Forty years ago, my ship, USS W.S. Sims, pulled into Port au Prince, Haiti, for the weekend.
My wife and one of the other officer's wives surprised us by meeting us at the pier. They had flown down from Mayport, Florida to join us. There had been soldiers with machine guns on the roof of the air terminal. It was the last year of the notoriously corrupt and brutal regime of Papa Doc Duvalier.
The amount of poverty was startling. I had seen crushing poverty in rural Holmes County, Mississippi and in rural areas of the Philippines, but nothing to compare to Haiti. Still, we found the Haitians on the street to be friendly and welcoming.
We stayed in a lovely old hotel run by an expatriate German couple. The place was reminiscent of the setting of a Graham Green novel.
We rented a run-down VW and drove up into the mountains. There were still trees on the mountainsides then, and the view was spectacular. The roads were full of boulders with sharp edges. One of them punctured a bald tire. I checked under the hood and found the jack and spare tire, but there was no tool to get the hub cap off. Soon a Haitian farmer happened along. The only tool he had was a machete. He applied it to the hub cap and had it off in a jiffy. We thanked him and changed the tire. He smiled, waving and walked on up the mountain. We decided it was best to head on back to the hotel.
Back in Port au Prince, we explored the streets and were fascinated by the outpouring of art. Many of the paintings would have been classified as primitive art - flat perspective, simple primary colors. But there were other paintings of the highest quality painted with a complex palette, that would have been at home in major art galleries.
It was only a brief visit, but it left us with a strong impression of a wonderful people. We can only wish them well.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I never met Martin Luther King, Jr. But I knew about him as early as 1955.
1955 was a busy year. It was my second year at the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"). That August, Emmett Till, a fourteen year old from Chicago visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi was brutally lynched. In December, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
We heard more and more about the young, charismatic minister who led the bus boycott in Montgomery, and organized the Southern Christian Leadership Council.
I only knew one person who had personal contact with the Reverend King: Will D. Campbell, a Baptist minister who was Director of Religious Life at Ole Miss from 1954 to 1956. Will was an avuncular, pipe-smoking man of Scotch-Irish background who had first been a preacher as a teen in Amite, Mississippi. He ran afoul of the University administration in a series of events, including the kerfluffle over the Reverend Al Kershaw and an incident when the Assistant Registrar, suspected of being an agent for the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, discovered Will playing ping pong in the campus Y building with the minister of the Second Baptist Church in Oxford. "We were separated by a net and using separate but equal paddles," Will explained to the Chancellor.
Will left the University and went to work for the National Council of Churches Department of Racial and Cultural Relations and other organizations in Nashville. He was very impressed with Dr. King. "The man is a saint," he told me during a visit to Ole Miss in 1958.
I knew Will well enough to know he wasn't describing King as a "goody-goody," but as someone both committed and effective. He was especially impressed with King's dedication to Gandhi's concept of nonviolence. The most impressive fact about Gandhi's nonviolence is that this wizened little man in a loincloth carrying a walking stick and no weapons other than an iron will had brought down the world's greatest empire of the day.
A few years ago my wife and I visited the Martin Luther King Jr. museum in Atlanta. In the bookstore was a well-illustrated book on the civil rights movement. On the cover, a headline declared that Martin Luther King Jr. had worked to insure freedom for African Americans. I disagree. He worked to achieve freedom for Americans.
1955 was a busy year. It was my second year at the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"). That August, Emmett Till, a fourteen year old from Chicago visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi was brutally lynched. In December, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
We heard more and more about the young, charismatic minister who led the bus boycott in Montgomery, and organized the Southern Christian Leadership Council.
I only knew one person who had personal contact with the Reverend King: Will D. Campbell, a Baptist minister who was Director of Religious Life at Ole Miss from 1954 to 1956. Will was an avuncular, pipe-smoking man of Scotch-Irish background who had first been a preacher as a teen in Amite, Mississippi. He ran afoul of the University administration in a series of events, including the kerfluffle over the Reverend Al Kershaw and an incident when the Assistant Registrar, suspected of being an agent for the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, discovered Will playing ping pong in the campus Y building with the minister of the Second Baptist Church in Oxford. "We were separated by a net and using separate but equal paddles," Will explained to the Chancellor.
