Pass The Word

December 15th, 2003

Harry Smith yelled expletives at Sam Jones for not obeying a red light and crossing in front of his car. Sam took it as an insult to his mother and invited Harry to step out of the car, at which point Sam hit Harry in the nose, causing it to bleed. A passerby broke up the fight. Sam apologized to Harry for hitting him, and Harry apologized for yelling. Somebody called 911. By the time the police arrived, Harry had driven off and Sam was long gone.

The passerby who broke up the fight told his friend about it, who told his wife, who told her sister, who told her husband, who told his brother, who told his girlfriend, and after being passed on several more times the story came to the attention of a reporter for a local newspaper and the newspaper published the following story under the headline: Motorist breaks jaw of pedestrian who kicked his car.

“Motorist Sam Smith broke the jaw of pedestrian Ralph Jones who kicked his car when it stopped in a cross walk. The police were called but by the time they arrived Smith had fled the scene. He was subsequently arrested at his home and charged with assault. Jones was taken to a local hospital, treated, and then released.”

This kind of thing is well known to psychologists as an example of human communication. It helps to explain why there are so many rumors in our community and why they are so seldom correct. Information passed orally from person to person is often changed because the person telling the story has forgotten some detail and simply filled it in or because the person hearing the tale mis remembers the details or bring his/her own prejudices to its telling.

The fact that a story is a rumor does not necessarily mean it us untrue but it certainly does not mean that it is true either. A wise person withholds judgment until more evidence appears or he/she can check out the source. And merely because a story is printed in a newspaper does not make it a fact. Yes, Virginia, there may be a Santa Claus, but newspapers publish blatant lies all the time and certainly our local fish wrappers — oh evil phrase --- are examples.

The latest evidence comes from this week’s edition of The Saucon News. That esteemed fish wrapper’s lead front page story was headline: “State investigates - Auditor General’s special investigators look into Saucon Valley School District’s past finances and ethics practices.” The story underneath again refers to the ethics matter, although it quotes the Auditor General’s spokesperson as saying only that “the investigators are looking into some issues at the district as a result of a call from a taxpayer.” The story, “from the Saucon News newsstaff” (read Lanita Lum), says correctly that the district was regularly audited this past summer, and those reports have not yet been issued. The implication, however, is that the district is somehow suppressing them although that certain is not the case. The auditors simply take their time in releasing their reports.

You will note, I hope, that the only substance to the report is that the Auditor General has investigated at the request of a taxpayer. Miss Lum would get the point if someone had called the local DA and accused her of larceny and then a rival paper reported that she was under investigation for that crime. (Just to be clear, I make no such charge, although what she does with the truth might be considered a crime.)

These are the only facts that the present and past school members, including me, know. There is such an investigation. We have no information whatever as to the subject matter of the investigation. It is possible, of course, that the investigation will turn up some irregularities. The audit conducted a few months ago apparently did, but those auditors did not regard them as very serious. Certainly they will appear in the auditors report when issued. I can only say that former board members were not aware of these irregularities when they incurred and asked the business office to correct them when they became aware of them.

If this new audit turns up something more than the previous audit, I will be surprised, but anything is possible. In the meantime, it is well to wait until the investigation is completed and the facts are known. If the public doesn’t, then on the same theory it may decide that Ms Lum is guilty of larceny before she is charged.

Noted in passing: Self-designated teacher-in-exile, Pennygate hero Dale Schneck, is no longer publishing his web site teacherinexile.com. While I did not see it, apparently his explanation was that he now trusts the present school board to do right by him. Schneck, who taught journalism, never met an unfavorable rumor about former school board members he did not publish on his site. Friends in need are friends indeed.