After the recent Forsyth County budget was announced the number one issue in terms of publicity was the fact that the Downtown Health Plaza lost all county funding (about $600k).  That caused a bit of a stink because of the politics involved, but it got even stinkier when the county’s director of health, Dr. Tim Monroe, wrote an opinion column for the Winston-Salem Journal that basically said the county’s policy, and by association the commissioners themselves, does not fit with the Christian values of compassion and charity.  In Winston-Salem those are fightin’ words!

Two of the commissioners replied in the Journal:

"I think he’s very
disrespectful to the commissioners. I think he’s being misleading to
the community," said Gloria Whisenhunt, the chairwoman. "Tim has never
been a team player."

Debra Conrad-Shrader, the vice chairwoman, agreed.

"I thought it was
inappropriate, and I’m sure the board of health will take care of it,"
Conrad-Shrader said. "He’s their responsibility, and they are in charge
of who the health director is."

Well, pardon me but I think the Bush administration has shown what a mess you can make of things if you insist that everyone be a "team player."  The public is not served well if our public servants just sit on their hands when they feel an injustice has been done.  We don’t have to agree with what is said but we do deserve to hear all sides of the debate.

For what it’s worth I don’t like higher taxes any more than the next person but I think it is perfectly legitimate to question how our government spends its money.  Quite frankly the healthcare system is tough on more people than just the desperately poor.  Every day more people go without health insurance and every day it costs more and I think that you’ll find more people needing the services of places like the Downtown Health Plaza.  Public health policy is one area that deserves heated debate, not meek acceptance by "team players."

And for the record, Dr. Monroe really points the finger at us, the citizens of Forsyth County.  Here’s what he wrote:

But we should not
judge the commissioners. We placed them there, and we sent them the
unmistakable message of our true values – that they would not be
re-elected if they raised taxes. We must judge ourselves. Would it be
an unreasonable burden on property owners to pay a 1-cent increase so
that the disenfranchised might enjoy an incremental improvement in
needed services? Would it damage our economy, as is so often argued by
the no-more-taxes-for-nothing-never-no-how contingent? Below are some
county property tax rates for comparison. Are the property owners of
Mecklenburg, Durham and Cumberland Counties reeling under their burdens?

So if anyone should feel disrespected it is us, but to be honest I’m glad we have at least one public servant with the cajones to stand up and be counted.  Good on ‘ya Dr. Monroe.  And to our esteemed councilwomen I can only say, "Grow up."