Will left the University and went to work for the National Council of Churches Department of Racial and Cultural Relations and other organizations in Nashville. He was very impressed with Dr. King. "The man is a saint," he told me during a visit to Ole Miss in 1958.
I knew Will well enough to know he wasn't describing King as a "goody-goody," but as someone both committed and effective. He was especially impressed with King's dedication to Gandhi's concept of nonviolence. The most impressive fact about Gandhi's nonviolence is that this wizened little man in a loincloth carrying a walking stick and no weapons other than an iron will had brought down the world's greatest empire of the day.
A few years ago my wife and I visited the Martin Luther King Jr. museum in Atlanta. In the bookstore was a well-illustrated book on the civil rights movement. On the cover, a headline declared that Martin Luther King Jr. had worked to insure freedom for African Americans. I disagree. He worked to achieve freedom for Americans.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
LOng RAnge Navigation (LORAN)
We just learned that the Coast Guard will cease transmitting LORAN-C signals at midnight zulu February 8, 2010. This will bring to an end almost seventy years of development and operation by the US of a very valuable hyperbolic radio navigation system.
I personally never owned a LORAN-C set. I used LORAN-C in the navy, but never liked it. Maybe I disliked it because the set I used was a klunky converter to a LORAN-A set.
I liked LORAN-A. I was introduced to LORAN-A operation on a WWII-vintage DAS-3 LORAN-A receiver, during midshipman training cruise on USS Macon the summer of 1957. It took a little while to get the hang of it, but it gave the operator a lot of control. I used a DAS-4, a slightly improved model, on USS Cabildo and USS Higbee.
The system was intended to provide a fix by plotting time differences from two pairs of stations arranged as a chain, with the master station between two slave stations. The geometry of the arrangement would cause lines of position to cross each other at an angle that resulted in an acceptable fix. A single LORAN line could also be crossed with a sun line. That often came in handy.
LOng RAnge was a bit of a misnomer. The system was designed to use a ground wave radio path, and the maximum distance the signal would reach was about 900 miles during the day and maybe 1600 miles at night. That wasn't enough to reach across the wide Pacific.
A skilled operator could use the system over greater distances by measuring the time difference of sky waves - as long as they were one-hop waves off the E-layer of the ionosphere. If you were really skilled, when operating in the Western Pacific, it was often possible to match the ground wave of a master station with the sky wave of a slave station, apply a time difference correction from a special table, and plot an accurate line of position.
A key skill requirement was the ability to distinguish a sky wave from a ground wave. That took a bit of time and patience. Sky waves were less stable than ground waves, but they could appear fairly stable for a short period. If the operator inadvertently matched a ground wave with a sky wave, the resulting time difference could plot very far away from the ship's actual location. I believe that is what happened when USS Frank Knox ran aground on Pratas Reef in the South China Sea in 1965.
I never trusted LORAN-C because there were too many automatic features. I wanted to see the actual wave form to see what I was dealing with. And I preferred to plot the line of position myself on a piece of paper.
I personally never owned a LORAN-C set. I used LORAN-C in the navy, but never liked it. Maybe I disliked it because the set I used was a klunky converter to a LORAN-A set.
I liked LORAN-A. I was introduced to LORAN-A operation on a WWII-vintage DAS-3 LORAN-A receiver, during midshipman training cruise on USS Macon the summer of 1957. It took a little while to get the hang of it, but it gave the operator a lot of control. I used a DAS-4, a slightly improved model, on USS Cabildo and USS Higbee.
The system was intended to provide a fix by plotting time differences from two pairs of stations arranged as a chain, with the master station between two slave stations. The geometry of the arrangement would cause lines of position to cross each other at an angle that resulted in an acceptable fix. A single LORAN line could also be crossed with a sun line. That often came in handy.
LOng RAnge was a bit of a misnomer. The system was designed to use a ground wave radio path, and the maximum distance the signal would reach was about 900 miles during the day and maybe 1600 miles at night. That wasn't enough to reach across the wide Pacific.
