Note: the Earth Day Celebration scheduled for tomorrow at Historic Shawnee Cemetery has been canceled.
Mountain-News-Events wrote: From Candidate Gary Rhoads Sr:
We have a lot of exciting events coming up in the next few weeks to give you the opportunity to meet Gary Rhoads and hear his exciting ideas on how to bring integrity and professionalism back to the Park County Sheriff's Office.
Gary is eager to answer your questions and share his vision for the future of how your Sheriff's Office can serve and protect the citizens of Park County.
Hope to see all of you soon!
My Mountain Town Community Calendar
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In regards to the Park County Sheriff's Election:
First of all, I would like to say that I have yet to meet an individual with the kind of character, integrity and positivity that Gary Rhoads exudes. It is refreshing to look towards the future with such great hope for positive change.
There are several fine individuals running for Sheriff this year. Each one has certain traits that would allow for a great step forward in our Sheriff's Department.
A thank you to Fred Wegener for his service to our county.
As we look to all of the qualifications of all of the candidates, one clearly stands above the rest for me.
One clearly has the entire package that will move us in a positive direction.
From his deep roots and commitment to our community that has been well established over many years, Gary Rhoads provides a hope and commitment that our deputies and citizens will be treated with respect and dignity.
I have read several comments on another local website that, I believe, are a sad commentary on some old wounds that unfortunately still fester.
I believe it is one thing to question a candidate about his qualifications and honesty, it is another to simply call him a liar or accuse him of guilt by association by a handful of supporters.
First of all, I think everyone should be treated with dignity and respect. You may not agree with their position but, in order to understand it, you have to be willing to listen.
Several exceptional circumstances have occurred this election year that are noteworthy.
1. Our communities have engaged in the political process this year thanks to many mediums. Social Media, the local newspaper and sites such as this that work hard to provide us reliable information in which to base our opinions.
2. Candidates are reaching out to the community like never before to get their message to the public.
3. Information is more accessible to the public and folks are willing to question the process going on around them. It is good to bring issues to the light of day so that we can all evaluate and weigh their importance to each of us.
4. Our communities have an opportunity to stand "FACE TO FACE" with all candidates to hear their platform and to honestly gauge their sincerity.
Some comments have been made on another local webpage that I would like to address:
A couple of things stand out in this conversation:
1. As important as these community websites are, they cannot replace the "face to face" interaction of human contact.
2. Though each concern of every citizen deserves a voice, I personally still have a problem with anonymous posters who hide behind their pc screen to provide insults, the attacking of someone’s integrity or motive, or in general spread false information without the benefit of all the facts available to them.
This year, in conjunction with this website and several honest and decent people, A Facebook group was created to provide unbiased information to the public. The simple rules are: You may state your opinion but you have to do so with respect, dignity and the omission of swear words. Pretty simple stuff.
To date, it has been a complete success.
I am proud of our community in that they have found a way to interact with each other in a respectful tone.
Yes, the group has tackled some tough issues.
Petitions:
What was found there is that, more than anything, people were just simply not well educated in the process. No one did anything nefarious. They just simply did not know the rules. It changes nothing in this election but moving forward, as a community, we are better educated in a future process. We also learned the value of reading a document before you sign it.
Crazy Conspiracy theories:
Individuals form their opinions based on different experiences. If your experience has been different, that does not make another persons experience less valid
That doesn't make it a "crazy conspiracy theory".
Many of these experiences are very real and very deep wounds for some of our community members. Calling them crazy simply deepens the wound. I realize that there are always two sides to every story but I have also found that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Post Certification of Candidates;
Once again, we have anonymous individuals asserting accusations without the benefit of a full set of facts. A lot of assumption and accusation behind the privacy of a username on a community website.
As I said before, all questions deserve to be heard and answered. I am saddened by the method some use to undermine an individual that they do not support though.
We all have our reasons why we support a certain candidate. I agree that the great qualities of each candidate should be the talking point for all candidates and their supporters and may the best man or woman win based solely on those fine qualities.
Respectfully
Becky Van Hout
The interest in becoming the sheriff of Park County is amazing. From the date of my moving to PARK COUNTY and now, Fred Wegener has been sheriff, being re-elected by the people.
Now that the position will be open, can anyone tell me the salary of the sheriff?
According to June Wegener, wife of the current Park County Sheriff in a post in the Park County Election 2018
group, the current salary is $76,000 and will be increasing to $104,000 when the adjustments that the County Commissioners voted to approve go into effect.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
Park County 2018 Final Adopted Budget
This is the 2018 budget, but they don't break salaries out in there, unless I missed it (which is entirely possible, budget documents make my eyes cross).
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
