Disrespect doesn’t deserve respect

I commented on last week’s sermon from the Budgeteer on Respect. It came out along with the Doty column disrespecting my “hooligans” at the recent Duluth School Board meeting. I raised my children to ignore the taunts of school yard bullies and in an attempt to practice what I preached I confined my reply to the blog. (Not that I’m above riposting in a letter to the editor)

I must admit that two letters to this morning’s Budgeteer were gratifying reading.

Here’s an excerpt from Derek Alexander:

The Duluth School Board has disrespected the citizens of Duluth by not allowing a vote on the Red Plan in the first place – to see if it is what the majority really wants and can afford, or is willing to pay for.

But now, I am sure, [the school board] would like some respect and civility from those who have already been disrespected. I certainly feel disrespected.

To the Budgeteer’s “Our View” on May 3, a tenth “Tools of Civility” can and should be added: “Let people vote.” Especially on matters that affect them the most. It is democracy.

And an excerpt from Loren Martell who then proceeded to show he (she?) had given a lot more thought to the consequences of the Red Plan than any of the existing School Board members other than Gary Glass:

I just read another lecture in the media (the Budgeteer’s May 3 editorial) about how undemocratically the Red Plan’s opponents acted at the last school board meeting.

I’ll tell you what was undemocratic about that meeting: It was a group of elected officials supposedly taking in feedback from their constituents in a sham exhibit of weighing opposing opinions.

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