Elk Konnected Hand out at County Commissioners meeting on 4/25

[Teresa]

I know Kjell or Teresa did not give my information away. What I was saying was that the only way you could know what you claimed was if they did.

FE

First you say I did.. then you say I didn't..

Just a small FYI for you~~  I don't ever give out any information on anything or anyone.. Never have.. Never will!! Believe it or don't believe it.. I personally don't care.

But a tigers stripes never change.. You can paint different ones on him.. but eventually its going to rain and they will wash off and those tell tale stripes will be right there big as life once again.. So easy that a 1st grader could see it.
( And I don't even play poker)

But, you can relax now ~~~~~you won't have to worry about it any longer..  

[srkruzich]

Patriot,
Do you have any idea what fire elk is rattling on about that Teresa or Kjell would give out private info ? Trust me---I tried to pick Teresa's brain before on an identity and it didn't work. Guess what fire elk doesn't understand is everyone has "tells"---and a good poker player will pick up on them. No, I'm not a good poker player so it took at least a half dozen of fire elks post's to pick up on his" tells" to make me feel fairly comfortable on knowing  who he was. I might be wrong but I would bet my best fishing pole on it.
Then he has  the audacity to go to the coffee shop thread and bitch about people being mean. Since I first started reading this forum it was he that threw in his snide, catty remarks all the time, thinking he was dazzling us with his brilliance.

Uhmm he's too stupid to realize that the way he writes identifies him.  It doesn't take rocket scientist to compare his rantings with sodbusters or david id he used to have.

[Ross]

I borrowed this, it refers to political parties, I'd prefer it refered to people in general!
Oh, I know sometimes I'm a smart ass, sometimes I don't know all the facts what I speak of, but I am sincere and honest in what I say. I do make errors as well, I'd have to ask you to forgive me for that. 

The highlighted words are of great importance in my opinion, real principles are of great iportance to me as well.

Here is what I borrowed, and I think attitudes of konnected kounty kommissioners could use an adjustment, partly because they don't even fall in line with their own NGO supposed attitude. Just chew on that for a couple of minutes, please. Where is that NGO and their promise of "Superior Lifestyle" for Elk County after 7 years, where is the honesty in that Konnected Kounty Kommissioner Hendricks?

A National Crisis in Character

Here's an excerpt from a letter I received the other day from a college professor:

"....throughout this election I discussed with students the differences between ideologies. The majority of them are on federal financial aid. They are fine with more taxes as long as they will be taken care of. It is disturbing to hear that they are willing to spend their own money on tattoos and cell phones but cannot buy the book for class until the financial aid comes in."

For those who see social conservatism as an annoyance and argue that Republicans must purge this agenda from their party in order to survive, I say "think again."

If Republicans want revival, we need honest focus on what's really wrong in America and what must be done to assure that a great nation will be standing for our grandchildren and great grandchildren.

This kind of thinking is different from polls and focus groups and clever schemes to manage media and voter turnout.

Leadership is about identifying the truth, believing it, and telling it in a way that people can grasp. Then they will respond and follow.

The professor's letter provides a snapshot, a hint, of what America's most basic problem is today. It's a problem of character and values.

Having lectured on over 180 college campuses over the last 20 years, I have seen exactly what the professor is talking about.

Of course government is too big. But how did it get this way? Americans vote every two years. They voted every two years during the whole period over which government grew to its current unwieldy size.

With the majority of the country now on one kind of government program or another, does anybody really think we can change this without talking about the human attitudes and values that produced it?

Democrats have a much easier problem than Republicans. They are not trying to change America. The trends and attitudes that got the whole country on welfare, that produced the moral relativism that is destroying our families and character, is the platform of the Democratic Party.

Democrat politicians just have one job. Deny the patient is sick.

Republicans, if they are going to be a real opposition party, have a much tougher job.

With all the talk about this last election being driven by demographics and turnout, the most basic point is the party and its candidate did not step up as a serious, principled opposition party.

We can't save Medicare and Social Security. They are bankrupt. Did we hear this from the Republican candidate? We heard wishy washy words about reforming these systems so we can save them.

