Strange things do happen in a war. Once in the middle of combat a soldier came up to me and requested a prophylactic kit. This was an “Argyrol” (organic silver) solution in a disposable syringe that was to be self administered by injection into the penis after intercourse to prevent VD.
Another time we stopped at a farm house that was still intact although the war had just passed by twice. The farmer’s nubile teen age daughter wanted to show me the space where she had hidden for several days from the Germans. I thought it advisable to decline her offer.
I had gone overseas with two, not my best, briar pipes to smoke. If captured I was not going to let those Nazis have any thing of real value. I had broken both earlier in the Bulge and did not smoke or desire cigarettes. Our men were used to seeing me with a pipe in my mouth. In one village that we had liberated, my men brought the village mayor to me to give me his well smoked briar pipe. The next day he reappeared and wanted it back since it was his favorite. Instead he offered me a highly colored and smoked ‘clay” pipe. Of course I accepted the exchange and that pipe is still in my possession.
Another night we bivouacked, after dark, inside a house in a small village. A shell landed into the building directly behind the one we occupied, causing several severe casualties. Cat life 3 expended. The next morning we discovered that we were on the front side of a hill, facing the Germans.
We had one buck Pvt., listed on the T/O as a litter bearer, who was scared to death and was of no value. We finally made him the section “hot chocolate maker”. We needed warm fluids for the wounded or the aid men when they came in out of the cold. If we halted, even for five minutes when we were moving in column, he dug a personal foxhole. Since he could dig so fast even though there was knee high snow on top frozen solid ground, and because most of those men had come from around Pittsburgh or West Virginia, I thought he was a coal miner.
Prior to being relieved, we were occupying a house along a main road for our aid station and quarters. This two-story house with the basement was about 50 feet back from the highway. A column of 155 mm heavy artillery canon was passing by. I had never seen anything so massive and was out in the front by the road talking to the one of their officers.
Suddenly we heard a strange new high pitched noise. I said “Those are rockets aren't they?" "Yes" he replied. I decided it would be prudent to go back into the house if the guns were the target for the “screaming meenies”. As I entered the front door there was a whirlwind down the steps from the second floor passing me without pausing and into the basement. Our "aid man" had been sleeping upstairs.
The division was sent to an area in Luxembourg overlooking the Our River, and the Sigfried Line. The194th was in reserve in a beautiful intact small hilltop town. Some Italian barbers had set up shop In a nearby school. I decided to have a real shave. The barber stropped his razor, lathered my face and started to shave. He stopped almost immediately and again sharpened the blade first with a stone then the strop. This happened several times. When he was through he shook his wrist up and down, saying that I had the toughest beard he had ever shaved.
While there, I bought some small vases made of some light metal. I packed them in a box which I stuffed with pieces of the Stars and Stripes along with other loose papers before sending it to Helen. Unfortunately, inadvertently, among the papers were some hot love letters to one of the men named Harold. Harold was married but had developed a steady relationship in Tenn.
It was just after Patricia was born that Helen received the box. Apparently she thought I was the only “Harold” in the world and wrote me a furious angry letter. I tried to explain, but by slow V-mail that was difficult. I had no sympathy for “Harold, a truly amoral lecher, when in Germany he reported for sick call with a sore on his penis. It was an obvious chancre, the first stage of syphilis. He stated that a girl had bitten him there.
I along with several other officers from battalion were allowed to the have a few days R&R. A personnel carrier took the ten of us to Maastrich in Holland on the Maas River. It was a beautiful and untouched city but pulled in the sidewalks at 8 PM.
Bored, we decided to go on to Liege. However, it was in another Army's area and we had no orders or business to be there. We had to find our own dining and sleeping accommodations. We found a small private hotel in the center of the city that allowed us to stay for the nights but we had to be out of our rooms by 8:00 am because in the daytime it was used by local business men and their girls. Since we required little sleep, we were really not inconvenienced for the two days spent there, and enjoyed the night life. Incidentally this was the first time any of us had seen much less knew the use of a bidet.
