Thank You ROF for your article and dedication to our community.

Your articles have undoubtably turned many residents with negative/hopeless attitudes into Believers. The change in our local goverment format should be at the forefront of our efforts, strategically the wisest first move. I'm behind you all the way. A Liason to "The People"

A close friend once told me "children need to 'see it' in order to believe it. Leaders believe it BEFORE they see it. Leaders & Believers working collectively to better our community WILL get the job done, just as it has in many other successful communities.Leaders don't wait for other people to give them permission to do something. They just do it.

Our 20/20 Vision that started 7 years ago (+/-) initiated by our community development office, paid for by the people, a few hand picked set of volunteers to form one committe. How far did that go? My first throw went further.

So what's kept Oswego from moving forward with community development/community involvent? One word: FEAR. Fear of rejection. Fear of others opinions. Fear of trying new things. Fear of not being perfect. Enjoying our comfort zone (average), this is Mayor Randy Bateman's biggest problem which unfortunately effects us all.

If the community pushes forward, (the passionate, responsible, doer, believer/ people) the others will flock right into the lap of a full blown community development movement, and not until. Man's natural intinct is medicority, time to come above it and start finding the way. It takes courage to go against the crowd and you ROF are a true individual, I'm sure the battles you're fighting will be won. It sounds as though you're onto who you can/cannot trust, but trust YOUR ideas/principles are socially supported by many.

Those who you've "come up against" are weak, fearful or ego minded, in my book. They take the path of least resistance. My guess? They're moving with the herd and it's probably not their true goals, their visions or their choices but their own sheer gutlessness. They don't fall into the Leader or Believer categories, they're Followers-the worse kind to have in control. 

Over the last few months, I've sensed a change talking with people, their ears are up and they're realizing they have control over our city's destiny. I think it's crucial to get the community involved. We all have ideas of what Oswego could be like. And many share the same ideas. From what I hear, most people can be trusted to create a good design and/or help implement a plan for Oswego, we/they just need the tools and the facts.

With all due respect to those working on issues and "a plan" behind the scenes, growth decisions are suppose to reflect the public interest. Historically, Oswego has undergone community development with ideas hijacked from the development offices themselves. All good planning begins with public involvement, so I'm hoping this is the next strategic step. We as citizens cannot say "well, the plan looks gook, now we can relax" we must encourage more citizen involvement and I don't think we'll be looking too hard to find it.

Last post I wrote on IO, I addressd Oswego residents harboring negative attitudes and other residents who believe they are on a higher realm than the others below-  how this has damaged Oswego for many years-keeping our small community divided. You shared my opinion in your recent article: >>>>" those that believe to be the "elite" in Oswego will not come out as winners as many fight to make so many changes for Oswego to move forward. I have no time for people with this type of attitude.<<<<<<

Again, bringing the community together in a community development project (should I say overhaul?) will bring many residents onto the same page. A community where we know each other, take care of each other (as Kittykipper puts it) -and in genreal, believe that we are all people of worth and "in this" together.

Maybe a year into our future, after I've had the great pleasure of SHAKING YOUR hand, we'll be SHAKING OUR HEADS over the amount of people/and types of people who have become involved in bettering our community. Thank you again ROF for remaining constant and sharing your timeless principles, traits of a true leader. Your articles have taught many people to liberate the leaders within themselves, I believe extraordinary things will begin to happen - "The People" are done waitin'

FlagMan

THE LAW IS THE LAW!
This is one of the better e-mails I have received in a long time! I hope this makes its way around the USA several times over!!!!!

I need your help. There is a resolution on the agenda of the November 18th Board of Education meeting (that’s tonight!) to appoint a former employee to the position of Director of Grants and Partnerships. This appointment is wrong on so many levels, it is difficult to know where to begin. The taxpayers of this district sent a very clear message to the board early last summer, not once, but twice! No unnecessary spending!! Dave White and his cronies didn’t listen in May and they didn’t listen in June. Now they are ignoring the message sent by the people and supported by state law, which limits spending under a contingency budget, by creating an unnecessary position for a friend. Let me tell you a little bit about the search process for this position. A notice was put up on the cork bulletin board on a wall at the Ed Center and it may have been advertised on the district website. So the only people who even knew about the position were those who read our bulletin board on East First Street or happened upon the Employment page of our website (we are one of 727 districts in the state). Is it any surprise that there was only one applicant for this position? But then, why would the district need to advertise to get the most qualified candidates if the position was created specifically for a particular person - the one person who applied for the job? Now, Sean Madden might have told some of you that they don’t have any choice but to hire this person for this position because of an impending lawsuit. Well, to put it bluntly, that’s just crap. The district has corrected a mistake that it made. In addition, the board agreed to provide this former employee with full health insurance coverage (at a cost of over $13,000 per year to the taxpayers) regardless of whether this person is hired for this new position or not. That should be the end of it. Sean is just using this excuse to justify something that he knows is wrong. This is not the first time that he has used his power to benefit his friends and it won’t be the last. Last spring, the superintendent suggested that the board eliminate a director’s position in the area of central administration because we have support for this area in other ways now. Three years ago, when the position was held by someone not in his favor, Dave White argued vehemently that this position should be eliminated. Last spring, he and Sean argued to keep the position. Was it because they had realized that the position was needed? Not likely, since neither of them knows anything at all about education. No, the reason they argued to keep the position was because it was held by one of their friends. They don’t eliminate the positions of their friends, period. In fact, they go out of their way to create new and unnecessary positions for their friends. The needs of the students in the district for another science teacher or a kindergarten teacher or aides to help in the classroom are not important. What is important is that they take care of their friends.

I could go on and on, but I will save it for another day. What I need now is to explain why I need your help. This board will not listen to reason. They will not listen to law. They will not listen to the state. The only thing that will cause Dave White to stop and think about what he does is public perception. For him, it is all about politics. If enough people come to this meeting and speak out against the cronyism that is going on and this misuse of taxpayer funds, he just may reconsider to protect his political standing in the community. I know that there are many people in the district who would like to speak out against the things that Dave does, but they have all learned in the past three years that if you cross Dave White, he will get even. I’ve seen it and experienced it many times myself. What the board is doing now is wrong. If they get away with it with no heat from the public, they will only continue to use their positions and your money to benefit themselves (Sean Madden wants you to pay for him to go to a conference in San Diego, more later) as well as their relatives and friends (I can’t even begin to list them all). This needs to stop and it needs to stop now. If you could come and speak, that would be wonderful. If you don’t feel comfortable speaking then just being there to show support for those who do speak would help us to send the message that we are tired of them using their positions and our money to benefit their family and friends. The meeting is at 7 pm in Faust Theater at the High School. If you are tired of people using your money and your trust to benefit themselves and their friends rather than the students and this community, please consider coming.

Maggie Tiballi

$500.00 For whole season of 3"+ for Snow Blowing & shoveling.  20 + Years experience, local, Insured and licensed  Only awarding 10 contracts for City and suburbs of Oswego.