawn Geer, Dawn Koob (school bard), Cindy Hannemann (this is my edit I felt full discloser was needed Assistant high school softball coach daughter), Sue Baldwin, Chris Skilton, John Phyfe (my edit Nashua mayor and whose wife is employed by the school), Randy Strabala (again my edit superintendent), Erik Smith (again my edit high school principle) and Ed Anderson (again my edit elementary/middle school principle).

In looking at this list, it is a very respectable group of individuals from each community.”

I concur with Ms. Franzen’s assessment that it was a very respectable group of individuals from each community. In fact I never said it wasn’t a respectable group and I never inferred or implied that any of these people were less then respectable. What I wrote was it wasn’t a diverse group.

4 of the committee members were employees of the school district, and except for Cindy Hannemann all were administrators. I don’t know for sure but most of them were probably from the middle to upper middle class white collar workers. No single moms, on the committee, no working class members, no support staff employees. But that wasn’t really my biggest complaint it was the fact that Mark Moine was an employee of Gardner Architecture and was a key person on all the school building projects that he brought and showed to the committee.

Now in case you did not make the connection. Gardner Architecture received the contract to do the feasibility study for the proposed building plans of the long range committee. Probably what bothers me the most is that this doesn’t seem to bother Ms. Franzen at all. Nor did it seem to bother anyone else. Now I would have been fine with Mr. Moine coming in and explaining architecture details, informing us of what needs to be updated and giving us all possible options. However, Mr. Moine seemed fixated on limited options and really pushing geo-thermal heat. When I questioned him about the alleged cost savings he stated some cost savings for school districts who had put in geo-thermal in the new buildings they had built and how much money the geo-thermal was saving over the old buildings with old boilers. However, that comparison was comparing apples to beef, the items are not even in the same category.

It’s rather misleading to compare energy savings for a type of heating unit in a new structure with all kinds of energy efficiency improvements, against a 50+ year old building with older heating units.

Mr. Moine was also always pointing out how that these building projects really didn’t cost these school districts much money because of all the grants and how many of the cities they were built in contributed money to them.

Well more to come.

New Letter to editor of Nashua Reporter

The following is my letter to the editor I submitted to the Nashua Reporter in response to Mr. McMichael and Ms. Franzen's response to my original letter.

Dear editor,

It is good to see that my letter sparked some lively debate and that is always healthy and good. Apparently though I was not clear enough in my previous letter and my main point was missed.

You will notice in both Mr. McMichael’s and Ms. Franzen’s letters there are not any statistics offered. Ms. Franzen wrote that, “it doesn’t take a Masters in Theology or Education to predict what will happen if we are not proactive.” Of course she never voiced what would happen, instead ominously insinuating that something dreadful will happen like our communities will cease to exist which could happen but I think is highly unlikely. I never advocated against being proactive. In fact I believe both Mr. McMichael and Ms. Franzen helped prove my point that the school board is operating under the assumption of “If we build it they will come.” They seem to be happy with this assumption.

This assumption may be true. However, I like to see hard evidence. Show me the statistics that say in X number of communities where major building projects were undertaken by the school student enrollment increased by X percent. Or show me the studies that show that where schools closed in X number of communities X percent of communities ceased to exist. Or show me the statistics that say in X number of schools that spent millions of tax dollars on infrastructure, academic performance of students increased by X percent. Show me these statistics and I’ll be on the “If we build it they will come” band wagon, I’ll even hitch up the horses.

I’m not against change, I’m not against proactive action, I’m not even against brainstorming wild and crazy outside the box ideas. But the administration and the board have a history of picking one idea that is usually the easiest and the one that everyone else is doing and not seriously considering any other ideas. Before the committee was even formed the rumor going around was that the school wanted to build a gym/wellness center/pool and move the 7^th and 8^th grade up to Nashua. Is it wrong to ask that my elected officials show me what they are basing their decisions on and to want them to base those decisions on facts not anecdotal evidence, speculation, hope and hunches?

But to reiterate my main point and hopefully it will come across this time and that is; as far as I can tell the reason these building projects are being proposed is because they believe “If we build it they will come.” And neither Ms. Franzen nor Mr. McMichael stated otherwise. And in my humble opinion that’s not really a good reason to spend hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions of tax payer dollars regardless of where they come from.

