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Sunday Night
MaryHelen Swanson, editor

Iíve written this column over and over in my mind since the moment I left the county board meeting last Wednesday night. It is Sunday Night and I am now forced to put my thoughts on paper.
You read about the meeting in my news item on the front page, about the attempt by Commissioner Ben Montzka to stop progress on the North Branch projects - the government service building and the new nursing home - until the two new commissioners are on board in January. And you read that the four other commissioners had no intention of stopping the projects.
The fact is, the projects are in progress, and it should not be a surprise to the county residents. There have been articles on the North Branch Presence - the new government building shared with non-profit organizations - and there have been reports on the boardís work toward a new nursing home beginning last March.
Commissioner Bob Gustafson stated the projects have not been ram-rodded on the people. Yet once the county board agreed to move forward in March, on strategic planning, they moved swiftly and kept on moving without any public input. The nursing home became an issue at summer county board meetings as agreements to purchase land and hire architects were on the docket. And it came forward during the election campaign. Surely, if anyone attended any of the forums at which the county commissioner candidates were speaking, they heard about the nursing home.
I whole-heartedly agree with Commissioner Tom Delaney that there should have been public information meetings. I donít understand why he said there wasnít time. There was a lot of time between last March and today. I think the county could have found a night or two to visit with the public about these projects. At the very least, they could have found a night to show up in North Branch and explain the projects to the people who might be affected the most, and not just the city council.
Should the county stop progress on the two projects now? I donít know. I donít know if they can, as architects have been hired, plans have been drawn up and an application for state funding for the new nursing home has been submitted. The countyís administrator might be able to tell us what can happen, perhaps the county attorney. Last week no one discussed whether the projects could be stopped.
One thing you didnít read in the front page story was that the press took a severe beating at the meeting last week. The integrity of our profession was harshly criticized. Repeated comments about not believing what you read in the paper were tossed about, at the board table and in the audience. Perhaps it is true for super market tabloids, but here in our small communities, we canít get away with that. We try desperately not to give inaccurate information. What we do do is attend meeting after meeting, public hearing after public hearing, special sessions, conferences, workshops, seminars, forums - we are there where your government officials are.
Our small staffs are stretched thin, especially when several meetings are scheduled for the same night. We watch the boards, the councils, the commissions and committees - for you.
We pour through documents, reports, audits, we study maps and charts and graphs and try our best to put together a story to tell you, our readers, what your elected officials have done and how it will affect you.
To be so harshly criticized at a public meeting was humiliating, but I remained in my seat because I did not want to dignify the attacks by leaving.
Equally disturbing was the way the newly elected officials were treated. Their questions were merely tolerated. Board members actually talked about them as if they werenít in the room when deciding how to give them presentations on the projects.
And as he has been treated since his dissenting votes on issues surrounding the projects started, Commissioner Ben Montzka was again given the eye-rolling, heavy sighing responses whenever he spoke up. While his questioning sometimes lengthens a meeting or causes confusion, he has every right to ask questions and to disagree with the other members of the board.
Further, I believe the meeting should have closed before a fellow journalist was attacked by two commissioners who were angry, I assume, for her editorial comments on their behavior a week earlier. She did leave the room and I guess at that point it was understandable.
The board room, with the meeting still open, was no place to confront her about her comments which the freedom of the press allows. While our country fights so hard today for freedoms, we should never forget those we already have.
I share these words by John Finnegan, an adjunct professor for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota.
ìWithout a free press, true freedom does not exist. The First Amendment right of a free press provides the freedom to report new information, to explore new and challenging ideas, to examine how a society functions and to support or criticize those who govern us.î
I have seen Commissioner Vande Kamp doing many fine things in our community- wearing a red suit and white whiskers and listening patiently to every little childís wish, donating his time and expertise for the 4-H and FFA auction at the county fair and working with the Anonymous Santa project.
I appreciated his expertise as a commissioner and his work to solve problems for county residents. But I was disappointed at his behavior and am truly sorry that this is the way he chooses to leave office after so many years.
And Commissioner Tom Delaney, I have seen him work hard to protect the countyís natural resources and beautiful river valley landscape. He has worked feverishly to protect his constituents from potentially dangerous power lines, and to get their roads repaired to save lives. Sometimes his zeal in protecting his flock comes almost to the point of exclusion of others in the county.
I am sorry that they both lost their bids for re-election because Iím sure they really wanted to get re-elected. On the other hand, their opponents also wanted to get elected and did. While losing isnít easy, it happens, and then you have to bow out gracefully and move on.
It will be tense in the board room in the last few weeks of this year. It is true that the current board still has some important decisions to make, adopting the final county budget for one. And early in December the county should know whether it has been accepted by the state for the nursing home funding program. What will happen then?
Can they halt the project then? Will they, if they donít get the funding? Will they, if they do? Will the new commissioners ìsee the lightî as the old ones hope and come to accept the projects? What if they donít?
Can any action on the projects be reversed after the first of the year when the new commissioners come on board?
There are way too many questions to answer but I can assure you that this newspaper will be following the actions and giving you a report as we have done in the past. And that report will be as accurate as we can make it.

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