Did we hear anything about how our public schools - controlled by unions whose agenda is growing their benefits and promoting moral relativism among our youth- are destroying our children and our future? No.

When Ronald Reagan was first elected in November 1980, 18 percent of our babies were born to unwed mothers Today 42 percent are.. Anyone who thinks this is not of crisis of the first order can just as easily vote for a Democrat as a Republican.

Americans just re-elected a president who opposed the Supreme Court decision banning partial birth abortion. The leader of our nation thinks it should be legal in America to kill a live, fully formed infant. What does this say about America today and our future?

There may be Republicans who think that we can ignore the crisis in character and values that underlies our fiscal crisis. There may be Republicans that think if we have a better tax system it doesn't matter if we have a country of single mothers, sexually ambiguous and confused men, and abortion and euthanasia on demand.

But ignoring these things would mean not just the end of the Republican Party. But the end of our country.

http://townhall.com/columnists/starparker/2012/11/19/a_national_crisis_in_character/page/full/

I think a lot of this should be considered a problen right here at home in Elk County!

I had never heard of this term.
Moral Relativism - Legal Dictionary
The philosophized notion that right and wrong are not absolute values, but are personalized according to the individual and his or her circumstances

Moral relativism is the view that moral judgments are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint

Am I wrong, does that mean if i say it's right even of everyone els thinks it wrong, that everyone else is wrong? Wow! How cool is that?

I sure hope every one had a great Thanksgiving.

[Ross]

Well I guess from the way I read the newspaper President of the School Board konnected Whetstone asked the board if there was any interest in contracting with a facilitator for the Board Goal Setting.

I knew it had to be a konnected idea. Because, as I have said before, we never heard of a facilitator in Elk County before the NGO, elk konnected, llc came along, had we?
But good news is there is at least one man on the school board that takes his responsibility seriously and feels he is capable of doing the job he was elected to do. The only man to oppose the idea of a Professional Facilitator, the paper says that is Mr. Hilton. I feel Mr. Hilton deserves kudos and a pat on the back. Mr. Hilton is apparently a man that believes he can uphold the responsibility of the elected position he accepted, this shows strong Leadership abilities, IMO.

What is the responsibility of the President of the School Board, is it to hire someone to do his job, isn't he suppose to facilitate the meeting. Does he lack the leadership and the responsibility to perform the task of facilitator, then why doesn't he relinquish the job to another member of the Board that is responsible and has the Leadership abilities to do the job.

I was told by an official (non-elected type) that I happen to respect, that the Professional has been provided all the information required concerning the planning to facilitate the special meeting.

Now who gave him that info and what was that info and who developed that info?
Where did that info originate from?
Did it originate from the VFW?
Did it originate from the coalition for churches?
Did it originate from the nearest Walmart?
Did it originate from konnected School Board President Whetstone and his elk konnected, llc?

Or did it originate possibly from the School Board members? I doubt this last one, because if they could put the list together, they should be able to deal with the completion of the job, and vote on the items, IMO.

I wonder what the Paid Professional Facilitator is expected to accomplish that the people we elected to accomplish for us, can't seem to accomplish?

We have 7 (seven) elected school board members that said when they ran for the offices that they wanted to serve the taxpayers of the school district and run our school, now didn't they? Do they lack the responsibility and leadership ability to do what they were elected to do, except for Mr. Hilton who is putting his best foot forward IMO?

The purpose of the board is to discuss among itself (that's 7 seven adults) and even have heated discussions (Conflict) according to the State School Board and then to vote on the issue or issues, that's their job, they took it on. The job is not to hire a Professional Facilitator at hundreds of dollars an hour, with our taxpayer's dollars to effectively control our school board and possibly to accomplish something for someone outside of the school board and it's elected officials. 

Why remove those hundreds of dollars an hour to pay a facilitator when the School Board has an elected facilitator?  Is it due to lack of ability and leadership, or is it due to the possible control factor and what is desired by someone not on the school board? Just give that a little thought, I'm still thinking on this one myself>


What actually is a Facilitator--- Mediator, arbitrator, motivational speaker, controller, manipulator? Some may certified, but I can't find where any are licensed.
Some have high school diplomas, some have a college degree some even have PHD'S and may be licensed in other fields that require a license.

