RE: EC County Jail and LT editorial

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Wesenberg, Nancy Christine (WESENBNC@uwec.edu)
Mon, 3 Mar 2008 10:50:21 -0600



From: "Wesenberg, Nancy Christine" <WESENBNC@uwec.edu>
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 10:50:21 -0600
Subject: RE: EC County Jail and LT editorial
Message-ID: <E3F0E607B3CF71418CE725F002B5F6044159FEFD58@CHERRYPEPSI.uwec.edu>

I have enjoyed reading everyone's comments and responses to this issue and have learned a lot. Thanks for sharing it all. Great rebuttals! My husba nd, who is heavily involved in neighborhood issues, used to comment that th e city often seemed to hear only what it wanted to hear, when it wanted to hear it. After years of struggling, the situation has improved just slightl y I guess the county is much the same.

Nancy Wesenberg Communication Specialist News Bureau University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 715-836-4423 wesenbnc@uwec.edu

From: sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.edu [mailto: [mailto:sfpj-request@listserve.uwec.e du] On Behalf Of Kaldjian, Paul J. Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 10:17 AM To: sfpj@listserve.uwec.edu Subject: EC County Jail and LT editorial

For those that have not had the chance to see the editorial in the Leader- Telegram, one can read it at http://www.leadertelegram.com/story-opinions.a sp?id=BFTQFKVEB09 In the next email, I am providing the letter that I sent to City Council Me mbers and the local press over the weekend.

My response to the editorial, submitted this morning:
------------- It puzzles me, Mr. Giffey, why the purportedly late public awareness and in volvement over the jail expansion so annoys you that you berate and blame u s (Editorial, 2 March 2008). Of course it is annoying when people come lat e, to dinner, to class, to adulthood, to enlightenment, to civic engagement
 but we welcome the tardy, we listen to why they are late (reasons are ofte n legitimate), and we celebrate their participation. We don't rebuke them unless we don't care to have them. Coming to an issue late is part of the public process, without which we have things like dictatorships.

As a teacher who cares about my students' learning, such a heavy-handed app roach would be counterproductive. And arrogant, to believe that all fault in slow learning lies with the student. Our County Board is a confusing an d archaic layer of government with whom the public finds it difficult to re late. Count it an accomplishment that more in the public now recognize tha t we even have a county board, much less one with the ability to seriously affect our community.

Instead of lamenting the timing of the public's increased involvement, you might consider the merits of their arguments and concerns. You might explo re such things as the meaning of the renewed public involvement, the impli cations of the just-released Eau Claire County Local Justice System Assessm ent , the dilemmas increased public concern creates for the City Council, o r whether such a large, 29-member county board properly serves Eau Claire.

Finally, your wedding metaphor doesn't work. Doesn't the presiding officia l, in the end, actually invite last minute show-stoppers? People in Eau Cl aire are speaking now so we do not have to forever hold our peace. Or lame nt the exercise of unchallenged government.

Respectfully, Paul Kaldjian 1528 Fenwick Ave.
---------------

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Dr. Paul Kaldjian Associate Professor of Geography Dept. of Geography and Anthropology University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire Eau Claire, WI 54702 From: Dostalek, Ryan Mathew Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 7:56 AM To: Kaldjian, Paul J. Subject: EC County Jail

Professor Kaldjian,

I'm the news editor at The Spectator and I received your e-mail regarding t he jail report recently released. As you are aware, the expansion of the cu rrent jail or construction of a new one is of great interest to the student s. This report would further intensify this interest. However, I am unable to access the link. My browser comes up with an error message. I was wonder ing if you would be able to either send me the link again, unless you had a
 hard copy of the report itself and we could work some way of me getting a hold of it.

Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Ryan Dostalek News Editor The Spectator Office: (715) 836-4416 Cell: (608) 886-0416



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