NWA GO

Tonight’s Washington County Quorum Court Meeting was a landmark, because the Court voted to use CARES money to build an addition to the Washington County Jail. CARES money is supposed to go to poor people to help them pay rent and buy food during the COVID pandemic. It is not supposed to go to building jails. This is not good for us in Washington County. And it is not good for ORBTS if there is a civil or criminal case due to the misappropriation of Federal Funds. We will have to work around that. We are going to have to work extra hard now in any case.

It is also the first video of one of our members, me, addressing the Court and telling them that I, we, support public transportation. Getting members up in meetings is one of our goals. In spite of rehearing what I wanted to say, I was not as polished as I want to be. I wish I had added a couple of things. Quinn Montana, yes, I needed to say something about carbon emissions. But I got the basics in and that is what counts. We don’t have to be perfect, we have to try.

And given the topic there were many more things I could have said too. But here is the lesson: other people from our community said them. I offered an alternative to spending on the jail. Other members of the community spoke about the morality of the Court’s decision. And about how this impacts vulnerable people in our county. And how the money would be better spent helping poor people. So don’t feel like you have to say everything. You don’t have to have that pressure. Once again, we need to start to get the word out.

About our teams, I attended a meeting before the court began and one of the leaders said that we need people to show up, especially new faces. One of the goals for our teams is that we will bring new faces to the discussion. If we do this consistently, it will have an impact on elected officials. Now the video. Watch to 3:36