Views change through the years

It’s interesting to see how opinions and thoughts tend to shift as the years pass by.

While I’ll certainly admit that I haven’t been a working journalist as long as some of my colleagues at the Green River Star, I’ve been practicing long enough to see a few ideological shifts first hand.

One of the more noticeable shifts involves the Sweetwater County Commissioners’ view on overseeing the county’s board-managed organizations. At one time, during Commissioner Wally Johnson’s first term in office, he would say the county commissioners don’t manage entities like the hospital of the library system because the people they appoint to those various boards do just that. They’re appointed to manage those boards because the commissioners don’t have the time available to handle those satellite entities.

Several years and a shift from three to five commissioners later, it appears the commissioners are taking a different stance on the issue. These things do happen, as people shuffle into and away from political offices, but the group’s chairman, Johnson, seems to have pulled a complete 180-degree shift.

For example, last week the commissioners briefly discussed the Sweetwater County Museum and its possession of antique rifles originally held by the American Legion Tom Whitmore Post. Months ago, the museum board voted to return the rifles to the American Legion, pending approval from the U.S. Department of Defense, the owners of the rifles.

According to Ruth Lauritzen, director of the county museum, they haven’t been able to hand off the rifles because the Department of Defense hasn’t authorized the transfer.

She said they’re aware of it, but said the issue has been caught in the “slow wheels of government.”

The commissioners weren’t impressed with the fact the rifles haven’t been given to the legion.

“We want it done,” Johnson said to Lauritzen, saying liability ultimately rests with the county for giving the rifles, not the museum.

With that, its obvious the county commissioners are taking a much deeper look into the affairs of other county-related organizations. This can be a slippery slope into micromanagement. In regards to the rifle issue, anyone familiar with government, especially federal government, should know how geologically slow some of the processes take.

It’s pretty interesting to see how people’s thoughts change over the years though. I wonder what else will shift during the next few years.