Column
By Kerri Testement
We all have our ‘duh’ moments
We’ve all have our moments of stupidity.
No doubt, something stupid has come out of your mouth —?only for you to realize seconds later that you shouldn’t have said that.
And surely you’ve had that feeling that you’re too dumb to get a smart joke. Or that you’re an “idiot” when it comes to fixing things, like computers, cars and dishwashers.
We’ve all had our “duh” moments. But you have to wonder if some people you meet really are dumb.
Some of the smartest people I’ve met are the ones most lacking in common sense. And the people who never had an impressive grade in school, are the ones you’d consider a wise advisor on the things that books can’t tell you.
But then again, you still meet the idiots.
Case in point: Several years ago, my dad was in a Texas hospital awaiting a heart bypass surgery (he’s not the idiot in this story).
Dad had a minor heart attack. It was caught early, but he still needed bypass surgery. He spent a few extra days in the hospital, as more tests were conducted. He was slated to have surgery the following day, when a new roommate was wheeled next to his bed.
The new patient, Tim, was a police officer in Houston. He also had a heart attack, and the doctors were conducting additional tests to determine his treatment. Bypass surgery wasn’t in the forecast for him, but it wasn’t ruled out, either at that point.
It was dinner time when the nurse brought in the cuisine for the evening, which included mashed potatoes and Jell-O. I was glad that had I the option to leave dad’s hospital room and grab something more tasty in the cafeteria.
And that’s what Tim’s wife thought, too. Except, she brought a massive hamburger from one of the fast food restaurants in the cafeteria back to her husband’s bedside.
Although he was a sick man, Tim was still in good spirits. He thanked his wife for bringing the hamburger to his hospital room and quickly began stuffing it into his mouth.
My dad and I were shocked. Tim just had a heart attack. He could be undergoing bypass surgery any day. And he was eating a Whopper in his hospital bed.
When my dad asked him what he was doing eating the hamburger, Tim said a line I’ll probably never forget: “Well, at least I didn’t ask for cheese.”
Was that guy for real? Did he really think that skipping the cheese on a calorie-laden hamburger was an acceptable food choice? Or was he just ignoring something he knew all along?
Stupidity and ignorance are not the same, although you can choose to follow one or both.
Kerri Testement is the news editor for The Braselton News. Her e-mail address is kerri@mainstreetnews.com.
Gwinnett doesn’t play by the rules
Sports is supposed to be about playing by the rules. But the truth is, our sports-crazed culture revolves around breaking rules. All too often, athletes in high schools, colleges and the pros get away with behavior that would be unacceptable, even illegal, had it been done by an average “Joe.”
This fawning over sports stars isn’t restricted to just individual athletes, however. When it comes to athletics and the Gwinnet County government, the rule-breaking athletic culture mirrors a rule-breaking government culture.
That appears to be the case with how the Gwinnett County government handled the minor league Braves stadium deal. Not only did Gwinnett negotiate that stadium deal in secret, it has now let the contract for a taxpayer-funded stadium without a public bid process.
Secret land and infrastructure deals have long been an insider’s game played by Gwinnett officials. Some Gwinnett leaders seem to believe that the rules simply don’t apply to them.
In the Braves stadium deal, Gwinnett officials bypassed the open bid process by having the project done under the guise of the Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is run as a quasi-public-private entity.
But governments should not hide major public projects, such as a baseball stadium, behind the skirts of quasi-private agencies. Anytime tax dollars are spent, the process should be open and should follow the normal bid process.
Gwinnett officials say they did the deal this way so as to avoid the lengthy bidding process and to meet a deadline set by the Braves for the stadium’s completion.
All of which begs the question: To whom do Gwinnett officials answer, the taxpaying public, or a private baseball team?
No matter how one feels about the merits of the Braves project, the Gwinnett County government should not be sneaking the project through the pipeline to avoid public oversight. That simply doesn’t follow the rules.
Then again, when it comes to playing by the rules, Gwinnett leaders often toss spitballs. They don’t think the rules apply to them.
