Commentary by Samuel Strait It could be said it is the year 1870 and the wild, wild west has taken over Del Norte County and run the local sheriff out of town. Whether you agree or disagree about the current difficulties our sheriff faces, criminal charges, and the latest shoe to drop in this affair, his resignation, there are five members of our local Board of Supervisors that have a lot of explaining to do. Beyond the fact that they seem unable to govern properly, there is a general sense of malaise that has infected our local leaders beyond the simple state of ineptitude, inadequacy, and incompetency. Most of the issue with the appointed sheriff's saga lies directly in the hands of those five Board members, who had the opportunity to show real leadership by simply being curious. Seems like such a simple thing, but the truth be told our local leadership is bereft of any measurable level of curiosity when it comes to the fate of so much of the County's business. This is particularly so with those that purport to be guardians of the people in districts one, three, four, and five. As we have seen on a near continuous basis of late, this failure on the part of the Board to take seriously the weighty bits of business that comes before it, one can certainly understand the sentiment expressed in the Sacramento Bee's article, "No Law North Of The Klamath", and no effective local government as well. We are now being led by five individuals that rule by "consent agenda" for the most part. No measurable sense that anything placed in front of them by the local bureaucrats is worthy of question, probing questions, that "get to the heart" of the real benefit to the community. The appointment of then Undersheriff Waltz to the position of the County's Sheriff is just one such glaring example of the inability to ask responsible questions rather than simply taking what is offered in the rush to "get the County's business taken care of". Don't think it hasn't been noticed that too often Supervisors Short, Howard, and Hemmingsen do not appear to be prepared to take up the County's business, nor are knowledgeable about what comes before them. Not to leave out often absent Supervisor Berkowitz, now deceased, and District two's Supervisor Valerie Starkey, no real joy there either. While Supervisor Starkey can be said she is quite often in the room when decisions are made, being a "team player" gets her constituents and the citizens no where fast. Perhaps she has some curiosity in her make up, but penetrating questions directed at staff seem to elude her. How can she feel comfortable appointing a man to the office of the County's sheriff without ensuring he meets all the standards that is required of him and further have no interest in interviewing him as suitable for the position. All the talk about transparency and letting the citizens understand the process of how government works, falls on it face when even those making the decisions do not do the job expected of them…. It should be a huge embarrassment to the current Board when they DO NOT KNOW where the prospective candidate for appointment to county sheriff even lives. This false notion that what Board members need to know to make weighty decisions about what effects the citizenry of the county is to be spoon fed in a bureaucratic generated packet, should stop immediately. Our supervisors are tasked with the job of making decisions that affect the entire County. A task that for sometime has completely escaped those that were elected to their current positions…. A primary is on the horizon in June. It is time for local voters to don their thinking caps and examine in detail each of the candidates running for elected office. Some have track records in public office that expose them to being dysfunctional choices for office. Others are unknown quantities that should be carefully examined before the June Primary comes upon us. This is not a popularity contest for who can bring home the most bacon for his or her district. This is serious business that can allow local government to join the twenty first century and move the county and its residents forward…… By the way, it is not 1870!