4 SPIRIT OF JEFFERSON t;arrners ADVOCATE - Thursday, March t0, 2005 VODIu2VIE
i •
OPINION
Every
Super Crossword
EDITORIAL
We've Seen the Rookie's Fluff,
Now Where's the Substance?
How many hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars will rookie County
Clerk Jennifer Maghan spend be-
fore her castle is complete?
With a little more than two
months' experience in her corner,
Maghan has requested hundreds
of thousands of dollars in taxpayer
funds for new computer systems,
office furniture and other acoutre-
ments to enhance either her ego or
her image.
We all know that county offices
are overcrowded and county em-
ployees have done a wonderful job
in dealing with this space issue.
This past week, the court-
house was turned upside down by
Maghan, who arbitrarily decided
to move employees, some of whom
handle highly sensitive issues, into
offices directly Under her supervi-
sion.
Usually, these kinds of moves are
simply an effort by the elected offi-
cial to show the public that chang-
es are being made in concert with
campaign promises.
Maghan claims that her decision
to move employees, etc., will help
make clerk's operation more acces-
sible to the public...more "open".
For many years we have worked
with the folks in the courthouse
and found these employees to be
most cooperative and "open" when
we made requests for information.
We believe that Maghan's behefs
about being more "open" are unfair
and improper because her prede-
cessor, long-time clerk John Ott, is
known by everyone to have run a very
fine operation in the courthouse.
Frankly, we believe that one rea-
son she has requested that expen-
sive new computer system is be-
cause she is being urged to do so by
several local activists in the com-
munity who would dearly love to
gain access to the county's records
at any time...day or night!
We know that several local attor-
neys tried in a very subtle way to
let Maghan know that the clerk's
office in Jefferson County was not
broken and did not need fining.
Those words apparently fell on
deaf ears.
We will give the new clerk credit
for trying to follow the letter of the
law in running her office. But, for
pete's sake, let's get some advice
from sage county employees, not
your political backers, before mak-
ing such knee-jerk decisions.
We also understand that the clerk
has provided some raises to specif-
ic employees in her department,
and has instituted a merit pay sys-
tem.
Merit pay is a fine system, but
because this is county government,
putting such a program in place
should be under the auspices of the
County Commission so that all em-
ployees can take part.
We do not like merit pay, primar-
ily because it opens the door to su-
pervisor-employee favoritism in
some instances.
It is easy to determine that this
newspaper is not impressed with
Jefferson County's new county
clerk.
Change simply for sake of change
is not good. Change arbitrarily
made by one person is seldom suc-
cessful. Already, some of the clerk's
employees have expressed dismay
of their office moves and have been
reluctant to openly express their
opinions because of the fear of
retribution. Some "open" govern-
ment!
We urge the County Commission
to bring this runaway freight train
under control by controlling the
strings on the clerk's budget. That
would do the trick for now.
And as for the clerk herself, we've
seen the fluff, now let's see some
substance in your leadership.
Letter
to the
Editor
More on Poster
Dear Sir:
I appreciate your using the
poster I dropped off at your of-
fice and which you included in
the February 17th edition of
your newspaper, The Spirit of
Jefferson Farmer's Advocate.
The copy of the flier touted the
reopening in 1856 of a newly re-
modeled Shannondale Springs
Resort and Spa. I'd like to elab-
orate on the caption accom-
panying image, The flier was
made available for scanning by
the Jefferson County Museum
and The Friends of Shannon-
dale Springs by Shelley Mur-
phy for display and promotion-
al purposes. It was found in the
family Bible of Ms, Murphy's
great-great-great-grandmother,
Sarah Hart Goerm, the wife of
Lawson Goens, a free colored,
who was employed as the boat-
man/ferryman for 30 years by
the Shannondale Springs Pve-
sort. Mr. Goens died in 1874 at
the age of 66. The Goens family
resided in Jefferson County for
a long, long time and still has
relatives in the area. The flier
can be viewed at the museum
shdeshow located at Www.shan-
nondale.org.
Sincerely,
Willis NoweU
Harpers Ferry
(USPS 510-960)
ESTABLISHED 1844
Published Weeldy on Thursday by
The Jefferson Publishing Company, Inc.
210 North George Street • Charles Town, West Virginia
Telephone: (304) 725-2046
Mail Address: P.O. Box 966 Periodicals paid at
Charles Town, W. Va. 25414 Charles Town and additional
Periodicals Postage Paid mailing offices
To Jefferson Cotlnty addresses ~3.00 (i~ng tBX)
Toa. other West Virginia a~ S~.O0 (indtdng tax)
To all other USA addresses $26.00 (no tax l'equ~
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Edward "Pat" Dockeney
POSTMASTER." Please send address change to The Spirit of Jefferson-Farmer's
Advocate, P.O. Box 966, Charles Town, "tAW 25414.
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190 91
Crossword answers on Page 20 of today's
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