Columbia Missourian FRIDAY & SATURDAY, March 5-6, 2010 — Page 5A

Write.
Reflect.
Respond.

TODAY’S QUESTION
What can be done to bring Google fiber-optic Internet
to Columbia?

C
ities around the U.S. have until March 26 to tell Google if they
are interested in becoming part of its program that would
bring new Internet connections 100 times faster than most
services to communities.
Local businesses are among those showing interest in the 1-gigabit-
per-second trial service.
Although a response from state, county or city governments is
required for consideration, residents and local groups can show their
support on the program’s Web site.
Cities are responding to this call for candidates in a variety of ways.
For the month, Topeka, Kan., has changed its name to “Google, Kan-
sas” in hopes of becoming a candidate for Google’s pilot program. On
the other hand, Columbians have joined together in groups on social
networking sites such as Facebook.
Ian Eyberg, a 26-year-old software developer, co-created a group
called CoMo Fiber in response to the opportunity. He said the fiber-
optic Internet would force other service providers such as Mediacom
and CenturyLink to upgrade services.
— Kourtney Geers
Tell us what you think
E-mail your comments to letters@ColumbiaMissourian.com
Or mail them to: Idea of the Day, P.O. Box 917, Columbia, MO 65205

Child prodigy brings

FAA problems to light
W
hat a week. Health care
debates or non-debates,
depending on which side
you are on. The war in
Afghanistan, is it good, better, best,
worse or “let’s get out of there.” Eth-
ics violations in the U.S. House, at
that it is fuel for the fires. What else
would Jay Leno, David Letterman,
City Council has bigger
issues than seating
Jon Stewart, Comedy Central and
SNL talk about? They all ran out of
drunk-pilot jokes. Rush Limbaugh
will call this a socialist plot lead
by President Obama. Ralph Nader

