Pollyanna had the right idea
Submitted by jcht2010 on
By Chris Lundstrom
Publisher/Editor
“No one can own a church.”
That’s a quote from one of my favorite movies, Pollyanna. Yes, I know, it’s a Disney movie, but they are my favorite. At least the old ones where the good guy wins, nothing is bleeped out, and some sort of lesson is learned.
The movie, Pollyanna, was based on a novel from 1913 and hit the theaters in 1960. It starred Haley Mills, one of my favorite child actresses, Jane Wyman and Agnes Moorehead (I always think of her as Endora in Bewitched.)
Pollyanna was a cute little girl that always seemed to find the good in everything. She played the “Glad Game” which helped her get through the tough times. (I do that).
She brightened grouchy people by showing them how to hang glass prisms in their windows so they could have rainbows when the sun shines. (yes, I do that, too.)
But one of the things that stuck with me on a deeper level was when she said that no one could own a church. And that goes for any public building in any community. No one owns them and everyone owns them.
All the confusion and consternation regarding the future of the Edna fire department and EMS has brought up the subject of the existing ambulances owned by the City of Edna. Who has first grabs on them? Do they belong to the city? To the fire department? Will they go to ESD3 when they take over the fire department? Should they go to the Jackson County Hospital District when they assume the responsibility for the Edna EMS?
Since I cover the city council, ESD3, and hospital district board meetings I am sort of in the catbird seat. I get to hear first hand the discussion of all the different governing bodies and put them together as a whole. It puts it in a better perspective when you know all the pieces in the puzzle.
When the city decided to turn the fire and EMS over to the ESD3, they said they were giving it all to the ESD. One of the first things the ESD board voted to do in their meeting last week was to give the EMS to the hospital district. Since the ambulances are used for the EMS, one would assume the equipment used for emergency services would be given to the hospital as well.
After all, the ambulances were mostly paid for by grants. The purpose of the grants was to provide the ambulances for emergency care for the people of the city of Edna.
Yet the fire department would like to keep the ambulances and turn them into grass trucks or maybe use one as a rescue vehicle.
Here’s the big picture as I see it. No one owns the ambulances. No one owns the fire trucks. No one owns the hospital. We all own the ambulances. We all own the fire trucks. We all own the hospital. No one can own a church. We all own the church.
All these things are in our community. Pastors come and go and the church remains. Hospital employees come and go and the hospital building remains. The fire department and EMS go away, but the equipment remains. It doesn’t belong to the employees or elected officials. It belongs to the people of the community and needs to go where it can best serve those people.
This isn’t meant as a slap on the hand to those people in charge of these public entities, but merely as a reminder that they have been given the responsibility to be stewards of these things. If one thing is no longer needed by one entity or department, it should be transferred to another entity/department where it can continue to be used for the benefit of the citizens.
This applies not only to items that are paid for by tax dollars, but also to those items that were gifted/granted to the community. The community – meaning the people who live here.
So when the question comes up concerning the future of the City of Edna ambulances, I believe the answer is clear. The hospital district is taking responsibility for the emergency medical services for the Edna ISD, they shouldn’t have to use tax dollars to buy three new ambulances when there are three ambulances available.
To do anything else with them is a gross misuse of our resources and not in the best interest of the citizens.
I am confident the people in charge of making these decisions will make the right ones. After all, they have been overseeing these resources for some time. They have been doing what is best for the people and I don’t expect anything else from them this time.
No one can own a church – or in this instance, an ambulance. Now on that note, I think I’ll go watch Pollyanna one more time.
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