I would like to share a fact that some of you may have forgotten and others still may not know, yet it is one that affects the words that follow, while also creating a surreal landscape for the author and the reader alike.
As you might recall in September, the DMC faced the closure of the Lubbock plant that printed this, and other, newspapers from the region. As a result, the DMC found a new printing home in Oklahoma. The distance has created challenges—including inconsistent arrival times to the local newsstands—but none more so than the fact that while the newspaper still arrives to racks on Thursday, our deadline for publication is days before on Tuesday.
Due to this, I draft these thoughts at my desk on Election Day, around six hours from polls closing, two hours before our printer deadline, and around 36 hours before it hits the stands. By the time anyone reads this page, votes will have already been tallied and party representatives will be ensconced in their seats on the political train, bound for the General Election in November.
For national and state representatives, the next leg begins with new strategies to formulate and fresh battles to wage. Locally, barring the filing of a write-in candidate before the August 17 deadline, winners of the primary election will be unopposed on the November ballot.
As for those winners, I extend my sincere congratulations. I look forward to serving the people alongside you in the years to come, and I truly hope each of you stay well outside the journalistic and editorial crosshairs. May all your headlines be of the positive direction you lead.
And what direction will that be? As I have written so many times: Time will tell.
It is strange to think that, as the reader, you have answers to questions that I do not. As I write, the outcome of the election is a roulette wheel. For you, it is a statistic. But one we each will live with for the next four years… or two years in the case of the Fisher County Sheriff race.
Regarding that hotly contested sheriff race, all I feel certain of is there will be the victor and the defeated. Supporters of the latter will say they lost because of last week’s news coverage. Supporters of the former will say they won in spite of it.
In the days that followed last week’s edition, the DMC faced a barrage of stones lobbed from the glass structures sitting just beyond the borders of both political encampments. Our critics primarily agreed that the DMC is simply a tabloid.
Another fun fact. While a tabloid varies in length from 17 to 22 inches, the primary difference between tabloid and broadsheet newspapers is measured in width. When folded in half, a broadsheet measures around 15 inches, which are the dimensions of many of our archived publications. A tabloid measures 11.37 inches wide… the exact dimensions the one you hold now.
So, indeed, we are a tabloid. However, for those that have called the DMC a tabloid in a way of being somehow derogatory, all I can say is: We are a tabloid you seem to be reading, and we thank you for that.
I would also encourage each of you to pause here, turn to page 3B, and read the quote of the week… the rest of this editorial will still be here when you turn back.
As for this week, I would like to draw attention to the article covering the hearing next week, where the Rotan ISD Board of Trustees will hear the grievance regarding public comment. I don’t point you to this because I was the one who filed the grievance, but more so because of who I filed it on behalf of.
Here’s a sprinkle of logic. There is little any government entity can do to silence me. I have my own publication for crying out loud. Force me to three minutes at the top of the meeting and I still have 700 words and 52 weeks at the microphone.
No, I didn’t file the grievance for me. I filed it because the newly adopted policy underserves you as a citizen and undercuts the spirit of the law it was intended to
uphold.
Therefore, when I argue next week before Rotan ISD’s elected body, against the opposition of district administration and the school’s attorneys, I do so because I still believe that the best form of government is one that welcomes its citizens, because officials want to and not to merely check a compliance box.
I requested the hearing be open to the public, and the district honored that request.
With this in mind, let me share an excerpt from the first chapter of a yet unpublished book, under 1.5 What a Citizen Can Do (and How this Book Will Help), where the author lists several ways, including: “Show up when it matters: One well-timed visit to a meeting— in person or online—can change how officials behave. An insightful county judge once told me: ‘The fuller the meeting room, the wiser the decisions.’” The excerpt is from the soonto- be-released “The Engaged Texans Guidebook for Raising Hell Respectfully.” I know I won’t get in trouble for sharing this with you because I wrote it, (shameless plug) and it will hopefully be ready for purchase in the upcoming weeks.
I also know I will be showing up to next week’s Rotan ISD meeting to argue for improved public comment on behalf of myself and the citizens the DMC and Rotan ISD both serve. I can only pray that citizens will show up to support that argument for improved discourse between the elected and the electorate and help ensure wise decision making we elevate to serve.