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Guest Opinion: Weigh both sides of officials' allegations Sunday Jan 1, 2017 at 12:01 AM By John Stromberg As the Mayor of Ashland, but not representing the City Council, I would like to weigh in on the controversy generated by Sheriff Corey Falls' and Commissioner Doug Breidenthal's allegations concerning Jackson County administration. First, a little background: During the past presidential campaign, President-elect Donald Trump gave us dramatic examples of accusatory political rhetoric in which he used arbitrary assertions and personal attacks to deal with various political and policy issues. The key point that he demonstrated so vividly was that his statements had no necessary connection with the truth. And yet they were very effective, both in putting his opponents on the defensive and in diverting attention from issues he wanted to avoid. The nature of modern media is particularly conducive to this practice, especially television "news" and social media, There's often no immediate fact-checking or counter-argument, and the general public just gets a strong, emotionally laden message that can obscure the real issues and/or damage public officials' credibility and reputation. To my mind, some of this has been going on with both Falls' and Breidenthal's remarks, whether intentional or not. Fortunately, the Mail Tribune has supplied some very specific information from formal investigations that is relevant to initial charges that were made. This has brought forth a further element of the rhetoric, namely to argue every response and to attack the source, essentially to always have the last word. All of this is human nature, of course, and familiar to most of us from other parts of our lives and relationships. But used in the current situations and with the amplification of the media, serious damage can be done, both to key leaders in the county administrative organization and to the Board of Commissioners as the elected decision-making body. I'm stepping into the public discussion to stand up for some of these folks. From observing Commissioner Rick Dyer and Commissioner Colleen Roberts, I believe them to be competent, responsible elected officials who are dealing forthrightly with these difficult situations having to do with Sheriff Falls and Commissioner Breidenthal. Also, I have worked with County Administrator Danny Jordan for eight years and know him, through direct experience, to be extremely intelligent, competent and professional. I don't think the residents of Jackson County realize how fortunate we are to have this man running county operations, including its finances, when other counties around us are on the edge of chaos in their governments. Do we really want to leave these officials to be subject to unsubstantiated accusations? Have we considered the consequences if any one of them decided the attacks on their competency and character were just not worth enduring? So what can we do? First, I would say, read the Mail Tribune's follow-up reporting on both Falls' and Breidenthal's statements and make our own judgments in the light of both sides of the arguments. These gentlemen are entitled to a fair hearing, but we are also entitled to know the perspective of professional investigators, paid for with public money. And request that the commissioners do a good job publicizing all future reports — and there are some in the works. Lastly, put in the time reading these reports and then discussing their findings and drawing appropriate conclusions. In other words, take more seriously our responsibilities as citizens, both in our own self-interest and out of respect and appreciation for the quality people we have asked to run our county government. Follow this link to find the commissioners' statement regarding the sheriff's departure and links to the investigators' report on his allegations: http://bit.ly/2hAiuDY. — John Stromberg is mayor of Ashland.