Poorly Publicized????

Poorly publicized???? It was in the Hometown Advantage, there were fliers everywhere, the whole town was talking about it and anyone who looks on here knew it was happening...

As you probably know, we publish all comments, even those that seem sent from some other universe. The comment quoted above (link to full comment here) would appear to be in that category.

However, it's more significant than that, reflecting as it does the mindset of at least some of the "insiders'" -- you know 'em, the ones who "already knew enough information by talking with Mr. Jordan and board members."

Others, of course, had questions, and continue to have questions. For them, notice of the meetings was important.

Let's run through the official publicity for these informational meetings:

• July 8 Gazette/Hometown Advantage -- Large advertisement - the "Now it's our turn!" flyer -- unidentified source, of course
• July 15 Gazette/Hometown Advantage -- Nothing -- no ad, no letter, no notice in the "Compass" section
• The "Now it's our turn!" flyer -- stuffed in bags at Bud's for a day or so. Present on counters at various commercial establishments. Top copy usually grimy and dog-eared, indicated a lack of demand or acceptance.
• Notices at stores/bulletin boards -- Taking two examples, at the Garland Store there was never any posted notice of the Garland meeting. Likewise at Bud's and P & L in Dexter there were no posted notices of the Dexter meeting.
• The Web -- On the District's own web site, notice of these meetings was finally published on the 18th (after 3 pm , 4 hours prior to the meeting)! Nothing had appeared prior to this.

Probably the greatest single source of publicity for the Garland meeting -- as noted, better attended than the Dexter meeting -- was the large sign outside the Exeter town office.

This website, officially ignored (largely) and frequently vilified (but anonymously, of course), is indeed, we hope, an important source of information on school doings, filling a vacuum created by the non-responsiveness of appointed and elected school district officials. Today is our three-month anniversary, and we note a steady average of over 200 page views daily, a fair amount of traffic for a small-town venue.

However, it's more than a little sideways to point to this site as evidence for the public being informed adequately when a) you'd rather see us gone, and b) the official efforts, listed above, have been so pitiful.

A friend said recently, " These aren't bad people are they? They're not deliberately messing this up, do you think?" No they're not bad people. But bad intentions and incompetence ultimately arrive at the same place, and neither serve us well.

The more thoughtful among them may be troubled by the poor Dexter turnout. They should be.

Update: This weekend's Eastern Gazette has no mention of Thursday's straw vote.

Further update (7/27): Article in Tuesday's Bangor Daily News about the vote (here). Wednesday's Piscataquis Observer had a 1/60th (!) page ad.