The Buncombe County Commissioners held the second part of their budget retreat this morning. From the discussions emerged two sparkly gems:

  • In a conversation about child safety in schools, Brownie Newman suggested the county not be a mindless copycat and see where kids are in most peril. He suspected kids were more at risk in some households and neighborhoods. That sounded so excellent coming from an elected leader, because when they were giving out jerking chains, I thought they said trains and asked for a slow one.
  • Holly Jones suggested coming up with a program that would not penalize county employees for downsizing their budgets.

In the murky dross were more ordinary comments eliciting an ouch or two:

  • After Holly Jones mentioned the federal program teaching Buncombe County school kids the three R’s: Reading, Riding, Retrofit; Joe Belcher suggested the county’s web site show how much government is saving in terms of money and carbon emissions. Ellen Frost added the county had to control its messaging and not let the press do it.
  • Joe Belcher wanted to get reinforcements for teachers in the K-3 classrooms. My comment was, “How’s that working for you?” The argument runs that kids are not getting the support they need at home anymore. So is it the role of the schools to encourage the parents to step up or move over? In my wee experience, I think parental oversight contributed to a more wholesome society.
  • In a discussion about corporate welfare, Mike Fryar said he was on the side of practicality and job creation. Idealists needed education. Many commissioners related tales of bad terms they had gotten on loans when they were starting out their businesses. The inference is that government loans are perfect and worthy of whatever portion of the banking sector they may assume.