A skilled operator could use the system over greater distances by measuring the time difference of sky waves - as long as they were one-hop waves off the E-layer of the ionosphere. If you were really skilled, when operating in the Western Pacific, it was often possible to match the ground wave of a master station with the sky wave of a slave station, apply a time difference correction from a special table, and plot an accurate line of position.
A key skill requirement was the ability to distinguish a sky wave from a ground wave. That took a bit of time and patience. Sky waves were less stable than ground waves, but they could appear fairly stable for a short period. If the operator inadvertently matched a ground wave with a sky wave, the resulting time difference could plot very far away from the ship's actual location. I believe that is what happened when USS Frank Knox ran aground on Pratas Reef in the South China Sea in 1965.
I never trusted LORAN-C because there were too many automatic features. I wanted to see the actual wave form to see what I was dealing with. And I preferred to plot the line of position myself on a piece of paper.
Utility Billing Information as Public Record
North Carolina General Statutes section 132-1.1(c) explicitly provides that “billing information compiled and maintained by a city or county or other public entity providing utility services in connection with the ownership or operation of a public enterprise, excluding airports, is not a public record as defined in G.S. 132-1.”
Does this mean the city may not disclose billing information? Not exactly, according to a recent post by Kara Millonzi of the School of Government on the NC Local Government Law blog. She postulates a number of scenarios under which the disclosure of billing information may be legal under G.S. 132-1.1(c). She suggests, however, that the decision to make such a disclosure should be pursuant to a decision made by the governing board, and the municipality should apply any governing board directive consistently.
In any event, G.S. 132-1.10 prohibits a local government or public authority from intentionally communicating or otherwise making available to the general public certain identifying information, including Social Security or employer taxpayer identification numbers; driver’s license, state identification card, or passport numbers; checking or savings account numbers; credit or debit card numbers; digital signatures; personal identification code numbers; biometric data (such as eye scans, voice scans, and DNA); fingerprints; or passwords. Furthermore, G.S. 132-1.2(2) prohibits a local unit or authority from revealing an account number used for electronic payment (defined as payment by charge card, credit card, debit card, or by electronic funds transfer).
Bottom line: the town does not have to disclose any of this information to the public. It may under certain circumstances, but better be very careful.
Does this mean the city may not disclose billing information? Not exactly, according to a recent post by Kara Millonzi of the School of Government on the NC Local Government Law blog. She postulates a number of scenarios under which the disclosure of billing information may be legal under G.S. 132-1.1(c). She suggests, however, that the decision to make such a disclosure should be pursuant to a decision made by the governing board, and the municipality should apply any governing board directive consistently.
In any event, G.S. 132-1.10 prohibits a local government or public authority from intentionally communicating or otherwise making available to the general public certain identifying information, including Social Security or employer taxpayer identification numbers; driver’s license, state identification card, or passport numbers; checking or savings account numbers; credit or debit card numbers; digital signatures; personal identification code numbers; biometric data (such as eye scans, voice scans, and DNA); fingerprints; or passwords. Furthermore, G.S. 132-1.2(2) prohibits a local unit or authority from revealing an account number used for electronic payment (defined as payment by charge card, credit card, debit card, or by electronic funds transfer).
Bottom line: the town does not have to disclose any of this information to the public. It may under certain circumstances, but better be very careful.
Oddities: 2 - Prodigal Documents
Late last summer I raised the issue of closed session minutes. We discussed the issue at the Town Board meeting September 1, 2009 and agreed to proceed with efforts to open minutes no longer required to be closed.
At the Town Board meeting of October 6, it was revealed that the book containing the minutes could not be located. At the November 10 meeting, commissioners were given a packet of closed minutes to review. I noted that minutes of some closed sessions seemed to be missing. The town staff conducted a search of computer records and were able to reprint most of the missing minutes, but signed copies were still not found.
At the Town Board meeting of December 1, the outgoing board opened some of the formerly closed minutes to the public. The missing signed copies had still not been found.
After Christmas weekend of 2009, I learned, the missing notebook reappeared in the office. The fixed asset ledger which couldn't be found during the audit has also reappeared.
