‘Positive’ outlook on Ontario flood damage is tough to muster

By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher Emeritus

If you chose gazing at a screen over attending this month’s Ontario Village Board meeting, you missed a rollicking good time. The County Line had published a suggestion the prior week that decades’ worth of village boards had failed to enforce the Ontario floodplain ordinance, and that contributed at least in part to the mess the village had found itself in. The article was not a big hit with most board members, the clerk or a few lingerers from the earlier meeting.

The accusations flew so fast from so many directions that it was hard to keep up. Among them were the following:

• Newly hired police officer Dave Rynes said he was ready to quit after reading the newspaper.

• No new business would ever come to Ontario because of what I wrote, commented several lathered-up people.

• I upset Pastor Bruce Milleman of Grace Community Church.

• United Cooperative will never restore the Fastrip after reading my article, pronounced the village clerk.

It’s a good thing we’re not back in Salem days. “Tie her to a stake; get the matches. Look over here. She is the problem — not us.”

This may come as a shock, but the role of newspapers in an American democracy is not to act as cheerleaders. Our job is to give context to events, to help people understand problems and suggest how they may be remedied — if indeed it is possible.

It’s not that this newspaper has shirked promoting the town. Good heavens, we wrote a book on its history, endlessly promoted the sesquicentennial celebration, spearheaded an effort to create a beautiful park, have spent dozens of unpaid hours filling out the paperwork to get the Ontario Community Hall on the National Register of Historic Places, and published many rah-rah articles in 35 years. The attendees must have been so busy looking for a match that they failedto remember that.

“The newspaper has been nothing but negative since the flood,” thundered board president Mark Smith.

“Write something positive,” advised trustee Jamie DeWitt.

Okay, here is positive.

I am positive that when I started my newspaper career, Ontario had three gas stations, two grocery stores, two restaurants, one drive-in, two bars, a hardware store, and a variety store. Oh, yeah, Ontario also had a school, and lots of tidy, older homes in the downtown area. As I end my career, there is not even a place in town to buy a loaf of bread, and the old section of town has quite a few shabby, deteriorated houses.

I am positive that when Cashton threw a fundraiser to help flood victims, no member of the village board attended, nor did any of them attend the Ontario Community Club’s fundraiser in October. With the exception of trustee Doug Broxham, they all stayed home for celebration marking the 80th anniversary of the Ontario Community Hall in April.

I am positive that the only effort toward community economic development for the past couple years has been led by a resident of Oconomowoc, Wis., who owns vacation property in the village and that board members rarely ever attend those meetings.

I am positive that virtually no one attended the community conversations held last year, though this latest round brought in 30 people and even some elusive board members. I attribute at least a part of that to the “negative” newspaper coverage.

I am positive that no matter how often we crow about the “shining city on a hill” we are going to create, nothing will change unless leadership commits to becoming familiar with, and then enforces the ordinances on the books. If I hear one more time, “We can’t tell people what to do with their property,” I am going to get on my broomstick and fly around the room.

I am positive there are ways to save this village, but it will require the civic engagement of many more residents. After the 2008 flood, Gays Mills lost one-third of its population. This is serious stuff, and if you think we only need to muck out the Kickapoo Paddle Inn so we can be scarf down hamburgers in June — it ain’t gonna happen. It would not be a reach to say that in the time it took you to read this, your Ontario property lost value.

I am positive none of this makes my readers or the boardhappy, but if I wanted warm fuzziness, I would put on a white hat and run a Good Humor truck. And maybe the board should do the same. It’s easy to be a Pollyanna and spin tales of what might be, but unless the truth is told and our leadership faces reality and does not shirk from enforcing the ordinances, we will sink into failure. Again.

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