Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:26 and sunset is 7:28, for 13 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 75.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1862, at the Battle of Shiloh, the Union’s Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.

Referendums. One referendum for the City of Whitewater (Police & EMS personnel) and one referendum for the school district of which the city is the largest part are now behind us. Agreeably, happily behind us.

Both were important to their proponents, the Police & EMS referendum being especially so as it was operational. A referendum that retains or adds people (adding in this referendum to adjust workloads) is more important than capital improvements or modifications to public property. The loss of the municipal referendum would have increased burdens on the workforce (as rejection would have worked an attitudinal burden all its own on existing employees).

The community gets more personnel and the personnel know that the community appreciates the need for more personnel. These are each gains for Whitewater’s residents.

Of the district’s capital referendum’s merits, by contrast, it seems clear to me that enough could’ve been done with far less.

Taxes. An anti-tax wave swept Whitewater in the early winter and into the new year, but it did not change the result of either referendum. In January it looked to me as though it would sink both referendums, but by March that seemed less probable. The Police & EMS referendum was easily better offering. That city referendum seemed secure to me by March. We’ve no polling for the Whitewater area, but it’s likely the anti-tax faction saw what it wanted to see among like-minded residents, and ignored or distorted contrary indications among others.

The herding and magnifying influences of Facebook, especially, leave people thinking their views are more widespread than they are. It takes time and effort Facebook does not require (and does not provide) to assess opinion accurately. Facebook is often like a man who goes into the woods, makes a lot of noise, and then looks around for how many birds he can count. By then, only the loudest or deafest ones remain.

Rearview Mirror. These were important topics for the community, and yet, and yet… this libertarian blogger will be happy that they’re over.

Before us persist issues and conflicts in the city to address now that these referendums are behind us., happily behind us.

Veluwabbit (Lagomarsupialis veluwensis) spotted in the Netherlands on April 1st: