I received my invoice to pay my Whidbey News-Times paper and pondered whether to renew it for another two years. Then, I remembered the very last letter of the year from Rick Kiser, on Dec. 31, concerning schools need less funding and teachers continue to whine, “Oh poor me.” Unions are breaking the backs of this country. The letter from Rick was spot-on truthful. Non-progressive letters are a minority.

Then more recent letters criticize new Mayor Scott Dudley for terminating key positions: Not one letter in support. When these people are hired they know up front that they work at the pleasure of the mayor. If they can’t deal with that, then don’t take the job. With cities, counties, states and  our nation in a financial collapse, changes are appropriate. The people overwhelmingly voted Mayor Dudley in. In my line of work, being a consultant and general manager, I had tough decisions to make when I was hired to remedy a struggling business.

The first thing I did was evaluate all 12 department heads and most likely terminate half. Then the trickle down effect would start. I needed people who would adapt to my way of management or the business would continue to suffer. Oak Harbor is financially hurting. We need to support the new regime. So since I will be writing more letters supporting our mayor, and with Mr. Kiser’s final letter, I have decided to fund my paper for another two years. Thanks, Rick and Mayor Dudley.

William Ludlow
Oak Harbor