The Entertaining County Commissioner Meeting on the Jail – 8/5/2014 | Eastern North Carolina Now

"Mind is like Parachute, not function until open" - Confucius

    What can I say??? It was entertaining / it was enlightening / it was comical / it was sad . . . I only have a page and I could write a book on the Beaufort County Council Meeting last night whose main topic was a possible new Law Enforcement Center.

    It has been going on for years and years. The cost has been skyrocketing. There have been opportunities to solve it one way or another in years past, but nobody could get heads and hearts together. It is still far from solved with what I saw last night. I hardly know what to say except:

    Can't you do better than this???

    Thank God the meeting room is small. If it had been held at the Ormond Amphitheater outside Bath, we could have sold tickets to "The fight of the century" --- and paid for the blessed new facility in one night!!! The front row seats should sell for box prices at Panther Stadium. If it were not such a remote matter in a small corner of Eastern, NC, I would suggest the Super Dome as the location. It was better than Ali/Frazier!!!

    We might call it "The Beavis and Butthead Battle." I will let the combatants pick which one they want to be. One side of 3 had their minds made up / the others equally so. It was a decision made already and the lead up was just window dressing.

    What makes me most glad is the number of good ideas being mulled over. What makes me sad is the nasty attitude I saw when I walked in a little late and everyone was seated at the "Great Throne Table of the Knights." The agenda called for prayer and pledge of allegiance at the start. I missed it. Based on the facial expressions, you must have had sour cream with vinegar for appetizer. What happened???

    There was a time for public input / nobody was listening. Several points of concern were shared by a number of people with a severe limit. Even with the short time, YOU WEREN'T LISTENING!

    I have been a Baptist Pastor all my working life, some of it full time and the balance part-time. One growing church, in particular, reminded me of this meeting. I kept seeing people each Sunday in the audience with scowling faces. They were the noisiest bunch I had ever known. You could not hear the quiet organ music over the drone of the antsy crowd. It was almost psychotic.

    I would step to the microphone / they would quiet down / they would have such scowls on faces I sometimes said, "OK, on the count of 3 let's see who can have the biggest smile!!" It worked for about 3 minutes --- and then back to scowls.

    I could not figure it out. What was wrong? I'm throwing goodness and light. I'm getting back sower and puss. What in the world was wrong? Our hired City Manager is like I was as paid clergy. He is not here to referee a fight in the Deacon Board!

    A few years into my time with Psycho Baptist Church (I could not call it a good time of ministry) someone took pictures of a Revival Service we were having. From the balcony it became crystal clear why nobody wanted to smile in the congregation:

    Nobody in the choir was smiling / the congregation was like a mirror reflecting it!!!!!!

    We have a problem in Beaufort County. It's not a new Law Enforcement Center to replace a jail full of recluse spiders / no exit in case of flood or fire / underground in a basement area / too expensive to replace and too expensive to repair. We have a costly problem which needs a public referendum because of the cost --- and not a few dictating to the many.

    "Good morning Choir. I'm glad you are here to join us for worship. Now let's smile on the count of 3. Let's join our hands and hearts together and sing praises to God."

    Let's solve the problems of this church rather than stay mad. We are already being forced to put in 30% more than our property is worth in property taxes. It's hard times and you don't really care we aren't happy with the cost of the entertainment.

    At the least, let's smile and sing together ---then just maybe we will find a way to do this whole important thing RIGHT. It does not really matter who wins. What matters is we praise God together when the problem is solved.

    The historic First Christian Church caught fire and burned because it appears somehow the baptistery water heater got left on! Nobody was there. A circuit breaker would have saved it, but it's an old building and now it's gone. We will do better next time.

    If that church were the jail in our old building and it caught fire, could the prisoners get out???? I hear there is no sprinkler system in addition to the spiders and cramped quarters with poor air circulation. In a basement that is old, I bet we have fungus and molds and it smells bad too.

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