Why do I avoid writing about big stories? Sometimes it is because I don’t feel I have enough information, and I don’t want to be a tool for puppeteers. Other times, I deem the matter to be purely political and of no consequence. A lot of times, I view a story as the product of an ambitious local personality’s hyperactive publicity machine.
I didn’t touch the WLOS coverage of Buncombe County Schools not pulling permits for electrical work done for a few reasons. For one, I am no fan of regulation. I used to live and work in Madison County where you could jerry-rig things as necessary to get them running, and nobody would ever find you. Getting a government employee to take money to say it was safe seemed like a racket. And so, if the school fixed things without permitting delays and expenses, it was probably safer for the kids in the end, and it saved money, too. As an added bonus, maybe some of the electricians got to be creative and inventive, realizing greater efficiencies than the framers of the code considered in the way back when.
But if I wanted to join the human race, I would realize there are children in schools, and any sentence with the word “children” converts me into a caring individual worthy of extended tenure in elective office. If I really care, I will don a straight face and start spewing screwy sentences like, “We must get to the bottom of this to ensure safety and sustainable quality of life for all children of our 21st-century school community.” If enough of us play the game with enough emotion, maybe we can justify the creation of a few more positions for “overseers to oversee the overseers.”
What we learn from this story is that if the schools survived without the permitting and inspections, then probably the rest of us don’t really need the hassle, either. The only pity I feel here is for the contractors who are getting in trouble for following instructions to forego the rigmarole.