About Feb. 11 the division was relocated for replacements and replenishing to the vicinity of Chalons-sur-Marne. The regiment troops moved by 40 or 8 (Forty men or 8 horses) box cars from Luxembourg to Soissons-le-Petite in France where we encamped in open muddy fields for about 4 weeks, while the allies approached the Rhine. We were now getting real food for our kitchens. Unfortunately, all the good cuts of meat were being siphoned off by outfits in the rear along the supply chain. We received more pork than beef and absolutely no steaks. Since this was champagne country one of our two bottle “monthly” liquor ration was the bubbly. I still am not fond of it.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
We Interrupt for a brief comment
Are the segments of my self laudatory tale about the "Bulge" too long. Would shorter portions be better. Please advise for any future episodes. I do plan to print one concurrent with the anniversary of the crossing of the Rhine. (March 25, 1945). I am sure that some readers have stories that can be added to what Plainfielders suffered through during WWII.
I am also concerned that because of the length of today's Bulge story you may have missed my comments on local affairs which was posted slightly earlier. I would hope that they may be a verbal stimulus.
I am also concerned that because of the length of today's Bulge story you may have missed my comments on local affairs which was posted slightly earlier. I would hope that they may be a verbal stimulus.
MEMORIES WINTER 44-45 PART2/3
This was to be our first combat experience. In the morning, according to protocol, we set up our aid station within a litter carry distance of the front. We were in a little clearing in the woods. We were soon collecting casualties, and we found it impossible to work in the cold. Our plasma was freezing. At first we tried immersed the bags in heated water, but as we administered the plasma, it would still congeal in the tubing.
So much for
The initial action took place in a snow storm on a ridge later named“Dead Man’s Ridge”.Repeated German counter attacks by several Panzer Divisions including Tiger Tanks inflicted heavy casualties of at least 10%..The 550 Infantry Airborne Battalion which was attached to the 17th was nearly destroyed that day. The battle there lasted about three days. Units involved included the 550.507,513,(all parachute regiments) and the 194 and 193 glider regiments. After the Bulge the 550 and the 193 were so depleted that they became the nucleus for a 3rd battalion of the 194th.
Our medics’ performance under fire was extra-ordinary. Several were awarded a bronze star, and one the Silver Star for their action that day. During the German’s counter attack an aid station of the 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment was overrun. We fortunately did not lose any of our litter bearers.
We were fortunate to have the common sense intelligence to use the burned out farmhouse as our aid station. The road was the subject to periodic 88 mm. German artillery shelling. Our location protected us from anything except a high trajectory shell such as from a mortar. I am sure the thick concrete ceiling that separated the barn area from the ruins of the first floor of the house would have withstood such shells. By Jan. 7th, our troops had advanced far enough that we had to move. We never set up an aid station in the open after that first experience.
One day the 9th air force flew over to bomb the Germans. Several bombs landed on a hill not a far distance to our rear. Fortunately, this time no Americans were injured by friendly fire.
The German counter attacks failed, and four days later they began to retreat. We began to move, often cross country, in the hip deep snow. We were now the left flank of the 3rd Army and where wheeling north-east to come in contact with the forces under
The Airborne divisions were not equipped with any armored vehicles or even heavy guns other than the 75 mm sawed off or pack canon. Rocket launchers were just beginning to be supplied to us. We were happy to have attached to us the separate 761st tank battalion, a now famous black Afro-American unit. They were crazy men who would run their tanks full blast down icy hilly village streets and lock the tread on one side to make a 90 degree turn at a corner. Often they had to bounce off a building to make the turn. They were replaced by Co.C 15th Tk Bn (6th Armd.Div).
