[MissoulaGov] Civil Discourse... and my neighborhood.

[Jordan Hess]

Hi John,

Just using your comment to spring into something that has been bothering me
since the Sunday Missoulian article -- nothing else.  Public officials must
walk a fine line between providing for public information & welfare and
protecting confidentiality, and I thought that some public officials stepped
over that line.  I, too, have heard about the 11th Street issues before
Sunday, friend to friend, but it's a entirely different beast when public
officials gang up on someone through the bull horn of the paper.

I appreciate your analogy as an illustrative tool depicting the need for
civility in our public discourse.

-jh

On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 11:38 PM, JOHN WOLVERTON <yodelingdog at hotmail.com>wrote:


> All,

>

> I hope my comment to Brent Campbell about "civil discourse" is

> not preceived as some type of association with improprieties on behalf of

> other organizations and their personnel.

>

> Years ago I'd seen the visual evidence and had heard from a neighbor about

> the 11th Street concerns, not just through the recent Missoulian article.

>

> My point was to illustrate that certain soured interactions ascend to the

> level of needing

> mediation and interpersonal guidance.  Others, (IMO) such as our common

> local civic discussions and disagreements in committee meetings etc., do not

> ascend to such a level of need.

>

> Serenity Now!

> John Wolverton

>

> ------------------------------

> Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:40:30 -0600

> Subject: Re: [MissoulaGov] Thoughts on Civil Discourse... and my neighbors.

> From: wjordanhess at gmail.com

> To: yodelingdog at hotmail.com

> CC: missoulagov at cmslists.com

>

> Hi John and all,

>

> I agree that the character on 11th street might need some interpersonal

> skills training, but I think that it was incredibly inappropriate for city

> staff to speculate about Mr. Reed publicly in the Missoulian.  Sure, he

> sounds like a complete nut, but for the chief of police and the city

> attorney to publicly suggest that Reed has a mental disorder seems to me

> like a violation of Reed's privacy and an attack on his character of a

> magnitude not appropriate for an audience of a couple tens of thousands of

> readers.

>

> It would be okay for Chief Muir to outline past police actions regarding

> the man in question, but he crosses the line with this: "Part of what's

> going on here might be mental health issues..."

>

> Similarly, it would have been perfectly appropriate for City Atty Nugent to

> mention the letter sent to Reed and past actions against him, but he too

> goes too far by saying: "This man really needs some help..."

>

> While these types of statements are probably well founded, it shouldn't be

> the place of high-level city staff to publicly denounce Reed's character,

> turning the local paper into a gossip mill.  Am I off-base, or was this over

> the line?

>

> A little off topic for this list, but certainly pertaining to the state of

> our city government.

>

> Best,

> Jordan Hess

>

>

>

>

> On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 1:10 PM, JOHN WOLVERTON <yodelingdog at hotmail.com>wrote:

>

> Hey Brent,

>

> About:

> "...Pier Massimo Forni is a peacemaker, not between nations,

> rather on the fundamental level of individual personal relations. He's

> not a therapist, psychiatrist, or such. He's a master of the

> ameliorative skills that are as old as human society and, to him, more

> productive of social harmony than most people realize.

> We're talking about manners, courtesy, civility."

>

>

> Sounds like good stuff. Maybe you could convince Mr. Forni to have a visit

> with that guy on 11th street who is making my neighbors' lives so miserable.

>

> Regards,

> John Wolverton

>

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