Whoever knows where the documents had gone and how they were returned hasn't disclosed the information, to the best of my knowledge. Why would anyone remove the notebooks from Town Hall? I don't have any idea. The documents themselves remain silent.
Another odd event.
At the Town Board meeting of October 6, it was revealed that the book containing the minutes could not be located. At the November 10 meeting, commissioners were given a packet of closed minutes to review. I noted that minutes of some closed sessions seemed to be missing. The town staff conducted a search of computer records and were able to reprint most of the missing minutes, but signed copies were still not found.
At the Town Board meeting of December 1, the outgoing board opened some of the formerly closed minutes to the public. The missing signed copies had still not been found.
After Christmas weekend of 2009, I learned, the missing notebook reappeared in the office. The fixed asset ledger which couldn't be found during the audit has also reappeared.
Whoever knows where the documents had gone and how they were returned hasn't disclosed the information, to the best of my knowledge. Why would anyone remove the notebooks from Town Hall? I don't have any idea. The documents themselves remain silent.
Another odd event.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Pogo
I checked the calendar this morning and noticed that Friday the thirteenth came on Wednesday this month.
That observation betrays something about my age. I am of that fortunate generation blessed with the chance to read the late Walt Kelly's daily comic strip, "Pogo." Not only that, I was old enough to mostly understand it.
Pogo most famously observed, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Where is Walt Kelly when we need him?
That observation betrays something about my age. I am of that fortunate generation blessed with the chance to read the late Walt Kelly's daily comic strip, "Pogo." Not only that, I was old enough to mostly understand it.
Pogo most famously observed, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Where is Walt Kelly when we need him?
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Observing the Proprieties: Elected Officials
I have strong views on how it is appropriate for government officials to act. These views flow from my studies of American Government, more than a quarter century in the US Navy (including eight years service on headquarters staffs) and fifteen years or so performing government contracts. Last November I tried to distill those views into a post on leadership and management. This post wasn't targeted at any particular individual but was prompted by my growing concern over organizational issues at town hall.
During my two years as a town commissioner, I never had any illusion that I possessed authority over the town manager with respect to daily operations. I certainly offered advice and suggestions. They were often ignored. I found that appropriate. After all, I was only one of five commissioners. The only authority I possessed was as a part of that body.
I never possessed a key to town hall. I saw no need. I never possessed a key either to the outer office or to the manager's office or to any of the file cabinets or safes. I never possessed any passwords to any of the computers in town hall. Had a town manager offered such things to me I would have declined.
In our country, even at the level of town government, we have a wall of separation between legislative, executive and judicial functions. Yes, there are occasional shared functions as when the town board acts in a quasi-judicial capacity. But that is a tightly governed exception.
Regrettably, in the Town of Oriental, over the holiday period, the separation between legislative and executive functions was breached. At least twice.
This is beyond rumor. On Christmas weekend, Commissioner Venturi was seen in town hall, in both the outer office and in the town manager's office, accompanied by a town employee. She appeared to be rummaging through the town manager's files. Whether she removed any original documents, I don't know. I do know that a day or two later, she appeared with a bundle of financial records at The Bean and went over them with one of our citizens.
On New Year's weekend, Commissioner Venturi was seen in town hall again, in the outer office, printing out records from the town's accounting system. I do not believe Commissioner Venturi has a password for the town's accounting software. I believe she is not an authorized user. She could not have performed such an operation without breaching the integrity of the town's accounts.
The witnesses in both cases are absolutely reliable.
By the way, if any town employees provided assistance for any breaches, I hope the Town Board will make the rules absolutely crystal clear and enforce them in the future.
The town needs to make an assessment as to whether personal information required by law to be protected has been compromised by a security breach. If it has, there may be a requirement to report the security breach to individuals and to the NC Attorney General. This is serious stuff.
During my two years as a town commissioner, I never had any illusion that I possessed authority over the town manager with respect to daily operations. I certainly offered advice and suggestions. They were often ignored. I found that appropriate. After all, I was only one of five commissioners. The only authority I possessed was as a part of that body.
I never possessed a key to town hall. I saw no need. I never possessed a key either to the outer office or to the manager's office or to any of the file cabinets or safes. I never possessed any passwords to any of the computers in town hall. Had a town manager offered such things to me I would have declined.