As we advanced against the Germans we saw great numbers of vehicles and artillery that had been abandoned during the retreat from the initial German attack. Both the 106th and 28th (the Pennsylvania National Guard) divisions had officers with us, reclaiming their abandoned property. At one point our regimental colonel appropriated an abandoned armored vehicle. He proudly led the column in it until a land mine blew off a tread. During that time, he had the entire regiment in column following his command vehicle along ridge lines in the deep snow. Often the column would stop. One time Father Combs a priest from the tri-cities area of
We also had a Southern Baptist minister assigned to our regiment. He traveled everywhere in his Jeep with his driver who could play his folding organ. During combat without any regard for his own safety he was fearlessly out among the fighting troops comforting the wounded. A man to be admired for his dedication to his mission in life.
For a short period, there was a French Parachute Battalion, former resistance fighters, in the
Once I was ordered to set up an aid station in a small town (I don’t remember the name) which I was assured had been secured. Therefore, I moved in with one jeep and a few aid men into a house along the main street. About an hour later we noticed the point of A company coming down the street. Apparently, we had been the first Americans into the town. Another time; for several days we had been driving up and down a well traveled snow covered road before a jeep triggered a buried unexploded mine. Another of my nine lives must have been expended.
The snow was knee deep and the cold so severe during the Bulge that many of the troops suffered from frostbite. It was so cold that we, like the Germans before us, used every building that we could find as shelters and the rooms for latrines. No one wanted to be caught dead by a sniper with their pants down.
The American troops in
Since the manpower in the trenches was being drastically depleted, we were finally ordered not to send anybody to the rear who could still function despite potential loss of frost bitten fingers or toes. To this day I am bothered by a large toe that suffered mild frost bite encountered during that period.
Our rations were cans of C rations, similar to todays canned Chef Boyardee or Campbell Beans or Meat Stew. Most of the time we ate C rations cold not heated. Very often we ate the K rations. The latter were in small cans and looked like today’s meat pate or cat food. Some of our favorites were the chopped egg and the devilled ham. K rations did not have the laxative effect of the C ration. The other packaged ration, for emergencies use, was D rations, a very highly concentrated chocolate bar that caused diarrhea if too much was eaten. When we received a hot meal it came up from the rear to each company or platoon after dark. Of course it was served in the dark. By this time most of us had lost at least half of our mess kits and some utensils. The spoon was the most important one not to lose. I can’t recall many intact kits in our outfit by the end of the campaign. It was not unusual to have mashed potatoes, stew, or gravy and chocolate pudding in one mass. Truly the term mess kit was appropriate
Our helmets doubled as wash basins when we had the opportunity to wash or shave. Despite, the Geneva Convention rules, we quickly covered over the large red crosses painted on our helmets. They made too good an aiming target. Front line officers also hid their rank insignia.
One night the troops in the front lines reported cries from a wounded soldier down between the lines. Our litter carriers volunteered to go out in the dark of the night to find and bring him in, even though they could be under fire.
When he arrived at the aid station on a stretcher he had severe shrapnel wounds to the right leg and the buttocks. We could not immobilize the leg with a Thomas (metal) splint due to his hip wounds. The buttocks and back wounds prevented us from transferring him on his back. After dressing the wounds, I elected to use the “well leg splint” method, i.e. firmly binding the injured leg to the other leg with bandages and tape. He was then transported face down on the stretcher by our jeep to the collecting company. He had been given additional morphine for his pain.
According to regulations, he was transferred with the all proper information tags firmly attached to him. These tags were initiated as soon as the patient was triaged. The tag had all known vital information, including a description of injuries and treatment, and were signed by an officer before the patient left the station.
Several weeks later I received an inquiry from division medical command regarding a complaint from the Inspector General’s office. Apparently, this man had arrived at the field hospital in critical condition with out any splint or immobilization. The only tag with information on him was the one I had initiated. He had gone from us to a collecting company then by ambulance to a clearing company, all physicians staffed medical units, before ultimately being transported to the field hospital.
Since our tag unaltered, was all that was on him when he reached the hospital, in one or both of these installations no one had apparently examined or treated him. In both of those installations the medics should have added pertinent comments to the existing tag, or initiated a new one.
I felt it was unfortunate that I and my aid men should be criticized for their doing a heroic job. Of course, after I responded in triplicate, there were no repercussions.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
RANDOM TRIVIA THOUGHTS MARCH 6,2009.
