Our New Mission Statement?

Our own esteemed Ricardo J. "Rico" Matthews wrote a letter to the editor and it has been published in this week's 'Watchman'. Here is the text from that letter. We have officially made his letter OUR Mission Statement. Well said, Rico. Well said. We applaud you and look to you as our example of making our community inhabitable for all:

"I would like to take this opportunity to express my concern and discontent with East Feliciana Parish and its school system. To see the place where I lived as a kid and became a man become basically the mockery of the state in many ways is unacceptable. The citizens deserve better and as taxpayers, should be afforded the opportunity to live in a prudent society. I often return home and have never forgotten the good and the bad things of the Great Clinton, Louisiana. While there I can’t help but humor myself by relating to the movie “Groundhog Day”. Time has passed and things have stayed the same. To some that may be good - for the majority, it is a horrible thing. I’ve come to the conclusion that change and modernization is something that is not very welcome here for many obvious reasons, for the few that benefit from the oppressive state of living here. The town has not grown economically, quality of life has diminished, education has become laughable, and elected officials now seem to be blind to the facts or just blatantly disregarding their duties. The community has become content with hopelessness and also tends to be very apolitical, at the least.

The East Feliciana School system is statistically one of the worst in the state, but it seems that the superintendent and school board members saw the need to test out a four day school week. I like change, but thought out change. A prime example of not giving thought is when the board votes for the purchase of an expensive building which ends up being unable to be utilized for its purpose. In a parish with financial difficulties this is unacceptable. Now they are in the process of considering a school consolidation, which may not be a bad thing, but the other considerations are ludicrous. Slaughter wants their own school system and that’s fine, but they should not expect any funds, buildings etc. from the budget of EFP. It seems to me that the people in favor of the Slaughter charter are acting in sort of an elitist manner. Actually it would be more beneficial if they were to consolidate and close the elementary in Slaughter, being it only has 300 or so students, and they will have to come to the Clinton High school anyway or go to a private school. That would save millions of dollars and free up many more resources. One parish, one school, one budget will simplify it all.

Elected officials have had a pass long enough. They have accepted the political office of choice for years without oversight of any kind. Most of the offices held are held by either affluent folks of old wealth or their friends. It's really unfair to the citizens for the way of life their elected officials provide them. It's partially the citizens' fault for their apolitical stands and interests. They prey on the idea of having things voted upon, knowing that only a fraction of the citizens will even vote. That’s not their fault, but what is their fault is once elected, you have a duty to the citizens to carry out the duties of that office to the fullest and do what is best for the majority and not the privileged. I don’t see anyone soliciting business to the town to create commerce as well as tax generating entities. You must be creative and strive to keep up with technology and promote a positive environment for outside sources to want to come there. When this is not done, it shows that you all don’t care about the future and the livelihoods of others. Its bad enough that they have a four day school week, but what is really bad is the children are not even provided an adequate place for recreation that is safe and updated. I know there are funds at the state and federal level available to provide these things. Think about this - there are seven days in a week and for four of those, they are in school and for three of them, they are not. That’s nearly half the time they have nothing to keep them occupied, leaving them with time to do silly, juvenile delinquent things. This leads to them getting in the system and once that happens, we all know the statistics show no promise after that. The police should be doing community type policing, meaning using some restraint on being so quick to arrest and ruin their lives on such petty things and be more of a mentor and let them know this is your warning.

I believe the citizens of the parish deserve better public services. I also believe the citizens must begin to hold their officials accountable too. It's time to stop being so apolitical and use the power that you have as a people and vote for what you believe in. Talking about what is and isn’t right is not good enough. Elected officials volunteer for their office and expect opposition - that’s the American way. I think you would be surprised at the amount of positive change that can occur if you were to become involved in community politics, being that they directly affect your livelihood. I challenge all parents to become partners with your kids' teachers and become a winning team, because that is our future and in order to know right, they must see right. We must stop accepting the blatant disregard of rules and laws and acts of buffoonery by our children and lead by example. Give your child praise constantly and they will believe in themselves. East Feliciana has some of the purest people I have ever met and with that said, they deserve better."

Ricardo J. Matthews
Clinton High “91”