The city of Atwater still has a hangover, it seems. The headache lingers from the media circus last summer surrounding City Councilman Gary Frago's racist e-mails.
Now it looks as if fallout from the incident will not only include the sensitivity classes the council has already undergone, it will also involve a sort of prophylactic against any future media deluge.
At the city's last council meeting on Monday night, the esteemed council adopted a new media policy.
Bravo! Like any city worth its salt, Atwater has now boarded the media-control train. What's next, a $90,000-plus minder, eh, spokesperson?
No, not yet.
From now on the city will funnel information through its "media-trained" city manager and his assistant, Stan Feathers.
City Manager Greg Wellman said the issue arose after a couple of council members suggested it might be good for Atwater to have a media policy similar to the county's, where all information is tightly controlled for "accuracy," among other rationalizations.
Wellman said he couldn't recall an example where inaccurate information had been released. But, he added, "We don't want our people to be picked off by the media."
Does the new policy mean the next time Frago decides to send unsavory e-mails they will first be forwarded to Greg Wellman for accuracy's sake?
Not so fast.
The policy won't protect council members from shooting themselves in the foot, as they are sometimes wont to do, since, as elected officials, the policy doesn't apply to them.
Send away, boys!
Can chickens swim?
Not in Livingston's waters they can't.
With Foster Farms' newest lawsuit accusing Livingston's City Manager Richard Warne of all but robbing the city to raise its utility rates, don't expect cordial relations between the two bodies any time soon.
While Foster Farms usually flaps its wings to try to stay above the fray that is Livingston politics, this time it has jumped right in.
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Gravy train
The happiest day of state Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani's, D-Livingston, life was not when she was elected or when she graduated from college or any other day of personal achievement.
For Galgiani it was Thursday when the state of California got more than $2 billion in funds from the feds for high-speed rail. While the funds are no doubt good for the state, and Galgiani's political future, Lips wonders if Galgiani is anything more than a one-trick pony.
Or should it be one-trick rail car?
A packing councilman
A Lips tidbit about Atwater Councilman Nelson Crabb (the dapper packer) was noticed by council gadfly Pete Robinson. The man was all in a huff about the councilman carrying a concealed weapon. At the council's recent meeting, Robinson demanded to know why it was allowed to go on.
Police Chief Richard Hawthorne reassured Robinson that it was indeed OK for a retired police officer to carry a weapon. And, he added, Atwater has no ordinance that prevents Crabb from packing heat in City Hall.
Robinson should bring his pitchfork to the next meeting if he's so concerned for his safety.