The lead headline in yesterday's Courier," Council OKs Muhlenberg measures" raised my hopes that this year's incarnation of the Council was going to be proactive. However on reading the text I discovered that the two resolutions approved had no connection whatever with the so called stipulation agreement.
To request Solaris and the State to sign agreement to the proposed settlement with the expectation that the city would end its pending appeal against the hospital's closure has no valid purpose. Indeed it is letting Solaris off the hook.
Past experience has showed that neither the State or Solaris has any intention of abiding by an agreement. It is now 6 months since Muhlenberg closed and Plainfield has had only minimal adherence to provisions in the CN. What assurance or leverage will the city have to make sure that the provisions of this agreement which is so secret that not even the Council knows the provisions in the new document.
The demand that Department of Health and Human Services Howard enforce something that she has shown for the past six months to have been window dressing in an attempt to make a dastardly action palatable to the victims, is worthless. Does the Council think it has the power to make her comply?
To surrender the fight to restore a local acute care hospital, Plainfield's real need, for only a slight improvement in the present status of area health care continues the disservice that the local politicians have done to Plainfield.
Sadly since the document is a secret, we have no knowledge of what impact it will have on the community that would justify the city effectively killing off the last chance of returning a semblance of appropriate critical care. Transparency requires that we the people know everything that we are begging for, in order that we can judge the state government for this year's election. We already know all about Solaris' contempt for Plainfield's citizenry.
Returning reluctantly to the IT issue; Maria in her blog has clearly outline basics which must be acted upon before any position can be considered. I have yet to be convinced that administration has a concrete notion what is desired in function. hardware, and software. Buzz words like IT , data processing, record accessibility, inter office communications, etc. are uttered without a single objective example. Oh yes there have been allusions but that is all. Until we know everything we want, how practical it will be if available, what the overall costs and what future long range goals can be accomplished, we should not proceed. A determination of the most effective way of meeting the desired results be it by employing an in house overseer or outsourcing or just purchasing turnkey software programs and having only an on site technician to maintain the system are matters for consideration, not hiring a high level high cost person and the planning on what he needs.
There is no reason why sound economic practices including paper documentation for such matters as purchase orders, work requests can not be accomplished by just using prescribed administrative procedures. The failures here is not in the methodology but in the system administration.
A third local government issue; I read yesterday in the New York Times that a newly appointed New York State official has designated himself as "Emperor of Asphalt" . His job is to distribute stimulus funds for shovel ready local projects, and the number applied has been extremely large.
New Jersey had a preliminary call for projects by the Council of Mayors and there was a large response from many municipalities but none from Plainfield. The question now is, has that list been turned over to the state for implementation or has there been any request from the state for request for specific projects. Fundamentally, has Plainfield participated? Has Plainfield any shovel ready requests that will be submitted as soon as possible? Has Plainfield a shovel? Are we going to be left out again? I hope City Administrator will supply an answer Monday night. I hope the question is raised.
To request Solaris and the State to sign agreement to the proposed settlement with the expectation that the city would end its pending appeal against the hospital's closure has no valid purpose. Indeed it is letting Solaris off the hook.
Past experience has showed that neither the State or Solaris has any intention of abiding by an agreement. It is now 6 months since Muhlenberg closed and Plainfield has had only minimal adherence to provisions in the CN. What assurance or leverage will the city have to make sure that the provisions of this agreement which is so secret that not even the Council knows the provisions in the new document.
The demand that Department of Health and Human Services Howard enforce something that she has shown for the past six months to have been window dressing in an attempt to make a dastardly action palatable to the victims, is worthless. Does the Council think it has the power to make her comply?
To surrender the fight to restore a local acute care hospital, Plainfield's real need, for only a slight improvement in the present status of area health care continues the disservice that the local politicians have done to Plainfield.
