Letter from the editor

Secrecy complaints are disingenuous

More than 100 people met Monday night at the Red Lion to rally against planning, planners and neighborhood plans.

As I've said in this space before, there is no doubt that these planning opponents have some legitimate questions about methods undertaken and smart arguments against planning in general. Unfortunately, what they also have is a propensity to disseminate information that supports their cause at the expense of the truth.

It is a crime the media is often accused of; massaging facts to paint a certain picture.

The primary instance of this misinformation campaign is the notion that the Lakeside and Somers Neighborhood Plans — and to some extent the Bigfork plan — were carried out in secret.

In the nearly two years I've been at the helm of the Bigfork Eagle and the West Shore News, a far from comprehensive search shows we have written no fewer than 40 stories about those three plans and we have published numerous letters to the editor, public service announcements and legal advertisements concerning meeting times, places and topics.

To claim that these plans were not subject to immense opportunity for public scrutiny is not just disingenuous, it is plainly false.

There have been foul-ups, no doubt. The Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee was admonished for a meeting it held in violation of open meeting laws with the county planning director. The Lakeside Neighborhood Plan Committee has recently come under fire for having a "secret" Yahoo! message board that was closed to non-committee members.

The truth of the matter though — and this from a newspaper editor who is as staunch of an open-meeting laws supporter as you could hope to meet — is that at no point was the public being cheated out of an opportunity to give input on the plans many, many times before decisions about the documents were made.

The argument that the public should be invited in for every word that is spoken about the plans is insane. It's the same as arguing that members of the public should join Sheriff Mike Meehan every time he gets in his squad car. Sure, he gets paid with our tax dollars, but we can't expect to be able to weigh in on each word. The laws are in place to make sure we get plenty of opportunities to have input before decisions are made.

The character assassination going on against members of the planning staff is largely despicable, but somewhat to be expected. But to cast aspersions on the integrity of the volunteers — let me say that again here: Volunteers — who have dedicated hours and hours to the projects is unacceptable.

And let me end with this final thought. Myself or other representatives of this newspaper have attended more public meetings than I care to count. Many of them have been planning or neighborhood plan-related. Those hours of our evenings that weren't spent at home with family or friends are proof of ample opportunity the public has to show up and say their peace. I cannot tell you how many of those meetings have gone on — some deep into the night — that the room was empty save for the committee members, a representative from the planning office and a reporter. Despite the open forum, there was not a member of the public in sight.

—Alex Strickland