the New York governor’s mansion
and not being taken seriously under
Missouri’s Gray Dome. Bath water
contains germs. Leno is back on late
night. And the story of the week?
It is the embar-
rassment of the
highly trained
professionals who
occupy the con-
trol tower at J. F.
Kennedy Inter-
national Airport
outdone by a kid,
David who controlled
flight operations
Rosman at one of the
world’s busiest
airports.
Yet he was good. The kid did not
skip a beat. His language was better
than the air-traffic controller from
Brooklyn. I did not understand him
and I am a pilot and Brooklyn is
my native language. Listen to the
recordings online. I personally liked
the report on Fox News linked by
AOL.
Fox’s Scott Brenner, when asked if
he could explain how this could hap-
pen, responded the same as every
pilot responded today, “No. I can’t
explain it.” My dad, a pilot since
1939, laughed. I laughed. The con-
trollers? They did not laugh.
Before 9/11, pilots were often
encouraged to visit an airport’s con-
trol tower by the FAA. Even in sim-
pler days, they would never allow
me, a pilot since 1969, to control a
Piper Cub taking off from a dirt
strip. Today, the control tower and
air traffic control centers are sup-
posed to be sterile environments, as
secure as Fort Knox. Was this kid’s
name Goldfinger?
There are three reasons why this
story is so important. Stunts like
this kill people. OK, the kid, 6 or 7
years old, had a handle on the situ-
ation, had the language down pat,
was understandable and may even
be a child aviation prodigy. But
control 747s? He’s not had time to
finish the FAA controller’s training
will write a book about it, “Unsafe
at Any Airport.” Al Gore will call it
a global catastrophe and Sen. John
McCain will sit back in his leather
senator chair, laugh and say, “The
other guy won.”
Third, this was an exceptional
rare breach of security. Yet there
are at least six people in the air-con-
trol tower at JFK at any one time, if
not more, according to Sharon Sil-
vering, a retired air traffic control-
ler who worked at the airport. There
are hundreds sitting in darkened
rooms with dancing lights of radar
screens showing in two-dimensions
a three-dimensional world. There
are security doors and locks that
must be properly keyed. Supervi-
sors are overlooking every opera-
tion and command. What the heck
happened?
Who knew that the FAA had a
“Bring your kid to work and let him
guide the international flights from
the runways” day.
In my half-century of flying pri-
vate aircraft, I can say that one idiot
does not represent the air traffic
controllers I have worked with and I
have known. Their professionalism
as the silent hands guiding those
magnificent men and their flying
machines is unmatched.
Let the FAA handle the internal
affairs of dad’s day gone bad; a lot
of people will be losing their jobs
over this. More importantly, Con-
gress must look at this incident in
the light of the successes and fail-
ures of the Transportation Security
Administration and Homeland Secu-
rity and ask, “Can you explain how
this happened?”
If the answer is “no,” consider
revamping the entire system. Or
allow the 7-year-olds to take care of
America’s security needs. After all,
they have proved themselves on the
flight line at J.F.K.
David Rosman is an award-winning
editor, writer, professional speaker and
college instructor in communications,
ethics, business and politics. Read
I
t was a small item on Mon-
day’s City Council agenda,
and council members
promptly passed the buck to
the mayor, who was absent.
I dredge up the seemingly
insignificant question of where the
city manager sits during council
meetings because it seems to me
– and, I’m pretty sure, to more than
one council member – symptomatic
of a bigger, more important issue
that hasn’t gotten the public discus-
sion it deserves so far in campaign
season.
That issue is the proper relation-
ship between the manager, who is
hired to administer our city govern-
ment, and the council, which we
elect to set policies for the manager
to administer.
The bigger issue was raised last
year by Third Ward Councilman
Karl Skala, first when he wanted
to advise City Manager Bill Wat-
kins on the hiring of a new police
chief and again when he suggested
that council members should have
“advise and consent” authority in
the hiring of all department heads.
Karl got slapped around a bit by
some colleagues and the commen-
tariat and shut up, at least tempo-
rarily.
Then last month he raised the
smaller issue. Ken Green, biblio-
phile, newspaper reader and all-
around good citizen, chimed in.
The Missourian report quoted him:
“Why does our City Council give
our manager a seat, and dead center
to boot? The city manager works for
the council, which in turn works for
the citizens of Columbia.”
Ken accurately summarized the
To the editor
No-brainer that installing
cameras will deter crime
GEORGE
KENNEDY
Do we want to be governed
by the leaders we choose or
by the administrators?
theory of the council-manager form
of government. His question went to
the reality of it. The reality is that
the manager typically sets not only
the agenda for council meetings
but the agenda for city government
itself. There’s nothing new about
that. His critics, of whom I occa-
sionally was one, complained of Ray
Beck’s dominance. It’s true that Ray
was an uncommonly effective and
dedicated leader. These days, his
successor is playing the same role,
if less overtly.
How could it be otherwise? Knowl-
edge is power, and the manager has
a huge built-in knowledge advantage
over his putative bosses. He and
his staff draw up the budget, the
blueprint for government action. He
and his staff suggest how the coun-
cil should decide most of the major
questions. It is, after all, his staff.
Council members, while they do
hear from constituents and while
some of them do undertake individ-
ual fact-finding, know mostly what
the manager tells them about most
issues. They’re not even supposed to
question the manager’s staff except
through him. They have no inde-
pendent staff and no budget to hire
To the editor
Nolen’s urging for passage of
health care strikes a chord
one. That’s why the idea of student
interns appeals.
Mayoral candidate Sid Sul-
livan touched on this problem of
dependence in his contribution to
Thursday’s Missourian. Candidate
Jerry Wade also has mentioned
council capability in his campaign
literature. When Karl brought it up,
though, Jerry joined the decision to
table. Maybe he thought the time
wasn’t right.
As outgoing Mayor Darwin Hind-
man ponders the placement of Bill
Watkins’ nameplate, he may find
the Columbia School Board’s action
instructive. After Ken Green ques-
tioned the centrality of the super-
intendent at board meetings, Chris
Belcher was displaced from the
middle of the table.
My impression is that activist
School Board members, unham-
pered by a restrictive charter, also
are getting more closely involved
than their City Council counter-
parts.
Reasonable people will disagree
about the proper relationship
between elected officials and hired
professionals. As a small “d” demo-
crat, I’d put the question this way:
Do we want to be governed by the
leaders we choose or by the admin-
istrators they select?
However you answer that ques-
tion, I suspect you agree that the
candidates for City Council and
School Board should explain their
views before we vote in April.
George Kennedy is a former managing
editor at the Missourian and professor
emeritus at the Missouri School of
Journalism.

W T
his blog at InkandVoice.wordpress.
program. com. He welcomes your comments at e support city-placed surveillance cameras hanks to Rose Nolen for her article about pass-
Second, the stupidity is so rare ProfDave1011@netscape.net. downtown. The police chief ing health care legislation now.
would control their place-
ment. We already have
Scott & It would be a crime against
humanity to allow this opportu-
George
city-owned cameras in police vehicles Cheryl nity for health care legislation to falter. W.
controlled by the police chief. Many I listened to the health care summit last
businesses have cameras. The city has Orr week and, in reality, I could hear very Burgin
cameras on the new municipal build- little difference between the two parties
ing. Cameras are an excellent crime deterrent with no as they discussed our current system and its need for
downside. If you want privacy, stay home. Cameras do reform. This legislation should have passed months ago.
work; they caught Adam Taylor’s attackers. Please vote If it takes the reconciliation method, let’s get it done.
“yes” on cameras. The Democrats may lose some seats in November, but
Scott and Cheryl Orr live in Boone County; Scott Orr’s office is they will gain them back in a short time.
in downtown Columbia. George W. Burgin lives in Columbia.
General Manager Executive Editor Managing Editor Opinion Editor
Daniel S. Potter Tom Warhover Jeanne Abbott Jake Sherlock
potterds@ warhovert@ abbottjm@ sherlockj@ DOONESBURY by GaRry Trudeau
missouri.edu missouri.edu missouri.edu missouri.edu

“I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected
with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for
the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is
a betrayal of this trust. I believe that clear thinking and clear statement,
accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.”
Walter Williams, founding dean,
missouri school of journalism
WRITE: Letter to Editor, P.O. Box 917, Columbia, MO 65205
E-MAIL: letters@ColumbiaMissourian.com
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