Sickening

In regards to the May 10 letter from Carrie Morgridge and Laurie Michaels, I do not question their legal rights as they lay them out. However, their judgment just sucks.

Their attitude is just so self-righteous and self-serving it is pretty much sickening, and would be laughable were it not for the damage it’s causing in the school.

Ms. Morgridge, who “never intended for this to be a public issue, anyway”(!?) (Aspen Times, May 14) demonstrates the stunning arrogance of those who claim to represent the “silent majority.”

Did the silent majority get together in a silent convention and give a silent vote for you as their spokesperson? How come I wasn’t invited? Did anyone else out there vote on your being our spokesperson?

I don’t doubt that you have a constituency, but don’t you think it’s just a little pretentious to say you are in the majority? Is this silent majority silent because it is afraid of something? Have you ever known anyone in this town to be afraid of speaking out?

Actually, the majority voted for the school board. And they’re doing great, thanks.

How well do you represent your silent majority when you turn the school system upside down for 15 boxes (15 boxes!) of correspondence and records in support of your contention that Tom Farrell has some illegitimate absences?

Why don’t you just ask him what he was doing? Do you think he was going to Vegas to gamble or something? Maybe he was working underground for Escorts of Aspen. (I knew it all along. I think we should hang him.) Do you think we need to micromanage our teachers and school administration? What’s your real agenda?

As for your contention that the school board is not really 100 percent behind him, you suggest that, if they were, then there would be a perfect performance record. That doesn’t happen in the real world.

I have some weaknesses in my job performance that my managers know about. But if you ask them whether I should stay or leave, they would say they’re 100 percent behind my staying. (Right guys? Please?) Support does not mean perfection. Your accusing the school board of being dishonest is heinous.

What’s the real story here? You’re not after information. You’re after a person. What’s the vendetta about? Are you after other people too? Who else is in your silent majority, and what is their real issue?

Are you after teachers who support Tom? Are you then going to go after parents who support the school board? Who’s next on your hit list? This is obviously not about the welfare of the kids. If it were, then you wouldn’t turn everything upside down like this. You’d try to work it out without the turmoil.

Anyway, I want to once again thank Tom Farrell, the school board and the teachers for the work they do. And if you leave, Tom, we will be sorry to see you go. If you stay, we will be pleased to have you here.

And I want to thank the kids for being way cool about all this. This is a good event for you kids, because it is a lesson in how a few people can really cause some damage unless those that care stand up for their beliefs.

Barbara French was right in her advocacy for the rest of us to stand up against the witch hunt, and it’s nice to see all those letters in the paper this Tuesday.

But where’s the silent majority? For that matter, where’s Pete Luhn on this issue? Pete what do you think about these pigeons?

Pete if you sign in on this one, I’ll go to lunch with you. I’ll even be Todd Coghi.

Weems Westfeldt

Former member of the Silent Majority