Saturday, January 07, 2006
DISAPPEARING ACT
Mike Shultis enters his office and finds Gary Bellows computer inoperable and all files erased. Click on the word, "link" below or title "disappearing Act" above, to read the entire Jan. 5, Woodstock Times front page article by Andrea Barrist Stern.
posted by Doris
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When we hear the word ‘politics’ the dictionary’s definition; ’system of government’, is usually what is being referred to. I was involved in the Town of Hurley’s government for the past12 years, as my husband, Gary Bellows’, administrative assistant, while he was Town Supervisor. My husband is not and has never been a mudslinger, in fact, he refuses to revert to those tactics nor to react to them. I, on the other hand, have had a difficult time hearing false, accusatory information without responding to it. During Gary’s tenure as supervisor, I respected his wishes and kept quiet, but not any longer. Reading the comments Mike Shultis, newly elected Hurley Supervisor, made after coming into office gives me reason to speak out. I refuse to sit by and see my husband’s reputation besmirched. Another definition for politics is the ‘use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining position or control’ – that’s probably the one that people mean when they say ‘yeah, that’s politics for you’. It brings with it a negative connotation, you think of underhandedness, fraud and deception. Watch out Town of Hurley, you could be in for a rough ride. Mr. Shultis would lead us to believe that something underhanded was done with the Supervisor’s computer, before he took office. I wonder what makes someone jump to that conclusion. Is that just the way he thinks or perhaps how he would act? Of course, he was running an illegal logging business while Zoning Board Chairman, so I guess honesty isn’t his strong suit. The computer, which is strictly used as a word processor, stopped working on December 11th. The town computer tech, John Fish (referred by Town Clerk, Karin Horner, Democrat), was called in to take a look at it (which he will verify). He felt it was a hardware problem and with the cheap price of computers, not worth the expense to fix. There were no secret files on the computer, no mysteries to unlock. Everything on the computer is always hard copied in the four filing cabinets, alphabetized, neat and orderly or given to Karin Horner, Town Clerk (to be included in Town Board minutes) – not ‘in boxes’ as Mr. Shultis alluded. In fact, I spent my last week, filing any last minute paperwork and organizing past payroll and financial papers in binders, as a courtesy to the new supervisor. We actually thought of replacing the computer, but thought the newly elected Supervisor would prefer to order his own computer and I’m sure he would have reacted negatively and suspiciously to that as well! “Someone’s got a wealth of knowledge” Mr. Shultis was quoted as saying. Yes, that’s true; – it comes from hard work and dedication for the past 12 years. Any paper correspondence is in the filing cabinets or in the Town Clerk’s possession. What Mr. Shultis is looking for is only gained from time and experience, Gary cannot impart that to him. Gary generously provided Mr. Shultis with a list of pending issues, but he complained about that, too. “The issues were not prioritized”, Mike stated. Guess what, Mr. Shultis, you are now the Supervisor and will have to decide which issues have top priority.When I think of Gary taking office from the previous Supervisor (Democrat Al DiCaprio) it makes me smile. There were so few pieces of paper in the files, I personally wondered what exactly this man did while Supervisor and as he left the office he put a computer disk in his pocket and told Gary, ‘it’s all on this’. When I arrived to work at the Town Hall, there was not a pen, pencil, piece of paper or paper clip on the desk – I was told by Town Clerk, Karin Horner that I had to order my own supplies.Without a doubt, the timing of the computer malfunctioning was incredible. Maybe there’s a greater power at work here – the Lord does work in mysterious ways!
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