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Last Tuesday I got to work early to get a story about the reaction of Bob Wegner, head of the Woodford County 9/12 Project, about the debt ceiling crisis on our website.
I talked to Wegner the afternoon before.
It was a calm conversation — measured and rational.
I couldn’t believe it.
Where was the vitriol and hysteria we are supposed to get from those Tea Party types?
The story written, I headed to Dutch Landscaping to do a photo feature.
I took some photos of a bumblebee sucking nectar from Torenia plants.But, the debt ceiling was on my mind.
As I drove to Metamora Grade School the morning of Aug. 2 the host of the NPR show I was listening to was almost breathless in describing the end of the world if the debt ceiling was not passed.
It reinforced my desire to get input from some educators about how the failure to pass the debt ceiling would cause school districts to implode.
Or, on the other hand, how passage of the debt ceiling would spell the end of civilization that schools teach in history class.
I was certain that Metamora Grade School Superintendent Martin Payne would be in his office pacing and wringing his hands.
When I walked in the school office his door was closed.
“Maybe it’s worse than I thought,” I said to myself. “I wonder if he is hiding under his desk and doesn’t want anyone to see?”
The secretary smiled at me as I asked to speak to Payne.
How could she be smiling? We were facing financial Armageddon.
Then it dawned on me she was just putting on a brave front at Payne’s direction to throw me off. They must have seen me coming across the parking lot.
“Mr. Payne isn’t here,” the secretary said. “He’s on vacation.”
WHAT!
Was she telling me that life goes on in America with the debt ceiling monster perched on the nation’s shoulder?
Unbelievable.
There was no panic in her eyes.
Her voice didn’t crack.
Me, I was practically jumping up and down like a ‘69 Grand Fury III with two cylinders missing.
So, I headed to MTHS determined to pry the panic over this situation out of Superintendent Randy Toepke.
As I walked into MTHS there were people waxing the floor.
Several people had buckets and sponges cleaning lockers.
Where was the panic in the hallways the national media and politicians were working so hard to instill in us?
Last Tuesday I got to work early to get a story about the reaction of Bob Wegner, head of the Woodford County 9/12 Project, about the debt ceiling crisis on our website.
I talked to Wegner the afternoon before.
It was a calm conversation — measured and rational.
I couldn’t believe it.
Where was the vitriol and hysteria we are supposed to get from those Tea Party types?
The story written, I headed to Dutch Landscaping to do a photo feature.
I took some photos of a bumblebee sucking nectar from Torenia plants.But, the debt ceiling was on my mind.
As I drove to Metamora Grade School the morning of Aug. 2 the host of the NPR show I was listening to was almost breathless in describing the end of the world if the debt ceiling was not passed.
It reinforced my desire to get input from some educators about how the failure to pass the debt ceiling would cause school districts to implode.
Or, on the other hand, how passage of the debt ceiling would spell the end of civilization that schools teach in history class.
I was certain that Metamora Grade School Superintendent Martin Payne would be in his office pacing and wringing his hands.
When I walked in the school office his door was closed.
“Maybe it’s worse than I thought,” I said to myself. “I wonder if he is hiding under his desk and doesn’t want anyone to see?”
The secretary smiled at me as I asked to speak to Payne.
How could she be smiling? We were facing financial Armageddon.
Then it dawned on me she was just putting on a brave front at Payne’s direction to throw me off. They must have seen me coming across the parking lot.
“Mr. Payne isn’t here,” the secretary said. “He’s on vacation.”
WHAT!
Was she telling me that life goes on in America with the debt ceiling monster perched on the nation’s shoulder?
Unbelievable.
There was no panic in her eyes.
Her voice didn’t crack.
Me, I was practically jumping up and down like a ‘69 Grand Fury III with two cylinders missing.
So, I headed to MTHS determined to pry the panic over this situation out of Superintendent Randy Toepke.
As I walked into MTHS there were people waxing the floor.
Several people had buckets and sponges cleaning lockers.
Where was the panic in the hallways the national media and politicians were working so hard to instill in us?
“The superintendent is in Springfield for the day,” the secretary said.
I was beginning to fear I would find no panic.
The secretary suggested I speak to MTHS Principal Sean O’Laughlin.
He looked calm as I asked, “Are you concerned about the outcome of the debt ceiling vote and what impact it will have on the school?”
He said about 70 percent of the district’s finances come from local property taxes.
He answered every question calmly.
“We’ve adopted a pay-as-you-go approach. We try to buy only what we can afford without going out for bonds,” he said.
It was a bust for panic.
Then I asked O’Laughlin if I could take his picture.
“Uhhh,” he said.
“I rushed out of the house this morning. I didn’t shave. I don’t have a tie on.”
Finally I found a little panic, but it was over getting his photo taken.
There was only one thing left to do — wring panic out of retired MTHS Superintendent Ken Maurer.
When I arrived at his house Maurer was sitting on the driveway pulling weeds.
We went into his house to discuss this financial disaster. I looked close but he wasn’t shaking.
He said small schools like MTHS should weather this since the feds supply only about 2 percent of the revenue.
“What I’d like to see is getting rid of rules and regulations,” Maurer said. “While the feds give us 2 percent of our revenue they provide 70 percent of the rules and regulations.”
No panic there.
I headed back to the office dejected.
It was all calm and serenity in Metamora.
I downloaded my pictures.
My bumblebee photos were all blurred, every one.
And this was going to be the first of my what I was sure would be extremely popular annual bumblebee in Torenia issues.
Finally something to panic about.
