The October 16th issue of the Register‘s out, and it’s an autumn issue. What happened? I had to put on reading glasses to make sure that I was looking at the Whitewater Register. The paper has two front page stories on significant fiscal or administrative matters in our school district, and a story on the upcoming Common Council meeting’s agenda.
Well, that’s suitably different – a Whitewater paper with even, straight-forward front page stories about Whitewater.
Other than a discussion of the district’s bus contract, it’s been a while since we’ve had front page coverage of fiscal matters in the district. (The bus contract was hardly a significant matter, compared with academic performance or funding substantive programs.)
The story on the school district’s budget has a simple, clear description of the district’s budget: “Increased tax levy to be on upcoming school board agenda.” The story lists the pertinent facts of district expenditure and revenue, and gives the District Administrator an opportunity to explain her administration’s budget approach. The Administrator describes her method: “We sort of drew a line in the sand with what we estimated we could fund, and if the budget ends up high or low, we adjust the line accordingly.”
Yes.
There’s a below-the-fold story on the District Administrator’s resignation from the WUSD, effective June 30, 2009. I covered that topic earlier this week. June 30th will come, and it will go, too. The real questions we face will not depend on a person, but on good policies, sincerely, faithfully, energetically executed.
There are three photos on the front page, each fall-related, and interesting. Above-the-fold, there’s a nice photo of the Prairie Tillers mural.
Inside, there’s a mixture of local and area news, but how all this will evolve I cannot say. I am seldom surprised.
Whitewater doesn’t lack for smart people, but it does lack people who’ve not grown enervated, offering up the same half-baked excuses for municipal actions, the same clichés. After a while, the mediocre passes for clever. It’s not intellect; it’s a dulling of skills, a decline into complacency. Lack of a straightforward newspaper these last years has made our situation much worse.
Such a paper would benefit the community.
What will emerge I cannot say; it’s enough to know that blogging – a modern version of a longstanding American traditional – is a permanent part of the landscape.