Maybe the reason for my errant thought was a mindset resulting from last Wednesday's CATty Commentary about the CSD #1 BOE Meeting and Public Hearing. Or maybe it was my frivolous reference to "The Magnificent Seven" and those thrilling days of yesteryear...when a bold bunch of bargaining CATs took on the best that Cairo School District had to offer...the best hired guns (paid negotiators and/or lawyers) money could buy (my money...your money...taxpayer money.)

(You will note the italics in the above paragraph...to highlight "on". THAT should have been a tipoff I suppose. The CATs of yore took on CSD BOE members, administrators, and hired guns. We did NOT take UP said Serpents. Alas, there were limits to our faith.

Back to "The Book"...

I've always found interest in the religious practice referred to below...used it in my Government class lectures. (Yes, for I have sinned!) When my students would predictably snicker at the practice, I would admonish them...reminding them that (unlike those who freely proclaim their faith and then act in the most evil, nonreligious ways toward their fellow man) those who would trust in God by picking up a poisonous reptile...well, now THAT was putting your faith where your mouth was!

Hey...it got my students' attention! (Yes, yes...I know. I will admit that dispensing with the lectures and doing small group, "hands on" activities with real live snakes...and having the survivors write reports or make oral presentations of their impressions would have probably been more effective, but...our evil union lawyers took a hard stand against such "best practices".)

Anyway...

Author Don Barnett is going to get some of this old retired CAT's pension money. (As they say, "You can't take it with you"...and, even more to the point, since politicians in Illinois (and nation-wide) are exploring any means necessary to take said pension money away from me...well, I might as well spend it while I've got it!)

I will venture forth this week and buy "They Shall Take Up Serpents". I'll even do a "Book Review" at some future date...

SNAKE ALERT!!! For those of you out there (and I know of at least one on the CAT Tracks mailing list) with a snake phobia, there is a picture of a serpent on the cover of the book pictured on the website linked below. If you are so squeamish that the very picture of a serpent triggers an unsettling reaction, then do NOT click the link and be satisfied with the story below.

BTW: If one were really catty, one might remark that the above paragraph explains why CAT Tracks never, ever posts pictures of Cairo School District officials.

However, as "the Duke" so aptly put it..."I won't, I won't...

...the hell I won't!"

Incidentally...

...more CATty Commentary follows the article.

From the Southern Illinoisan...

Link to Original Story

Author debuts novel: ‘They Shall Take Up Serpents’

By Stephen Rickerl, The Southern

Don Barnett grew up with a tradition of storytelling. For him, it is the interaction of the details with imagination that makes a good story.

Barnett said he's always had an over-active imagination, but it has served him well.

Barnett is an award-winning playwright, song writer and musician, actor and director living in Du Quoin. In December, Barnett added novelist to the list with the release of his first novel, "They Shall Take Up Serpents."

The novel is based on his Christian H. Moe Award-winning play, "To Handle the Serpent." Barnett said the novel takes place in 1955 in Harlan County, Ky., and follows the trial of a preacher. Although his novel has been classified as Christian fiction, Barnett said it is more of a courtroom drama.

He said he tried to offer a wide range of aspects that would interest readers: humor, a love story, courtroom drama and the religious persecution of snake handlers.

The plot follows Merle Hensley, a sign follower who handles snakes. The title comes directly from the Gospel of Mark, Barnett said, and will be familiar to the Pentecostal sect that handles serpents during services.

Barnett said in the novel Merle heals a character called "Crutches" by laying hands on him. Crutches has one day with the use of both of his legs, but dies the next day. Merle is facing the sorrow of his death and the sorrow of being accused and facing a trial.

Barnett said it is a story of Merle's spiritual and physical journey as he moves forward as human being.

Although his novel is a work of fiction, Barnett said there were some coincidences he came across that inspired his writing. He said he has family in Harlan County and said the surname of the preacher, Hensley, was chosen because it was the name of his great grandmother. Hensley is also the name of one of the preachers who began snake handling in the early 20th century. He said there is no known relation to the preacher.

Barnett said he remembers his great grandmother being terrified of snakes, jumping onto the porch whenever one was spotted in the yard. Ironically he said while researching his novel he discovered that his great grandmother herself participated in snake-handling services.

He said storytelling is a passion for him.

"I really like to tell a story," he said. "That's a tradition in my family.

"I've grown up hearing stories. To me, story telling is the best entertainment."

Barnett, who got his bachelor of arts and master of fine arts degrees at SIUC, said he began reworking his three-act play into novel form at the suggestion of a professor. He said the novel took four years to complete, and in 2009 he found a publisher to work with. The novel was released Dec. 28 nationally by Tate Publishing.

Barnett is already working on his second novel, which will continue to follow the Hensley family, this time the grandson of Merle who struggles to get out of a small town. He said he hopes to complete the next novel in about a year.

CATty Commentary Continued:

Speaking of slithering serpents...

...this day that was supposed to be three meetings but is only two.

Reminder...

Today's FOP meeting which was originally scheduled for 10:30 a.m. but changed to 1:30 p.m. to accommodate a joint planning meeting with the BOE then restored to a 10:30 a.m. start when the joint planning meeting was canceled and replaced by a Special Meeting of the Cairo Board of Education for the purpose of discussing the Superintendent's contract at 5 p.m. ...

WHEW!

Yes...

Rumors have it that the Cairo Board of Education is poised to re-enlist the services of Leotis D. Swopes...even though rumors continue to circulate that they are less than happy with his "performance". (Last rumor had the BOE split over his rehiring...3-3 with a swing vote. Rumors from a previous meeting have the Superintendent being given a failing grade. Allegedly, this failing grade was the result of such "worst practices" as inconsistent working hours and golfing habits (including, but not limited to, striking passers-by with errant golf balls.)

