If you’ve been following the news the past couple weeks, you may have heard that the queen died. Personally, I’ve found it hard to get any information on that.
In case your meter was not working, that was sarcasm.
This kinda circles back to the topic of the county looking to hire a Public Information Officer in an attempt to get more people to pay attention. Some news is hard to avoid but it appears, according to a recent study, that fewer people are indeed paying attention. Why? Because, the study found, constant exposure to bad news is depressing. Another shocking scientific discovery.
Being a news junkie, I find it difficult to wean myself out of the habit, even though it is quite obvious, at least to my wife, that the news gets me aggravated from time to time. She tells me it doesn’t do any good to talk to the TV, but it does make one feel better. I have experienced some withdrawal this summer — two adventures that removed the availability of daily television newscasts. Web access to reliable sources prevented any withdrawal shakes and shivers but indeed, I was a mellower guy.
Meanwhile, I have had a lesson in paying attention to local news which, it was mentioned, brought up the possibility that a PIO makes some sense — “possibility” being a key word.
As the summer progressed, I noticed some new signs on Adams County roads, alerting us to the weight limits of bridges for emergency vehicles. They seemed silly — why does the average Joe need to know what weight limits a bridge has for emergency vehicles? And, when a fire truck is on an emergency run and comes up to that sign, do they stop, back up and find another route while a house burns on the other side?
“Glad we don’t have any stupid signs like that in Wells County,” I thought to myself.
As you may have noticed, we do now. I called county highway engineer Nate Rumschlag to get the scoop.
Briefly, why the signs are there: They are mandated by the federal government, to be installed no later than 8/31/2022. Nate agrees they make no sense, and he doesn’t understand their purpose either. Adding injury to insult, they cost the county $12,000.
Not so briefly, the point is: Turns out, there was no “scoop.” Nate chuckled when I called. “There was a story in your paper,” he said.
Research confirmed that. To be fair, it was in early June, a six-paragraph report headlined “Weight limit signage on county bridges to get updated.” I may have read it.
“(Commissioner President) Mike Vanover wanted me to write up a full explanation and post it on the county’s website,” Nate continued. (You can read all the details of why these signs were changed at wellscounty.org/highway-department.) Whether or not Mike had mentioned it then, Nate told me this might have been an example where a PIO could come in handy. A possibility, but I remain a skeptic.
First, a PIO would not have been able to do this. If you read it, you will realize only Nate, with his background and experience, could have written it.
Second, it is highly debatable whether the on-line information reached anyone from the general public who needed the information for practical reasons — primarily farmers, and they have called the county to inquire. Nate reported that he meets regularly with fire chiefs to review bridge load-limit updates — they are quite aware of where their heavy equipment can and cannot go and plan ahead accordingly.
Would more people be aware of why these “nonsense” signs (Nate’s word) were erected if a PIO were on board to post it on social media sites? There’s an argument for that, but in this case, it is not exactly critical, need-to-know information — which is likely why I read the headline but not the story back in June.
And again, having a “spokesperson” spout county news will inevitably lead to slanted news. This was humorously demonstrated recently when the White House’s PIO told the press that President Biden has created “ten thousand million” new jobs.
Nonetheless, I must admit to feeling a bit chagrinned. I always hate it when I ask someone about something and they say “But it was in your newspaper.” Arggh.
By the way, the queen died. Just so you know.
miller@news-banner.com
