My two cents worth

On July 25th, 2000, Air France Flight 4590, better known as the Concorde, ran over a small strip of metal during takeoff at Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris, causing a tire to explode and sending fragments into one of the engines which caused the plane to have its first fatal accident, killing all 109 people on board along with three on the ground. The crash eventually led to the Concorde fleet being grounded and the public lost its only supersonic flight, perhaps forever.

I don’t know Earl McNutt personally but I have always known of the position he holds in this community. His name has been all over the news lately because, in anger and exasperation, he threw a rake at the tires of a school bus he believed to be speeding while he and others were doing roadwork for the county. Before I proceed, let me say this because it holds true in almost every situation, every time and every place.

I’ve talked to many people about the incident since it happened and obviously the camps are divided about whether or not he did anything wrong. But they’re not divided on facts, they’re divided on opinions. If a person knows McNutt personally and likes him, he’s likely to believe he did nothing wrong because unlike the Concorde accident, nothing bad happened to anyone.

On the other hand, if he isn’t known personally by the person giving the opinion or IS known and not liked by the person, then he’s usually thought to have done something criminal and should be held accountable for it.

So here, as in most cases, it’s what we think of the person rather than what he did that causes guilt or innocence in our minds.

Since I don’t know him personally, let me give my own rationale for what McNutt did in an attempt to be totally objective about the situation.

I understand frustration held by people who see other people break the law. However, in this case, a long-term driver for the McCook school system swears she was not speeding because she always observes all traffic laws. She, in fact, criticized the road crew for not having warning signs posted before she got to the scene of the work.

But whether McNutt was frustrated, angry, upset or more, his actions were totally inappropriate and uncalled for and certainly violated a law by tossing an instrument at a moving vehicle. The fact that no one was injured doesn’t factor in here at all. The fact that someone COULD have been injured does. The law realizes that because our statute books are full of crimes preceded by the word “attempted.”

Taking that into account, Sheriff Kotschwar also is in line for some criticism. I don’t know him personally either and am not aware of the actions of his department when notified of McNutt’s actions but if they took no action, then he’s derelict in his duty as well. It’s one thing to investigate an incident and determine that no wrongdoing occurred, it’s another thing entirely not to investigate it at all. If it WASN’T investigated, he should be held accountable just like McNutt should be.

Any elected official’s first priority is to serve the community with dignity and professionalism. He stops being a private person upon being elected and becomes a public servant. That brings a whole new set of obligations and responsibilities he didn’t have before he was elected. Our public officials must always be examples for the rest of us on how to live and how to respond to situations they find offensive. Earl McNutt didn’t do that. By throwing a rake at the wheels of an occupied and moving school bus, he put people’s safety and lives in danger and that is unforgiveable.

He has apologized profusely to the public, as almost everyone does after they’ve been caught in a misdeed, but an apology, in this case, is not enough. If there is any decency to the man, and I’m told by people who know him that there is, he should resign his position as County Commissioner because he has belied the trust of those he represents.