Best decisions result from look at scientific evidence

Smokey Bear, drawn by a Herndon, Kansas, native Rudy Wendelin, was effective in delivering his message: "Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires."

Effective as his message was, it wasn't always the right one. Yes, forest fires are destructive, but they can also play an important part in maintaining a healthy forest, and allowing too many years of undergrowth to accumulate can lead to disaster.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently banned elephant imports from Zimbabwe, in a supposed effort to boost the elephant population in Africa, a noble effort.

The problem is, as the Safari Club International pointed out, is that American hunters provide not only jobs for native guides, but their fees fund anti-poaching patrols.

Pressure from animal rights groups "won" the day, however, ignoring evidence that the hunting ban would hurt the elephant population more than allowing hunting to continue.

We'd like to think facts overrule emotion, but even at the local level, the opposite too often is true.

Despite several appearances by skate park supporters, positive indications from the city's recent recreational survey and success of skate parks in many other communities, the reception by parks board members has not always been receptive to the idea.

One member indicated the board should come up with its own priority list, rather than hear from members of the public.

Citizens may have picked up a similar vibe for other events such as last week's sparsely attended budget hearing.

There is hope, however, one city official asking "Why don't we have a 1- and 6-year-plan for our parks and recreation departments like we do for our streets?

An answer wasn't immediately available, but the street plan is probably in response to state requirements, rather than a desire to boost paperwork.

During the annual discussion of the City Council's practice of awarding a generous city-wide wage increase to all employees, at least when compared to the national cost of living index, it is not uncommon to hear comments in defense point at the many low- wage positions the city employs.

Perhaps increasing some of the lowest to middle wage earners by significantly more than the typical cost-of-living increase and eliminating the behind-closed-doors merit increase practices, while once again aligning the city-wide wage increase with the national cost of living increase, would allow for some of the burden to be shifted off of department heads.

Capable lower wage earners could benefit from the income and a corresponding increase in responsibilities while over-burdened department heads could get back to a more enjoyable workload, perhaps even shifting their ability to spend more time on long-term plans and exploring fresh ideas.

City department heads are by no means unapproachable when a citizen has new ideas or even a simple desire, and by most measures McCook has amassed a top-notch group to lead city services.

Any such shift in the annual wage policy would, of course, need to be fully explored to make certain emotions aren't getting in the way of important decisions.

One thing is certain though, a little science applied by City Council and implemented into city operations, might just go a long way in brightening the day of a few city employees and keeping them in McCook for many years to come.