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Decorum

It seems society has degraded to a point that he whom shouts the loudest is held in the highest regard. Covid drove people into their basements and made Facebook and other social medias the new form of interaction with our fellow human beings.

Now that covid is no longer forcing isolation, people seem to have kept their rude, insulting behavior learned in their basements and are using it in public.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a guy that frustrates me as I see him as a moderate Democrat, until he isn’t, was accosted at a recent meeting he attended at Harvard.

Foxnews.com reported, “A climate activist group is bragging about a confrontation with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) at Harvard University, during which one of its members was thrown to the ground after denouncing the pro-oil and gas Democrat with an outburst of profanity.

“In an interaction filmed and shared by Climate Defiance, Mr. Manchin is seen sitting at a table when a group of protesters enter the room and have him surrounded. The protesters took issue with the role the senator played in facilitating the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a $6.6 billion natural-gas transmission project spanning over 300 miles, from West Virginia’s northwestern border to southern Virginia.

““You sold our futures and got rich doing it, you sick [explicit],” one of the protesters shouted, prompting Mr. Manchin to stand up from his chair to face his antagonist. “How dare you? You have sold our—”

“A member of Mr. Manchin’s staff quickly jumped between the two and held the senator back. Before the protester was able to finish his last sentence, the Manchin aide grabbed the young man by his jacket and tossed him out the door, shoving him to the ground.”

Well, the altercation eventually ended with the group posting the nasty discourse on the internet. Shame on them, there’s a saying “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar” for a reason, and normal people in our country are getting sick of the nastiness.

With that, I was proud of the behavior exhibited by attendees at the Linn County Planning and Zoning Commission commercial solar forum held Monday night. There were approximately 200 people at the event, a mixed crowd of solar proponents, neutral attendees and opponents gathered in the Prairie View Performing Arts Center. 

Kudos to the Commission for organizing it where anyone whom wanted to speak could and everyone could hear what was said. No one was left out – and the entire forum took 1.5 hours.

Lack of decorum to our elected officials, county employees and appointed individuals to many boards is causing a recruitment issue for the county. People will put up with only so much bullying before they move on to greener pastures.

So be it some would say; but the culture created in negativity will hurt the entire county at some point.

It was refreshing to see so many people be able to state their point of view with very little cursing, without pointing fingers – allowing diversity of thought throughout the evening.

Honestly, if more of what was seen at the meeting Monday would spread through the nation, we’d be in a better position with getting along with our fellow citizens.

Tough decisions still remain to be made; not everyone will be happy, but anyone and everyone that wanted to express an opinion was allowed to do so equally; kudos to attendees and the Planning Commission for organizing an open, thought-provoking meeting for the benefit of the county.

OPINIONS

BULLY PULPIT

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NEWS

Linn County Planning Commission moves forward to ban commercial solar

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Meeting for their regular monthly meeting Tuesday, March 12, the Linn County Planning Commission discussed commercial solar after hearing from opponent Mark Briggs who was given five minutes to address the nine member board. Briggs recounted responses the anti-solar group... [More]

Creating a healthier park with fire

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Prescribed fire planned   Fort Scott – Park managers at Fort Scott National Historic Site, in coordination with Fire Managers at the US Fish and Wildlife Service from Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge, plan to burn the five-acre restored prairie... [More]

La Cygne patrons defend departed chief

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Fenoughty’s resignation was accepted on Feb. 28   More than 50 persons, nine of them speakers, appeared at La Cygne’s regular council meeting last Wednesday to ask for Tina Fenoughty’s reinstatement. Fenoughty, the city’s police chief and animal... [More]

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SPORTS

Pleasanton and Jayhawk boys’ basketball TRL All League selections

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The 2023-2024 high school basketball season is concluded and it is time for the annual season honors. The Three Rivers League announced their All League selections for boys’ basketball and both Pleasanton and Jayhawk players made the teams.  Pleasanton had two... [More]

Linn County Twisters have six place at State

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The Linn County Twisters traveled to Topeka on March 8-10 to compete in the USAWKS 2024 State Wrestling Championship. The Twisters had 16 wrestlers compete in the event with six bringing home State medals.  Shawna Case, HS Girls 155, placed third and scored 21 team points.... [More]

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