Sincerely,

Shawn Geer “Cave Person”

Letter to the editor regarding my letter from school board member Ms. Franzen

I am writing in to respond to the editorial from Shawn Geer regarding the Nashua-Plainfield school district’s long range plans. I am one of the most conservative members of the Nashua-Plainfield School Board; I can see that we, as a district, need to do something to remain viable. I would like to present some other facts and information that I feel is more representative of the issues.

First in forming the committee the administrators set specific criteria they felt most beneficial to the productive meetings. The committee needed to include both mayors, someone who would represent younger citizens as well as older citizens, fine arts, athletics, academics and overall community leaders. Included were: Mark Moine (architect) Tim Neil (my edit Plainfield Mayor), Shawn Geer, Dawn Koob (school bard), Cindy Hannemann (this is my edit I felt full discloser was needed Assistant high school softball coach), Sue Baldwin, Chris Skilton, John Phyfe (my edit Nashua mayor and whose wife is employed by the school), Randy Strabala (again my edit superintendent), Erik Smith (again my edit high school principle) and Ed Anderson (again my edit elementary/middle school principle).

In looking at this list, it is a very respectable group of individuals from each community.

Mr. Geer stated that he was asked to serve on the committee that would look at a long range plan to decide if there was need to improve the schools and what the improvements entailed, which in turn would hopefully improve our communities. He also stated that he did not attend many meetings.

My personal feeling on this is, if he was offended by the diversity of the committee and felt it was biased then why did he not address this at the beginning of the meetings? If there was an objection I did not hear of it. Also, his comment that he did not attend many meetings bothers me, as a leader of the Plainfield community he did not feel the meetings important enough to attend. This could have taken a different course and the Plainfield community could have been better represented.

Along with this Shawn could have declined and given someone else the opportunity to voice an opinion and work with the group.

There are members of each community that would love to see their hometown businesses flourish. In order to do this, it is essential we work together as a community and school to come up with ideas to make this happen. Each town has seen a decrease in business as well as students. With the current trend and declining students it does not take a Masters in Theology or Education to predict what will happen if we are not proactive.

I grew up in the Plainfield district and loved it. My parents/family moved and I graduated from Nashua School before the consolidation and now I live in Nashua with my family. I drive 90 miles a day to work, do I need too? Absolutely not, this is a great district to raise kids. I will not have my kids driving to another district for any reason when I can help prevent it.

There are many students who choose to be a part of FFA, FCCLA, band, choir, speech, TATU, besides all the regular sport activities that are available. These activities may be the area that they excel in and keeps them interested in school. For some students this may be the only time they have to feel included, this time is important socialization for them.

I am not saying this is more important than academics, but it goes along way for developing a well-rounded individual. Many students are active in multiple sports, band, FFA and 4-H and still maintain high grades. I guarantee that the students who find these activities important are working hard academically so they may continue to participate.

The editorial also addressed athletics and academics. In my humble opinion, if you take the athletics from students many will not stay in the district if they really want to participate in extracurricular activities.

I, for one, love to watch the Huskies in action whether on the field, or presenting for speech or watching my son get first place in state in FFA for his tractor. Where will he ever have that experience again if not for the school?

From what I have seen, kids who are out for extracurricular activities have a higher standard academically to maintain if they want to participate in anything. They are expected to make the grades, and most do.

I noticed a focus on the athletics in the editorial; it seems he should have attended a few more meetings. If he had, he would know that a science/tech/middles school wing with new and remodeled classrooms is also a high priority and would probably be done in conjunction with the wellness center.

So is the focus really on athletics? I would say definitely not. Is it a part of the whole, yes it is.

Again, to clear up another issue addressed on the houses purchased, he stated that they will most likely be demolished. This is also not true; they are nice houses and may be auctioned and moved. A few more questions and research would have answered a lot of questions instead of assuming.

The Board Members of Nashua-Plainfield and staff of all three schools do not want to give up on our schools, businesses or member of our communities. Many of us grew up between the two communities and they are important to all of us. At this point they are more important than writing both off as bedroom communities.

We will work to ensure a better outlook for both communities and hopefully add businesses that can thrive in our small towns. We can only do this with everyone’s help and backing. I encourage everyone interested to attend the community information meeting information meeting regarding facility improvements that will be presented on Feb. 3, 2011 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the High School gymnasium to get accurate information. We welcome your input.

