EDGAR CO. –

Some comments we receive deserve recognition for one reason or another. Below is one we received a couple days ago:

“Message: I am just curious as to why you call your site the “Edgar County Watchdogs” but only focus on Paris schools and city council. I will admit that you included the Kansas village board. Why is it that Chrisman, Shiloh, and Kansas schools are not included? Why is it that the town or village boards for Brocton, Hume, Metcalf, and Chrisman are not included? I’m not insinuating that these entities are doing anything out of line, but just curious as to why if you consider yourselves to be the eyes and ears of injustice in Edgar County, why these other areas are ignored.”

My response to this comment is this person obviously has not been paying attention the past few months where the majority of our articles dealt with the Edgar County Board, the Edgar County ETSB, Civil Suits involving the county, Roger Eddy and the Hutsonville school district, and Dee Burgin and the Ambulance “sale”.

Some subjects pop up while researching others – like the illegal campaign donations with public finds, or the fact the City of Paris submitted false certificates of property tax exemptions for the transfer station property (article coming soon). Other stories beg for coverage simply because they are so far out of line with what should be considered ethical decisions they deserve attention – like the $87.00 meals using public funds in Chicago because “we think we deserve a good meal”, or using TORT funds for playgrounds and carpet because “our auditor said it was OK”, or limiting the number of refuse haulers to only the haulers from Paris – which I believe will be changed shortly unless the city has the money to defend itself.

While we strive to cover all public bodies out there, we don’t have enough people to cover it all. The research time spent on each article involves days (sometimes weeks), instead of hours. This is to ensure that our reporting is truthfull and conveys the intended message.

That said, there are public bodies that we haven’t reported on – yet – that are still in the research stage. Several of them were metioned in the letter we received, some of them not metioned. When we have finished gathered all of the factual information and cross referenced it with court cases and Attorney General opinions the articles will be published.

Finally, we appreciate all comments and tips – good or bad.