Why bother?

If someone in the audience interrupts, he's a hecler. If someone up front interrupts a speaker, that's okay.

Hundreds of people can sign a petition against a project, and not one councilperson will vote against it.

Useless studies costing hundreds of thousands of dollars sail through.

And people vote decisively for a new mayor, but the city administrator decides that the former mayor should continue to represent the city in the highway 169 corridor planning group.

What good does sitting through those meetings do?

AnonimAl

I'm pretty recent to the local political scene. Before this last summer I never had much interest in going to city council meetings or any government meeting for that matter. But once I started going I realized that I knew a lot more about why things happen in the city I was living in. I think the same is true anywhere; even if you don't participate, it's helpful to know how and why things are done. That way, if you do have something to say about it, you don't show up and make an uninformed argument. If you're not the type to comment publicly, maybe it'll give you something to think about before yelling at the TV or complaining to the neighbors.

(Katrina Styx is a staff writer for the Jordan Independent. She can be reached at kstyx@jordannews.com.)