Lisa Franzen,

N-P Board Member

Well there you have it letter to the editor number two after my letter. I might comment latter but I'm tired.

Ok I’m beginning my address to Ms. Franzen’s letter and decided to start with this section here where she talks about her love of the Plainfield district.

“I grew up in the Plainfield district and loved it. My parents/family moved and I graduated from Nashua School before the consolidation and now I live in Nashua with my family.”

Why does Ms. Franzen bring up where she grew up and that she loved it? I never questioned where she grew up nor did I question her love of community. So one can only assume that she did so to imply that I do not love Plainfield and to point out that I didn’t grow up in the community and as such am suspect and so everything I say if it opposes those views of the ones who grew up here should be discounted because I am an outsider and do not love my community.

It is true that I did not grow up in Plainfield. I grew up in the Kansas City, KS metropolitan area some 330 miles from here. So one might ask how did you and your family come to move 330 miles from a major metropolitan area, to rural Iowa?

Before I answer that question I want to talk about the community I grew up in. I went to primary school grades k-6 at Mark Twain elementary in Kansas City, KS. Even though it was in a large city and large school district it was smaller then our own elementary school. The summer after my 6th grade year we moved to a bedroom community of Kansas City, KS. We had a Stillwell address but we physically lived in Stanley. The school district I attended and graduated from was Blue Valley Community Schools. It was a little larger then the Nashua Plainfield District with 2 elementary schools 1 middle school and 1 high school.

It was a growing district and today Stanley, Ks has been annexed and absorbed by Overland Park, KS. The primary reason that Stanley, KS grew so fast was because it was a bedroom community and people wanted to move out of the city but still be close to their jobs. That was one of the reasons we moved out there. It was a little closer to my dad’s job and he didn’t like the city nor the street lights and my parents didn’t want me to attend the Kansas City, KS public schools not because they didn’t have good facilities, which they did and still do, but because of poor academics and gang problems that plague the inner city schools.

So how did I end up so far from where I grew up and so far from my family and roots? Mainly my job as Pastor of First Baptist Church in Plainfield, Iowa. In the fall of 2001 I was finishing up seminary in Kansas City, KS and searching for a church praying for the one God would call me to. It was around December of 2001 that I got a call from the area minister in Iowa asking how I would open to moving to a town called Plainfield, IA. I told him I’d have to talk it over with my wife.

So we got out the map and looked up Plainfield, Iowa, googled it and saw that it was a long way from where we grew up but it had all the things we where wanting. It was rural, it was a bedroom community, which where I come from means small town near a big city which means you don’t have to drive 100 miles one way to get to the hospital or grocery store or anything else, the elementary school was 4 blocks from home. It was ideal. So we prayed about it felt the Lord might be leading us here and I called the area minister back and said yes we were open to it.

Well I talked to the search committee I liked what they had to say they liked what I had to say. Two couples took a road trip to KC to hear me preach they liked what they heard and we immediately took to these two couples after a luncheon meeting. The search committee called Yolanda and I up to interview we had a wonderful home cooked meal in the home of one of the church members and In July 2002 I came up to candidate with the family they loved it, I loved it and the church loved us and called me and my family to be their pastor.

When we pulled up on August 5th 2005 in the pouring rain with our belongings stuffed in a U-haul 330 miles from our roots we discovered that the church had built a swing set in the side yard of the parsonage just for us. To even insinuate that I don’t love the community I live in well lets just say one should do some research first.

Those who disagree are "Cave People"

Every year I am given the chance to talk with the Nashua-Plainfield government students about the financial health of our community, local financial history and future opportunities for our students in the Nashua-Plainfield area.

It is a great opportunity for me to hear what our young people think about our community and what they would like to see from our community. We talk about the positives and the negatives. In this lecture we also talk about “Cave People” and how this type of person will always be involved in their lives.

They will be involved in their city, in their jobs, and in their schools. “Cave People” are “Citizens Against Virtually Everything.” We all know one. When these “Cave People” speak, it is usually very loud and often.

It is a lot easier for them to say “no” to everything than to try and do something. To say “no” takes no effort, takes no initiative, takes no commitment.

It is very simple, if you don’t forge ahead, you will go backward. It will not stay the same.