The following is from:
http://facilitationprocess.com/assessing-the-cost-of-a-facilitator/

Facilitators may fill many roles. They may be useful in gathering and analyzing information about the situation to help sort out the issues, evaluate the effectiveness of current procedures where needed, and identify possible alternatives for action.


Assessing Billing Rate Transparency: A second principle relates to transparency of billing rates. If you dig around online it won't take you long to find a facilitator database. Facilitators can add a listing in this database and every time the database matches a facilitator with a client they take a "finder fee." If you search the database for Oregon you will find consultants with a daily billing rate of $1,500 – $5,000.

Assessing References: The fifth principle is about reference checking. I have done reference checking on facilitators before and my experience is few, very few, references will give critical analysis. The reference check invariably is positive. Why else would they be a reference? Get specific. Tell me about a time when the facilitator managed conflict. (There is a reason for a school board of seven menbers and that is to rule out any conflict by a majority vote. Very elementary! Why pay hundreds per hour for manipulation of a proper process? My words with-in these quotes.) What did s/he do and what was the outcome? What did s/he do when the process of off track? Were all deliverable met on time or was there slippage? Describe that slippage. Even then, references often don't yield much useful information. So take references with a grain of salt.

http://facilitationprocess.com/assessing-the-cost-of-a-facilitator/
You as the taxpayer, aren't you being manipulated indirectly by this process?
Do you enjoy being manippulated by your elected officials?

[proelkco]

Ross, you are so wrong in so many ways its almost funny.

[redcliffsw]

I believe Ross is right on track. 

Only a city slicker or a socialist would think otherwise and disagree with Ross much of the time.

[Ross]

Ross, you are so wrong in so many ways its almost funny.

I don't hear you laughing!

I think you are full of it because, once again have no meat in your message.
I asked questions and you don't appear to have any answers, except for an attempt at a put down. Just like a typical elk konnected Follower!

To me you seem to have a problem with determining the truth or you don't want others to know the truth, which is it?

Do you think you know what is going on?

Do you have an insider view of why a high dollar professional facilitator is need , when that is the job of the President of the School Board, our elected official?

Don't you think the taxpayers monies could be used to improve the education in the classroom or do you believe it is better used to follow the plans of an NGO?

Do you think our elected officials are incapable of doing their job and need to spend big money for someone else to do it for them?

Remember the study performed for West Elk School District by the University? The one they tried to keep secret from the majority of Elk County Citizens. What came of reporting to the citizens the outcome of that study? The school officials determined that there was nothing to it, that the University took the middle road and was of no help (These words came right out of the District Office). But, if that is true, why with hold it from the public, what would have been wrong pubkishing the report? What happened to the follow up meeting with the University?

I stopped by the District Office and asked how much they were paying this Professional Facilitator (Controller) and was told they didn't have a contract with him yet. Come on, the man is scheduled to come way over here and he has no idea what he will be paid?
What kind of a professional is that?
I was simply asking for public information and i feel I was denied that information!
They can make all kinds of excusess for not having that information, but it is still wrong no matter how you cut it.

[daisy]

Just a note Ross to let you know that you are wrong about there being 7 school board members.  I am pretty sure that there are 6, as Moline does not have a representative.  Lisa Townsley was, but resigned the position noting that she was too busy with other endeavors and could not give it the time that it requires.  She only took it because no one else ran for the position, and as of now no one has stepped up to replace her. 

And my curiosity has gotten to me, why do you worry so much about West Elk's school board and so little about Elk Valley's?  Especially since Elk Valley has raised their mill levy and your son attends school there.  Have you questioned them about their reasoning why they would raise the amount of money that tax payers must contribute?

[jarhead]

Quote from daisy:
why they would raise the amount of money that tax payers must contribute?

Good question Daisy. Lots of inquiring minds would like to know. I heard two board members were against it but majority rules

[Patriot]

Even more so when you take into account the fact that increased property values are increasing revenues without a mill increase.  Greed & special interests?  In fairness, though, there are questionable undercurrents in both districts.