RE: A Different Opinion Does Not Make Someone Your Enemy!

I was in the County Courthouse all week reporting on the trial of now former County Board of Education member. He was charged with felony extortion and other crimes. He was convicted on all counts and walked out of the Courthouse in handcuffs.

He and his faction had resolved to take over politics in our County and were employing rather cutthroat tactics to achieve it. Part of that was a concerted effort to destroy the reputation of anyone who got in their way. Over time this mode of conversation has seemingly infected political discourse in our County and made it much nastier. People have forgotten they can constructively disagree, or make the issues the point of discussion and not the character of the person. Character matters, but in my experience, most people aren't villains or saints - but rather somewhere in between and likely closer to decency than bad.

I engage in a mixture of punditry and reporting, but I'm weighing my words very carefully. My focus is local politics and governance, and at the end of the day we are neighbors and have to get along, and hopefully well.

!BBH !SLOTH !ALIVE

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