In the previous edition, there was an editorial regarding the proposed Nashua-Plainfield school building changes. In this editorial, it was stated that we have gotten by in the past with what we have so why do we need to change. (I am interjecting commentary here because it is my blog and I want you to see the original statement that Mr. McMichael is referring to. I am going to give Mr. McMichael the opportunity to express his opinion I believe that freedom of speech and opinion is the very bedrock of our great nation and without it we are doomed. Here is the original quote. Having grown up doing my best to live within my means and doing the best I could with what I have it is my firm belief that for the most part the majority of the “recommendations” from the committee are luxury wants and not really needs. The primary one dealing with Athletic Curriculum / Community Wellness / Performing Arts. The main questions in regards to this are, “Why, for so many years with more students where the current facilities adequate?” and “Why, now with declining enrollment do we need more gym space and a performing arts center.” I guess “Cave People” question what those in the know have decided is best for everyone else) it was stated that we have gotten by in the past with what we have so why do we need change. Things do not stay the same. Education needs are different now then they were 25 years ago. Twenty-five years ago we didn’t have computers in the schools. Government regulations on teachers, budgets , and buildings are ever changing and we have to evolve as well to stay within their guidelines.

People tend to get caught up in the specifics and not look at the big picture. The big picture is community! Our school is the heart and soul of our community and whether you want to believe it or not, extracurricular activities are a big part of community. (So some things don’t change? Who will tell us what changes and what doesn’t and when it happens?) You attend a football game or basketball game and you gather with your friends and neighbors. You get that hometown feel. You know what I’m talking about. You go to a game, you hear the cheers of the crowd, the singing of the national anthem, the band, the students all coming together.

It is a sense of family, a sense of belonging. That is what living in a small community is about and that’s why I live here. I want that quality of life for myself, my children, and my grandchildren.

This Nashua-Plainfield school building project makes sense for the future of our school and our community.

I choose not to be a “Cave Person.” Will it cost? Sure, everything costs, but the real cost comes with doing nothing.

Glenn McMichael, Nashua

Okay that’s one of the letters to the editor published in the January 27^th, 2011 issue of the Nashua Reporter. Where to begin?

Let’s begin at the end. I never advocated doing nothing in fact if you look at my blog post with my original letter to the editor I suggested we look into renting gym space. Now there’s some change. Guess it’s not the right change.

Mr. McMichael wrote the, “…building project makes sense for the future of our school and community” Okay where is the statistical evidence that shows that school districts with declining enrollments were able to halt that trend or even reverse it as well as bring in new business because the school took on a major building project? Somebody point to the statistics that this is the case and I’ll cease to be a “Cave Person”.

Now Mr. McMichael also wrote, “Our school is the heart and soul of our community and whether you want to believe it or not, extracurricular activities are a big part of community. You attend a football game or basketball game and you gather with your friends and neighbors.” What about State History day presentations? Well there’s no National Anthem, and no cheering, no ball involved, doesn’t take a lot of muscle, no pep-rally for them either. Maybe we need to seriously look at cutting athletic programs. So that’s change so if you are against cutting athletic programs when money is tight are you a “Cave Person” or are “Cave People” just people that disagree with Mr. McMichael? Maybe we should just elect him as our dear leader so that he can lead us properly and tell us when we are being “Cave People”.

Mr. McMichael brings up the computer as an analogy. I was out of high school by the time computers where available in class but the school I attended did have a computer lab prior to that which I used (It was the old kind that you had to dial the phone then plug the receiver into a modem". It was an extra curricular activity but we actually wrote programs for the computers. The school spends thousands of dollars on tech every year and my children can’t even use the built in Macro’s in word to generate a table of contents page after having “computer” classes. Seems to me that the school could get by with late model Pentium I machines because all they use them in class for is glorified typewriters. So you will excuse me if I’m skeptical about the wise use of my tax dollars in the name of "progress".

Which brings us to the beginning of Mr. McMichael’s editorial letter. I’m called a “Cave Person” and a “Citizen against virtually everything” as near as I can tell simply because I disagree with Mr. McMichael. Mr. McMichael’s opinion, and that is what it is an opinion, is that spending hundreds of thousands or even millions of tax payers money is warranted and will bring students, families and businesses to the community. My opinion is that it won’t. Basically it’s a gamble and personally I feel that if Mr. McMichael wants to take that gamble why doesn’t he do it with his own money and other private investments. Create a private investment firm build the facilities and then allow the school to lease them. If his gamble is correct he stands to make a good deal of money. If his gamble is wrong we the tax payers are out nothing. Unless of course we have to bail him out but that is another editorial.