Even wilder rumors circulate, but their incredible nature (although probably true) prompts CAT Tracks from reporting them. Contrary to rumors from the other side (the "Dark Side")...WE ARE NOT A RAG! We only report rumors that have come from a multitude of sources and that have achieved the status of "common knowledge".

And, that's sad...

Superintendent Swopes (maybe in an attempt to curry favor with his employers) has been anti-union from "DAY 1".

Okay, that's a bit harsh...

If you will recall, Superintendent Swopes began his tour of duty as INTERIM Superintendent...replacing Bill Rogers during the second semester of the 1997-1998 school year. INTERIM Superintendent Swopes laid low...biding his time? Awaiting approval of a 3-year contract deal?

For whatever reason, Superintendent Swopes left CATs alone. I, as then-CAT President, was allowed to use Association Leave. In fact, back in the day - B.S. (Before Swopes) - the Association routinely took its fifteen (15) Association Leave days...without question or denial.

Pro-union and anti-union folks can argue about whether that was good or bad, but the FACT remains: Association Leave was - IS - in the Contract ratified by the Cairo Board of Education and the Cairo Association of Teachers. For a District administrator to deny the Association leave so that its members may conduct official business is a blatant violation of that Contract...a violation of the Illinois School Code...a violation of Illinois law!!!

This (and other violations) is also the direct cause of HUGE LEGAL BILLS for CSD #1...approximately $160,000 last year alone!

Oh, I guess I should have mentioned prior to ranting...

Since Interim Superintendent Swopes got his 3-year contract in 2008 and became "Da Man", he has never...NOT ONCE...signed off on an Association request for leave...at least without a major battle involving the aforementioned lawyers, an appeal to the Financial Oversight Panel, or a tongue-lashing of the CAT President through one of his infamous "missives".

A prime example...

Madam CAT President De De O'Shea went to an FOP meeting...contributed to said meeting. The FOP members thanked her for coming...invited her back to future meetings. To be nice...Madam President put in for Association Leave to attend (whereby CAT would pick up the price of the subsititue...rather than the District having to foot the bill.) "DENIED!" wrote Superintendent Swopes, adding "Not Association Business!"

In fact, numerous grievances and Unfair Labor Practices have been filed over Superintendent Swopes' denial of Association Leave and Personal Leave. Superintendent Swopes "blinked" when hearing dates approached...agreeing to cease and desist in his violations. Lawyers (for a price) drafted agreements to clean up his mess.

Unfortunately, by the time the dust had settled, the negative (illegal) actions of Superintendent Swopes had had his desired "chilling" effect...a dramatic decrease in employee requests for various leaves.

However...

...for whatever reason...

...Superintendent Swopes is back at it, seizing any and every opportunity to "Just Say NO!"

Superintendent Swopes recently denied employee requests for personal leave during the holiday period...by denying "past practice" and producing a bogus "Board Policy" to support his claim. The Association was able to prevail in asserting the contractual rights of employees, but only after appealing to the Board of Education, providing documentation of past practice, providing a Swopes-signed personal leave form for another employee for the same days, and "threatening" to take the matter to the FOP meeting being held the next day. (The FOP "visit" was to let them know that Superintendent Swopes was - once again - traveling down a path that would cause the District to spend thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars...to fight an obvious lost cause!

Why is Superintendent Swopes back at it?

Does he think that CATs forget...that we don't remember that he agreed to follow past practice "from now on" in return for dropping legal action?

Is he making his big "contract push"...demonstrating that he can pull a CAT's tail with the best of them???

Hell if I know!

What I do know...

...is that the employees of Cairo School District Number One deserve better!

Like the past couple of weeks...the "running of the CATs"...the attempt to make employees recreate their personnel files.

Instead of focusing on their "day job" of teaching the children, teachers - some of whom have been in the District for 20 and 30 years - are being required to spend their precious time getting fingerprinted for a criminal background check and securing transcripts to prove they are qualified to teach. (A little late for that, isn't it?) Employees are being required to fill out various forms (some of which clearly indicate that the employee is not required to...having been hired before 1986!) However, when the employee points that out, the response is "HE wants one from EVERYONE! Hmmm...wonder who "HE" is???)

When enquiring CATs dare to ask "Why?"...

...they are put off, left to the rumors that various District Office personnel over the years "threw the originals away."

Actually, even more frustrating...

Many of the employees (some after completing their "assigned duty") receive an "Emily Litella" notice, that the requested form has been found after all..."NEVERMIND!"

And, worst of all...

...there is no end in sight!

TONIGHT - 5 p.m. - SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CSD #1 BOE - For the purpose of discussing the Superintendent's Contract

BTW: I had also "chilled out"...had refrained from writing about the most recent battles over Association and Personal Leave. It seemed that the more I wrote, the more pain and suffering (and "missives") were inflicted upon Madam CAT President.

FOLKS: You do NOT know what "Pure D Hell", De De O'Shea goes through to stand up for your rights!!! Superintendent Swopes is in full-fledged "kill the messenger" mode. Hell, he even had the audacity to tell her (when she stopped to speak to him at the CJSHS golf course one morning)..."You know you are in the line of fire." (And BOE members have the nerve to say I "threaten" them! At least I was sitting quietly at the table...with no golf club in hand!!!)

But...

Then, it occurred to me!

How silly of me...

...I forgot!

Superintendent Swopes once took time away from an SIP day to announce to the assembled employees of Cairo School District Number One...