Sadly since the document is a secret, we have no knowledge of what impact it will have on the community that would justify the city effectively killing off the last chance of returning a semblance of appropriate critical care. Transparency requires that we the people know everything that we are begging for, in order that we can judge the state government for this year's election. We already know all about Solaris' contempt for Plainfield's citizenry.
Returning reluctantly to the IT issue; Maria in her blog has clearly outline basics which must be acted upon before any position can be considered. I have yet to be convinced that administration has a concrete notion what is desired in function. hardware, and software. Buzz words like IT , data processing, record accessibility, inter office communications, etc. are uttered without a single objective example. Oh yes there have been allusions but that is all. Until we know everything we want, how practical it will be if available, what the overall costs and what future long range goals can be accomplished, we should not proceed. A determination of the most effective way of meeting the desired results be it by employing an in house overseer or outsourcing or just purchasing turnkey software programs and having only an on site technician to maintain the system are matters for consideration, not hiring a high level high cost person and the planning on what he needs.
There is no reason why sound economic practices including paper documentation for such matters as purchase orders, work requests can not be accomplished by just using prescribed administrative procedures. The failures here is not in the methodology but in the system administration.
A third local government issue; I read yesterday in the New York Times that a newly appointed New York State official has designated himself as "Emperor of Asphalt" . His job is to distribute stimulus funds for shovel ready local projects, and the number applied has been extremely large.
New Jersey had a preliminary call for projects by the Council of Mayors and there was a large response from many municipalities but none from Plainfield. The question now is, has that list been turned over to the state for implementation or has there been any request from the state for request for specific projects. Fundamentally, has Plainfield participated? Has Plainfield any shovel ready requests that will be submitted as soon as possible? Has Plainfield a shovel? Are we going to be left out again? I hope City Administrator will supply an answer Monday night. I hope the question is raised.
MEMORIES WINTER 44-45
We were still in England at the onset of the Bulge. I had been planning for a week's leave and was going to go to Wales. Instead, on Dec. 24.1944 our division was airlifted to France.
This was the first time an operation on such a large scale had been attempted. One medical jeep and trailer were to be loaded into each C.47. The C47 was the military's model of the DC3 passenger plane. Some are still in operation today in various parts of the world.
A ramp was placed up to the side cargo door of the plane. The driver had to manipulate the jeep and loaded trailer up the ramp, maneuver a 90degree left turn, and ending with the jeep just behind the pilot’s seats. There was no room on either side to stand and the end of the trailer was just in front of the door. I, the driver, and two aid men were to ride sitting in the jeep.
After we got the vehicles loaded the tail wheel was touching the fuselage. The pilot said we had to lighten the load. I had three bottles of Portuguese cognac which I had no intentions of losing stashed in my bed roll . We threw out several cases of C rations and finally had enough clearance that the wheel was not touching the plane.
The pilot and co-pilot said they would take off if we would, on his command, manually trim the plane. As we start down the runway we stood right behind them in the cockpit. As soon as the plane lifted off we scrambled over the jeep and trailer to the rear of the cargo compartment. The plane just managed by inches to clear the top of the trees at the end of the runway.
The flight to France was uneventful. After unloading under pressure from nervous flight crews to hurry up, we moved, loaded in big open trailer (cattle) trucks, to a position near Sedan along the Meuse River.
Twenty four hours after leaving England, we were in the combat area. There was evidence that the German advance was being contained. The division and its regiments were in army reserve, guarding the river crossings. A Company was sent several miles up the river to another town to protect a bridge that the engineers had "mined" in case there was an attempt by a blitzkrieg column to cross the river at that point.
I also moved up there with a few aid men for a small aid station. We chose a house in the village in the middle of a group of houses, side walls almost touching. Although "Bed Check Charlie" flew over every night we felt secure when we were in this town. I celebrated New Year's Eve with some of the company’s officers by opening one of my bottles of brandy
On Jan 3rd we were to move up to the front lines. The German advance had been stopped and supposedly the Bastogne highway had been reopened by Patton's troops. However, there was still a great deal of anxiety regarding German soldiers in American uniforms. The GIs were often using improvised impromptu pass words based on American sports. The Allies were now ready to counter attack from both the north with Montgomery in command of those combined forces, and the south with Patton’s 3rd Army.