Letter to the editor

Here is a copy of the letter I sent to the editor that is supposed to be published Next Tuesday in the Waverly Independent.

Dear Editor,

I felt the need to write this letter because I served on the Nashua Plainfield Community School Districts Long Range Planning Committee. I will admit that in the end I did not attend very many meetings. The primary reason for this is I felt the meetings to be overly long with a foregone conclusion and that my inclusion on the committee was to simply give it an air of unbiased community participation.

I don’t feel that the members represented a large cross section of the community but were instead hand picked to deliver the wanted conclusion. I also felt uncomfortable and that it was inappropriate for an employee of Gardner Architecture serving on the committee and especially serving as the de-facto chair of this committee. I don’t believe anything untoward happened: however; I think it was a case of “Caesar’s Wife” that elected officials and public entities should not even have the appearance of inappropriateness.

Having grown up doing my best to live within my means and doing the best I could with what I have it is my firm belief that for the most part the majority of the “recommendations” from the committee are luxury wants and not really needs. The primary one dealing with Athletic Curriculum / Community Wellness / Performing Arts. The main questions in regards to this are, “Why, for so many years with more students where the current facilities adequate?” and “Why, now with declining enrollment do we need more gym space and a performing arts center.”

In the January 2011 Husky Hotline, Brian Bierschenk, School Board President and Randy Strabala, Superintendent wrote, “In order to better market to potential businesses and families looking to relocate or establish themselves in the area, the school system must be able to offer education, programs, facilities, extracurricular activities etc. at a minimum of, equal to, or better than other surrounding school districts. Enrollment numbers have been, currently are, and will continue to decline for the foreseeable future. Overall improvements to the school district would be a necessary step to help curb these declining numbers, or hopefully, even reverse the trend.” There was never any statistical evidence given to support this hypothesis. Only anecdotal evidence primarily in the case of Postville’s recent building projects and other school districts building projects of which Gardner Architecture had direct involvement in.

In my opinion their solution to our declining enrollment is what I like to call “The field of dreams syndrome” or “if you build it they will come.” If their theory is correct, then we all ought to be packing up and moving to Waverly or Postville or other communities, where large scale school building projects have occurred, in droves, because let’s be honest, even if we could afford facilities to match Waverly and Postville’s specifically or other towns we could never realistically maintain them. The W in Waverly is not even self sufficient requiring a large yearly contribution from the city to remain functional.

And while the administration has stated its desire to help curb declining numbers it purchased three homes which I assume it plans to demolish. It is highly unlikely that these three house could be replaced for what they were purchased for thereby shrinking the already small affordable housing pool.

In my humble opinion the only real hope for our school is to choose what it will excel in and then pursue it with unwavering single mindedness. Personally I believe that the one and only purpose of school should be education and that when cuts are made they should be made in extracurricular activities first, hence the name extracurricular. Many will disagree with me but I really don’t see a lot of jobs where a major requirement is being a first string starter. And while it’s been a while since I took my ACT’s, I don’t recall there being an athletic section. If you look at our district’s annual progress report while it shows some improvement in our 8^th grade math and reading scores they are still below state averages. Again, on that report there is no section that ranks our standing in any athletic event.

Could we use more athletic practice space? Sure. A performing arts center? That would be nice. But maybe instead of building our own, which would sit empty the majority of the time like our current facilities, (do the math estimate 14 hour days say 8am to 10pm 365 days a year and I believe they are empty more then they are in use) we ought to partner with existing facilities, like the YMCA in Charles City or the W in Waverly. I believe that for a mere fraction of what we have already spent on property acquisition we could rent the needed facilities in areas around us. Would it mean driving farther? Sure. But we already drive to Charles City and Waverly for groceries, auto parts, Wal-Mart, K-mart and a host of other things we need that are never going to be available in our communities.

The reality is that our towns are bedroom communities. We need to face that fact, accept it, and then seek ways to capitalize on that instead of thinking that “if we build it they will come.”

Shawn Geer

These are pictures of the three properties the school is going to acquire to tear down to make room for whatever.

I think 3 families with children could have lived very nicely in these homes.