Who determines key information criteria?

Lou Marzeles
News Editor

     We received a phone call from Mike Lindhe, principal at the Centerville School, who said that information presented in last week’s editorial required correction. Lindhe said no arrests were made at the school last month regarding a sexual assault case; rather, he stated, one student was investigated, and charges are still being determined.
     Information is a living thing, it seems. It breathes, it moves, it responds to inspection, like that scientific postulation that says that the very act of observing certain phenomena changes it.
     Each Java Talk meeting we hold offers striking examples of the gravitational pull of information.      Everything anyone has to say at the meeting is always perfectly fine as expressions of personal opinion. We’ve discovered that sometimes information is offered along with the opinion that may or may not be accurate, and, as we have discovered and reported, assertions have turned out to be quite different from reality.
     Last week’s discussion focused substantially on the issue of buying locally. A claim was made that the city of Goldendale was “a little lax” in doing that. As opinion, the statement is totally appropriate. As a statement of reality, it begs a range of clarifying questions. What constitutes being lax? What is an acceptable threshold of purchasing locally that keeps one de-laxed, to coin a term, and what threshold would constitute becoming re-laxed? Is it dollar volume? Order volume? Frequency of ordering from a local business? Initiative shown to make local purchases?
     For the sake of present discussion, let’s say that the city does honestly consider its purchasing approach in keeping with the philosophy and practice of buying locally. Then how is it that a contrary perception arises? Is there a difference of opinion in defining the terms? Who’s right? And by what criteria?