Town officials ‘air’ out differences
In a Beach Observer ‘letter to the editor’ a couple weeks ago, I made a proposal to ex-mayor Dennis Boback and Tidelines editor Lee Melsek. It was: Let’s suppose that Scott Janke had been married to his porn actress wife when he interviewed for the Town Manager job and had informed them of her profession at that time. The deal was that if they could look me squarely in the eye and say they would have voted to hire him anyway, I would buy them all the beer they cared to drink.
I made the offer at about the same time President Obama invited the Harvard professor to get together for a beer with the Cambridge police officer who arrested him to air their differences and try to achieve some mutual understanding.
Imagine my surprise when a few days later, Melsek phoned and accepted my “challenge.”
We set a time and place and both showed up according to the agreement. We shook hands and exchanged some small talk. Even though we’d taken some shots at each other in the local press, we’d never even exchanged greetings. Rather, we had glared at each other a few times at public meetings.
About halfway through the first beer, I brought up the question and true to his word, Melsek looked me in the eye said he’d have hired Janke anyway. I have no reason not to believe him and accept the statement at face value. (Readers are free to draw their own conclusions.) He had fulfilled his end of the deal and I considered myself on the hook for the beer.
Somewhere in the middle of the second round, imagine my surprise when, what to my wondering eyes should appear (sorry, Clement Moore), but Dennis Boback himself. (How was I supposed to know that I had chosen one of their regular watering holes for the meeting?) He joined the conversation, greeting me as the “infamous Jay Light” with a smile and handshake. Since he hadn’t actually accepted the “challenge,” I didn’t press the Janke question with him. Besides, the conversation had gone way past that issue when he arrived.
In what was yet another surprise, we very calmly aired a variety of past and present local topics, lectured each other about them, agreed to disagree about many, and even found a few that we agreed on.
The whole conversation lasted about an hour. I paid a couple of the accumulated tabs and left. I realized on the way home that I hadn’t checked to be sure that Melsek had had all the beer he wanted. (Lee, if you feel I shortchanged you, give me a call and I’ll make it up to you.)
So, what does all of this prove? Did anybody’s mind get changed about anything? Probably not. Am I switching sides on any issues? No.
I guess what it proves is that Benjamin Franklin was right when he said, “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Maybe it should be a part of all town meetings. Eehh, maybe not. Maybe after the meetings it wouldn’t be a bad idea, though, if it weren’t for the damned Sunshine Laws.
It also confirms my belief that if Arch-Democrat James Carville and Uber-Republican Mary Matalin can appear together on CNN, debate political issues, say how full of crap the other is, then go home and sleep together, that in a place like Fort Myers Beach, people on opposite sides of an issue ought to at least be able to discuss it civilly over a couple of beers. (I’ll pass on the sleeping together.)
Jay Light
Fort Myers Beach