[Vision2020] Toleration

[DonaldH675 at aol.com]

Visionaries and Mr.  Nisbet:
 
Rather than smirk about "how totally 'cosmopolitan' and so free from petty  
parochialism this town is" much less to sustain Mr. Nisbet's claim that  
farmers and ranchers tend to be more tolerant of diversity, one need only  examine 
the well documented history of North America.  The sad and sorry  story of the 
development of rural American is the saga  of Euro-American land grabs, 
genocide of indigenous  people, and environmental disasters created by extractive  
industries which took place across this continent from 16th  century conquest 
and settlement down to the present.  
 
The notion that loggers and farmers are somehow uniquely tolerant  is absurd. 
 I argue, instead, that people living in areas of low  population density 
often have direct experience and first-hand  knowledge of the character of their 
neighbors and judge them  accordingly.  Their "tolerance" is predicated on the 
same standards that  people around the world (even in urban areas) apply, 
i.e. is the neighbor  truthful, kind, generous, observant of cultural and 
community standards  etc.   
 
Because Moscow is small it is relatively easy to identify the  deliberate 
liars, manipulators, stingy, intolerant, law-breakers among  us.  In our 
currently "divided" community both factions claim to have that  knowledge and 
experience of the other.   For those interested in  sorting out the claims a great 
deal of factual evidence is available.
 
If one limits the argument to only zoning code violations significant data  
has been placed on-line and on the city record to demonstrate a  continual and 
on-going  attitude of defiance toward community  regulations.  New St. Andrews 
College administrators, the very same folks  who are leading the college 
today, and Christ Church leaders, (who are one and  the same) have, for the past 
five years ignored zoning requirements.   Clearly, they act on the premise that 
their personal desires take precedence  over community ordinances.  This 
behavior is modeled and passed along  to Logos School students, NSA graduates, and 
church members.  How  else can the 4 year presence of Atlas Academy in the 
NuArt  Theater be explained?   How else can large boarding houses (owned by  
members of Doug Wilson's church) operate without the required conditional use  
permits?  How else can St. Monica's (a private girl's school)  operate without a 
conditional use permit?    
 
The thickest numbskull should recognize a pattern of behavior in the  
examples provided above.  Given the tightly knit character of the Christ  
Church/Trinity Reformed community, most, if not all members knew of these  illegal 
activities, and not only tolerated them they supported or emulated  them.  
 
How is it that apparently not a single church member thought to inquire  
about city ordinances related to their activities?  This is particularly  
breathtaking when one considers that a church member, Todd Flack, sits on the  City of 
Moscow Planning and Zoning Commission.  If he were shy about  bringing the 
"bad news" that zoning laws in Moscow regulate these  activities, perhaps his 
father-in-law, an elder of Christ Church, might have  been willing to alert 
other church leaders.  Instead, Todd Flack followed  the example of his pastor and 
other church leaders and instituted his own  boarding house.
 
I don't appreciate this peculiar "tolerance" and encouragement for  breaking 
the law. Neither do community members who are impacted  by the illegal 
activities.  If that makes me guilty of   "petty parochialism" I claim the label 
cheerfully.

Rose  Huskey
"And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him  five smooth stones out of 
the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he  had, even in a scrip; 
and his sling [was] in his hand: and he drew near to the  Philistine. "
1 Samuel 17:40

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