Payson Roundup

It is a small story that probably won’t catch too many people’s attention, but in its own way it tells a tale that has taken us down a rocky path.

The story reports that the Payson school board cannot afford to broadcast its meetings on the town’s public access cable channel. We have no problem with that decision.

We presume someone sees the need to reach people who have taken no interest in school board agendas, actions or events. So in someone’s great wisdom, they came up with the idea to broadcast their meetings. At the most basic level, there is nothing wrong with putting such meetings on a cable channel, which few people watch. The Town of Payson does the same thing.

What’s wrong is that people need to actually take an interest in such meetings. Elected officials make many important and far-reaching decisions — many times without any input or comment from the public — or they get comments from only one side of an issue.

It is important in this “for the people by the people” government, which has been established for this country, that the “people” take an interest. Sitting home and watching a TV screen is not taking an interest. Showing up at town, county, water, fire district, college and school board meetings is taking an interest.

At the newspaper, we get to hear almost daily the woes of some citizen over an action taken by an elected official. The person doing the complaining did not attend the meeting, did not comment or write a public official offering their opinion — they just want to cry after the fact that the elected official did not take their concern into consideration. Too bad the elected officials never heard from the person who is now complaining.

We try to staff most government meetings with a reporter. In some cases, we are the only audience member that has nothing to do with the agency holding the meeting.

We accept and relish our job as government watchdogs — but it certainly would increase the effectiveness of government if residents showed up to agree or disagree with their elected officials instead of just watching a TV set at home and complaining later.

All government meetings are open to the public — most allow for a comment period on any subject. The elected officials can’t respond unless the item is on the agenda, but that does not keep “the people” from expressing their thoughts.

Across local, state and federal lines, good government starts with local government. If people want good government, if they want elected officials to hear their voice, then those wanting to be heard need to start showing up at town councils, school boards, water districts, college districts, sanitation districts and all those other local governments instead of just complaining on blogs, holding their own meetings or badmouthing the decisions by elected officials at the local coffee shop.

Keep the shiny side up

Our ability to predict the weather amounts to looking out the window and seeing if the sun is shining or if the clouds are rolling in.

The National Weather Service has far better credentials than we do, and they are telling everyone who will listen that a series of mighty big storms are rolling our way. We all know that half the time these predictions are wrong and the Rim Country gets little if any serious snow or even rain from these storms. This time the weather service says it might be different. They have predicted a 100 percent chance of rain or snow come Wednesday and into Thursday evening. Even Friday has a bunch of wet weather predicted. The predictions range as high as five or six inches of rain on Thursday. It could be rain or snow depending on the temperature.

The point is, there could be a bunch of wet stuff coming our way and everyone needs to take whatever precautions are necessary. Most of that comes down to driving safe and not taking chances.

As light as the overnight moisture was Monday, we still had at least one truck jackknife, which forced a snowplow into a ditch. Most of the accidents during rainy and snowy weather are a result of people driving too fast for the conditions. A road that you normally drive 55 mph hour may only be safe at 40 or even 20 during a snow or rainstorm. Certainly the curvy Beeline should be a red flag for all drivers in bad weather, including those in SUVs and trucks.

The National Weather Service is advising anyone driving during the next few days to be extra careful as strong winds combine with rain or snow to make for limited visibility and slick roads. “Driving will be extremely dangerous during this storm. If possible, postpone traveling in the warning area until this storm passes,” says a National Weather Service advisory.

We think that is good advice.