A Strong Rebuttal to a Tidings Editorial: Another Citizen Speaks Truth to Power

There is a crisis  (LTE – 12/18/17)
In response to last Tuesday’s editorial (“Speak up — respectfully”), I find difficult to understand your paper’s priorities. Why isn’t your editorial focused on the destructive misdeeds that have crippled the support system of our most vulnerable seniors instead of worrying about our manners?
The issue here, really the first issue, is the accountability of the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission for their irresponsible actions. There is a crisis now in senior care in Ashland, and it’s been created entirely by our own APRC. How much respect did the commission show for our seniors in deciding to dismantle their support network, and then by trying to convince us that they’ve discovered a problem and asking us all to help them solve it ?
If the Tidings did any investigative journalism about this issue instead of meekly accepting the commission’s evasive and misleading words, perhaps they would get their priorities straight. There is an urgency to repair the unwarranted loss of vital senior services. (It was never a personnel issue. That is simply a cover that allows the APRC director to act in secret.) Meanwhile, the Tidings condones the commission’s leisurely fiddling while making sure we’re all being polite.
The recall campaign now underway is not frivolous. This commission has abused the public trust and has shown themselves to be unfit for public service. If you would like to find out more, visit ashlandsos.com. The recall petitions can be signed at the Washington Federal meeting room any Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Avram Chetron
Ashland