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The tale of the False
Knights
"White
Knights” of Dry Lake develop a bad case of ring around the ethics
By Mary Sojourner (Morgana le Fey)
Flagstaff Resident
Merlin's
tale is well told — and a sorry one. Rarely
has Morgana le Fey, your devoted servant of What Goes Around Comes
Around, heard its like.
Rarely has she known of such scurrilous varlets as these two false
knights.
Until now. Here. In our
own little village. What she recounts is not a fairy tale, Flagstaff
is not the Magic Kingdom, and wishing will not make it true (nor
apparently promises).
Our
own self-declared "White Knight” of Dry Lake, developer Jim
Mehen, has given himself a bad case of ring around the ethics. He
and the crude Knight of Bluster, Bob Semple, are negating much of
their offer to match $200,000 of community-raised donations for Dry
Lake.
Morgana
is aggrieved to report that Semple and Mehen (heretofore to be known
as Bobby and Jimmy since in corrupting their offer, they become
nothing but whining schoolyard bullies) have told the Grand Canyon
Trust (who collected community donations) that much of the money is
not qualified to be matched.
Bobby
has included in his list of not-good-enough donations, four to five
hundred dollars gathered in boxes set up in local businesses, boxes
designed and made by Flagstaff school children. Morgana imagines
you dropped coins and bills in those boxes. For love of Dry Lake.
With
the understanding that the money would be matched.
Bobby
is not our neighbor, so perhaps we might extend compassion for his
withered heart. Jimmy is
our neighbor and his betrayal is personal. He has told the Trust he
will disallow anywhere from zero to $140,000 of the over $300,000
raised by the trust.
Morgana
is a temperate woman. She
has been subdued in the face of Bobby and Jimmy's earlier broken
promises and bad faith — because of her belief that Dry Lake's
protection came first. This latest betrayal has annihilated her
temperance. Morgana can only conclude Jimmy has his head stuck
either in his tiny codpiece or his big fat bank account.
Forgive
Morgana, she must digress. There
are often tales in greater tales.
Here is the sub-tale of Petty Scribe Randy:
P.S.
Randy, thrall of Pulitzer and overlord Roy, has accused Morgana of
not taking notes, not carrying a tape recorder when she does
research. His informant
about Morgana’s allegedly devious behavior was developer Jimmy.
Overlord Roy's fair wife stated publicly in a County
Supervisors' meeting that she and her husband were good friends of
Jimmy and his fair wife. La! Fancy that!
Morgana
does not have notes
for this twisting tale — nor a tape recording. She takes comfort
in knowing that should overlord Roy and his fair wife decide to sue
her for libel, the only action on their part Morgana has reported is
being involved in friendship with Jimmy.
Surely friendship is not libelous.
Even if it might influence journalistic objectivity.
Alas,
despite Morgana's longing to launch a herd of toothy mini-dragons at
Jimmy's aforementioned codpiece, wiser souls advise fair play.
Hence, Morgana invites Jimmy to a public hearing during
which he might explain his actions to his Flagstaff neighbors,
especially to the children who made the donation boxes.
Morgana holds Jimmy accountable for Bobby's bad manners.
It
is Morgana's hope that Jimmy and Bobby, by making full amends and
keeping their promise to our village, might spare themselves these
fates which they apparently so dread: Jimmy will discover no one, no
matter how much money or self-aggrandizement he waves, can buy his
way into the rarefied world of Old Money.
Bobby will live long enough to discover he contains a raw
hole nothing external can fill.
So
be it. So might it be.
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