Death, coming as a friend

There are two anecdotes that come to mind as I ponder the end of the City of Pacific. The first was the memory of a funeral for a man who died of lung cancer. The minister speaking at the funeral looked into the widow’s face and comforted her with the acknowledgment that every breath her husband took came at great pain, and death came as a friend to relieve that pain.

The other anecdote relates to Aukeen District Court Judge Don Eide. In the 1970s  I was a reporter on the Auburn Glob-News covering that court and I got to know Judge Eide well. He shared with me one time the concept that perhaps there should be death sentences for corporations, just as there are for real people, when the violations were egregious enough. Interesting concept.

Pacific is facing its own death sentence. And the unethical conduct and law violations by its officials have been egregious. And for the people living within the boundaries of Pacific, it’s possible to conceive that death is coming as a friend. There are undoubtedly individuals who are upset at the disaster images I’ve placed in this blog, mocking the mortification they feel at the thought that this city will dissolve. But there is no mockery in my belief that this city has not earned its wings and it deserves to die. And that death will clear the way for better governance than people have experienced in the past. 

City Councilman Josh Putnam’s has advised that if any other jurisdiction took over Pacific,  taxes will be higher. To that,  my response is – you get what you pay for. Some individuals may feel inconvenienced over the acquisition of this area by Auburn – if that’s what happens. But if Auburn annexes Pacific, it will represent an overall improvement for the residents here, and if the taxes are a little higher, they will be well worth it. Relative to Auburn, the residents of Pacific will be on the winning side of the equation.

Even before I came here in the mid-70s, the city had a reputation that included misuse of public assets, and turmoil. As a new reporter on the Globe-News, I heard about police harassment of citizens at the first council meeting I attended. Before two years were out, the police chief has assaulted a school teacher in a classroom and bludgeoned two miscreants who were awaiting an aid car, landing the city in a million-dollar lawsuit. That was just the warmup. 

Since then Pacific has remained a town of turmoil and unethical behavior, heavily influenced by alcoholism, cronyism, and spoilers. Since the year 2000, the city has been led by mayors who were so unprofessional and/or  self-serving that no competent, ethical person would want to associate with them; these leaders created and perpetuated a talent vacuum that prevented suitable successors from being groomed and prepared to take over governance. One of the more disturbing behaviors was the manipulation – by several leaders – of a mentally-ill individual who was ruthless in hounding their political enemies. And, partly due to cronyism, they turned a blind eye to the excesses and abuses of the police department, which became the tail wagging the dog.

Pacific’s controversial mayor, Cy Sun, is absolutely correct – the town is corrupt. So corrupt that no-one of any quality was in a position to exert the kind of leadership to steer the ship of state in a different direction. So corrupt that the only candidate who could emerge to run for mayor with a hope to change the system would be the ignorant, obstinate and incompetent Cy Sun.

I want to talk for a moment about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I was speaking with a veteran once about my theory of the syndrome. It goes like this: You are a band of brothers in war. One of your brothers is seriously wounded and you try to save him. He’s going fast, so you try harder, because that is your duty. His wounds are horrific, and you struggle all the more, because that is your duty. And then he dies in your arms because you were unable to save him. And because it was your duty to save him, and you were unable to, you feel like you failed.

But it’s not your fault. You’re not the one who shot him, or planted the roadside bomb, or whatever. The enemy did that. He was broken so badly you couldn't fix him. And yet you take on the blame. Disappointment becomes guilt.

The veteran looked me in the eye and said, more or less, “right on.”

It’s time to recognize that there has been a series of individuals who destroyed this city. It was not Cy Sun. His predecessors allowed the abuses that sickened the body politic and left it as vulnerable as a beached whale. And it’s not your fault either. Even if you voted for some of the people who have caused the city’s failure, the fact is, you really didn’t have a choice of enough good candidates or the means to evaluate them. The city grew, but the talent pool didn’t grow with it. The resources to identify and promote good, competent elected officials simply weren’t there anymore. Pacific has the human resources to be a good neighborhood. But it does not have the human resources to be a good city and to resist the corrupting intents and influences of the self-serving individuals who seek power for their own ends without a clear idea of what public service really entails.

Death is coming to Pacific . . . coming as a friend. Embrace it. Let the city die. Prepare for a better government to take its place, and if it costs a little more, don’t grumble. You get what you pay for.

Epilog: 

10 years ago my wife died. She didn’t die of lymphoma; she didn’t die of the stem cell transplant procedure. She died of the yeast infection that took her when her body was done with her. 

The lymphoma led to her death; the rigors of the stem cell transplant led to her death. But it was the yeast infection that killed her. 

While there are foundations that fight lymphoma, there are no foundations I’m aware of that fight yeast infections. And why should there be one? 

The point: Cy Sun is the equivalent of an opportunistic infection. Those fools among you who are cursing the infection are pointlessly overlooking the disease that weakened Pacific’s body politic to the point that it couldn’t fight off a Cy Sun. You might as well curse a windstorm for blowing over a rotten tree.

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