Due to the division's T/E lack of sufficient vehicles, we were using trucks from an attached separate trucking unit to transport the battalion. Their Sergeant, who was in charge, told us that his lieutenant was last seen several days earlier going down a road in his jeep and there had been no further word from him.
We started out that night in convoy. The vehicles used only their blackout lights but were spaced too far apart. We were given a destination and the password for that day. It was snowing lightly and very cold. We came to a fork in the road. The trucks in the convoy ahead of us took the left road. Several miles down the road the officer in the first truck realized that they had lost the convoy and the trucks pulled up on a circular drive in front of a farmhouse.
All the officers with the group were lieutenants who after pouring over their maps, turned to me and said "Doc, you are the senior officer here (captain) what should we do?” Medical officers had rank but exercised no command functions except in their own units. I suggested the obvious; going back to the fork in the road and taking the right fork, which we did. We're now rolling up the Bastogne highway toward the unknown front. Suddenly our 21/2 ton truck stopped out of gas. The others vehicles, even those behind us, continued down the road. It was dark and out of fear that we were German soldiers in disguise nobody would stop.
Finally an armored car stopped. An officer, after supplying us with gasoline, informed us that not only had our destination been changed but also the password. We followed his directions and arrived in a village at what was supposed to be division headquarters.
I was directed to the command post. Unchallenged, I was suddenly in the general's presence. I was informed that my regiment was in another village and they would have a guide sent to lead us to our battalion. I went out to wait. In the mean time, the men had disbursed out of the cold truck into nearby housing. About an hour later the guide arrived. After rounding the men up, we were led around the corner about 100 yards to another house which was our battalion’s headquarters. The rest of the regiment was in another town.
The next day we moved into the countryside beyond Libramont, where the division was going to mount a counter offensive attack. Since it was getting near evening, we stopped besides a farmhouse whose upper stories had been destroyed. The bottom level which served as a barn was intact. The walls and ceiling were made of reinforced concrete. Also the building was on the back side of a hill.
We were still very naïve and expected to spend the first of many nights of combat out in the open. Because the ground was frozen hard we ordered the men to dig two men foxholes which also would give additional warmth.
As soon as they were well underway, Irby, the other medical officer and my surperior, and I started to dig one near the barn. We had no trouble digging and the further we proceeded it became warmer and moist. Obviously we were digging in a composte pile. We decided to move into the barn, cleaning out several stalls. One by one the rest of the men came in out of the cold.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
STATUS UPDATE
I am mildly surprised that with so many anonymous individuals sending comments about the dastardly despicable New Democrats on the Council and to a lesser extent about the self-serving Old Democrats that no one is concerned about what is the proper procedure to go forward with the creation of a centralized data and information department. At least I have not yet received a single opinion.
I believe that there can be a right way and many wrong ways to accomplish the desired end. I know that the Councilors are of a similar opinion. Although the matter may seem petty, it is the basis of good government. I am sure that Corporation Consul will satisfy any questions the Councilors may have.
In case you have been wondering what the big issue is concerning whether the ordinance was tabled or withdrawn, there is a very important parliamentary procedure that can affect the passage of a motion. If tabled it can be taken off the table at any time and voted on without prior notification. If withdrawn , it must be reintroduced as an agenda item. No action can be taken without prior notice. No one could be caught with their pants down. There is an exception, it can be introduced at a meeting without prior notice, but the number of votes required to permit is specified in the organization's rules or by the "rules of order" which has been agreed upon.
I believe that there can be a right way and many wrong ways to accomplish the desired end. I know that the Councilors are of a similar opinion. Although the matter may seem petty, it is the basis of good government. I am sure that Corporation Consul will satisfy any questions the Councilors may have.