In our country, even at the level of town government, we have a wall of separation between legislative, executive and judicial functions. Yes, there are occasional shared functions as when the town board acts in a quasi-judicial capacity. But that is a tightly governed exception.
Regrettably, in the Town of Oriental, over the holiday period, the separation between legislative and executive functions was breached. At least twice.
This is beyond rumor. On Christmas weekend, Commissioner Venturi was seen in town hall, in both the outer office and in the town manager's office, accompanied by a town employee. She appeared to be rummaging through the town manager's files. Whether she removed any original documents, I don't know. I do know that a day or two later, she appeared with a bundle of financial records at The Bean and went over them with one of our citizens.
On New Year's weekend, Commissioner Venturi was seen in town hall again, in the outer office, printing out records from the town's accounting system. I do not believe Commissioner Venturi has a password for the town's accounting software. I believe she is not an authorized user. She could not have performed such an operation without breaching the integrity of the town's accounts.
The witnesses in both cases are absolutely reliable.
By the way, if any town employees provided assistance for any breaches, I hope the Town Board will make the rules absolutely crystal clear and enforce them in the future.
The town needs to make an assessment as to whether personal information required by law to be protected has been compromised by a security breach. If it has, there may be a requirement to report the security breach to individuals and to the NC Attorney General. This is serious stuff.
Oddities: 1
Among recent oddities at Town Hall that no one reported in the media was the curious exchange at the January 5 Town Board meeting over minutes.
The usual agenda sequence is that just after the pledge of allegiance, the Town Board adopts minutes of the previous regular meeting of the Town Board as well as of both closed and open sessions that may have been held in the interim. This is usually the least interesting or controversial part of the meeting. Occasionally one of the board members will propose an amendment to the minutes, and if there is any disagreement among members, it is quickly resolved and the minutes approved.
This time, as best I could tell from the back row, the board objected to both the form and content of closed session and open session minutes prepared by the recording secretary. Apparently the board had provided direction to the recording secretary at the agenda meeting. It seems that, instead of simply removing the text board members wanted removed, she used word processing software to line through the passages. When members of the board objected, she informed them that she "stands by" the version she prepared. Then she argued with the mayor over the facts.
It is worth noting that North Carolina General Statutes do not require minutes to be verbatim. If they did, the attic of Town Hall (where old records are stored) might have collapsed from the weight. The recording secretary is also not in the position of a court reporter. The minutes are under complete control of the Town Board.
Following a heated argument between the recording secretary, town commissioners and the mayor, the board once again directed the recording secretary to remove certain passages from the minutes. Then when the vote was held, Commissioner Venturi voted "no."
I have personally never seen an Oriental commissioner vote against adopting minutes. I have asked long time residents, including former commissioners and none of them recalls it ever happening before.
That's odd behavior.
The usual agenda sequence is that just after the pledge of allegiance, the Town Board adopts minutes of the previous regular meeting of the Town Board as well as of both closed and open sessions that may have been held in the interim. This is usually the least interesting or controversial part of the meeting. Occasionally one of the board members will propose an amendment to the minutes, and if there is any disagreement among members, it is quickly resolved and the minutes approved.
This time, as best I could tell from the back row, the board objected to both the form and content of closed session and open session minutes prepared by the recording secretary. Apparently the board had provided direction to the recording secretary at the agenda meeting. It seems that, instead of simply removing the text board members wanted removed, she used word processing software to line through the passages. When members of the board objected, she informed them that she "stands by" the version she prepared. Then she argued with the mayor over the facts.
It is worth noting that North Carolina General Statutes do not require minutes to be verbatim. If they did, the attic of Town Hall (where old records are stored) might have collapsed from the weight. The recording secretary is also not in the position of a court reporter. The minutes are under complete control of the Town Board.
Following a heated argument between the recording secretary, town commissioners and the mayor, the board once again directed the recording secretary to remove certain passages from the minutes. Then when the vote was held, Commissioner Venturi voted "no."
I have personally never seen an Oriental commissioner vote against adopting minutes. I have asked long time residents, including former commissioners and none of them recalls it ever happening before.
That's odd behavior.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