In case you have been wondering what the big issue is concerning whether the ordinance was tabled or withdrawn, there is a very important parliamentary procedure that can affect the passage of a motion. If tabled it can be taken off the table at any time and voted on without prior notification. If withdrawn , it must be reintroduced as an agenda item. No action can be taken without prior notice. No one could be caught with their pants down. There is an exception, it can be introduced at a meeting without prior notice, but the number of votes required to permit is specified in the organization's rules or by the "rules of order" which has been agreed upon.
STATUS REQUEST
HELP! I am confused about the status of the ordinance creating the position of "director of data processing". I and the public need clarification on several issues relating to the ordinance and its intent, not to the acknowledge need for a functioning "data processing information technology" segment in our local TO.
First of all as of the adjournment of the Council meeting 3/2/09 there is a real question as to the legal status of the ordinance. The normal procedure is to have after the passage of the "First Reading" a legal publication of the ordinance and notice of the time of the second reading for adoption. That was fulfilled. However there was no second reading.
Since I was not present at the Council meeting I am in the dark as to how and when the ordinance was withdrawn from consideration. The Courier article says it was TABLED by the administration. Other blogs says it was Withdrawn. These are two different parliamentary maneuvers and could potentially have different legal consequences.
To TABLE an item up for action requires a motion the only the legally constituted body has the power to do. No non voting individual has the power to make such a motion. Therefore I doubt that Administrator Deshields took that action.
That leaves the probability that the city requested before the ordinance was up for a vote, that it to be withdrawn from action. In that case when the Council acquiesced to that request, the ordinance as written ceased to exist. The legal legislative order of action had been terminated. That would not have been true if the Council had TABLED the motion to vote. Unless such a Tabling vote was "indefinitely' which is an action to kill a resolution/ordinance instead of an on the record no vote, the Ordinance's second reading was still in order whenever it was moved to remove it from the table.
Since it was probably withdrawn from consideration at that time, the city had in effect killed it as presented. It is my sage opinion that it must treated as a new proposed ordinance even if it is reintroduced as initially written. I am open to and welcome all comments; legal, parliamentary, or personal on this situation.
That said, I believe that since the position is to have Cabinet status which should require Council approval of the director, an ordinance creating that change in the city's table of organization will be enacted first before one authorizing a salary range. The enabling ordinance must spell out the scope of the directors responsibilities.
I will post any and all comments as long as they are pertinent to this subject and not a political or personal attack on any individual.
First of all as of the adjournment of the Council meeting 3/2/09 there is a real question as to the legal status of the ordinance. The normal procedure is to have after the passage of the "First Reading" a legal publication of the ordinance and notice of the time of the second reading for adoption. That was fulfilled. However there was no second reading.
Since I was not present at the Council meeting I am in the dark as to how and when the ordinance was withdrawn from consideration. The Courier article says it was TABLED by the administration. Other blogs says it was Withdrawn. These are two different parliamentary maneuvers and could potentially have different legal consequences.
To TABLE an item up for action requires a motion the only the legally constituted body has the power to do. No non voting individual has the power to make such a motion. Therefore I doubt that Administrator Deshields took that action.
That leaves the probability that the city requested before the ordinance was up for a vote, that it to be withdrawn from action. In that case when the Council acquiesced to that request, the ordinance as written ceased to exist. The legal legislative order of action had been terminated. That would not have been true if the Council had TABLED the motion to vote. Unless such a Tabling vote was "indefinitely' which is an action to kill a resolution/ordinance instead of an on the record no vote, the Ordinance's second reading was still in order whenever it was moved to remove it from the table.
Since it was probably withdrawn from consideration at that time, the city had in effect killed it as presented. It is my sage opinion that it must treated as a new proposed ordinance even if it is reintroduced as initially written. I am open to and welcome all comments; legal, parliamentary, or personal on this situation.
That said, I believe that since the position is to have Cabinet status which should require Council approval of the director, an ordinance creating that change in the city's table of organization will be enacted first before one authorizing a salary range. The enabling ordinance must spell out the scope of the directors responsibilities.
I will post any and all comments as long as they are pertinent to this subject and not a political or personal attack on any individual.
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