WATCHDOG TAKES A BREAK!
In just over two years of life, the Gulfport Watchdog has been part of my life. With the help of a bunch of “dogs” out and about in Gulfport, we were able to get underneath the headlines and behind the scenes in order to bring Gulfport citizens the whole story of what was actually going on in town. I think we were also able to educate our citizens on how our government works and how it sometimes doesn’t.
The many comments and opinions of Gulfportians or wannabe Gulfportians enriched the readers’ experience by their perceptions and wit. Thank you all who participated in the back and forth comments that made the Watchdog so much more valuable than it would have been without them.
Partly due to our success in motivating several key citizens to get involved, partly due to the emergence of so many new sources of social media and partly due to the improvements in the local media’s reporting and editorializing on local events, (including the emergence of the Gulfport Patch), it is perhaps time for the Watchdog, (and Big Dog) to take a well deserved break. We will not close down because even though more citizen involvement appears to now be leading the way to a better Gulfport, a sudden deterioration of our local government structure is not out of the question. We are poised to jump back in the fray should the occasion demand.
Big Dog, disguised as Bob Newcomb will continue to be a thorn in the sides of our political and administrative leaders in the hope that all of them will opt to be or become truly “public servants” rather than just politicians or government workers. Hopefully a new and as yet not fully formed organization of inspired Gulfport citizens dedicated to making Gulfport a better place to live and work will support these public servants in their important work. We see this new local dynamism as the next phase of our work.
Everyone who reads this article is invited to become part of this new, “outside the box” thinking and “do!” oriented group once it’s ready to roll. The only additional article to appear in the Watchdog before its hiatus will be the announcement of the opportunity to join your neighbors in helping to chart and accomplish Gulfport’s better future. Keep an eye out for details over the next several days.
The “Comments” section of the Watchdog will remain open and postings may be made on a daily basis.
Three cheers for those who made this website possible. They have done more good for Gulfport than many would like to admit.
I fear absence of The Watch Dog as a recurring aspect of “Gulfport, the Discussion” will significantly reduce citizen opportunity to consider “the rest of the storey.”
City government, without portent of credible and timely citizen discussion of events around town will likely revert to the pre-Watch Dog level of petty vitriol hosted by the lap dog Gabber.
It might be interesting a year from now to assess the quality of information and level of discourse in Gulfport in the absence of this forum.
Big Dog and crew, and many readers known and unknown met a genuine need in a town where opposing opinion, regardless of how well substantiated, is greeted more frequently with animosity than approval.
You took a bite out of arrogance.
Sadly, I hear a huge sigh of relief from city hall.
Come back soon.
Ann Marie and Nancy want to thank all of you for bringing us together in the community. Your honest, intelligent, articles have made a huge difference in Gulfport. We will miss your writen word.
Sorry to hear this and I wish you would reconsider. Even though I never commented believe me I read every article and every comment. Thanks for everything.
From a conversation with Big Dog I can understand his decision to give it a rest. It’s a thankless job. Human nature compels us to find the least resistance, and in a community that seems to translate into going along to get along, even at the cost of their own demise. Happiness Runs.
Because the Watchdog had no commercial interests it had the freedom to speak truth to power. Most of the folks who have spoken up did so because they could afford to, their livelihood did not depend on the community in which they resided. I’ve spoken to folks who have lost business in this community as a result of speaking out, so it didn’t take long to turn off their voice and rejoin the silent majority.
The Watchdog is a good example of why public media is effective and necessary, and why freedom of speech is the best vehicle to carry our democracy, as messy a process as it is, it’s hard to imagine how democracy could survive without it.
Perhaps the future will be kind to Gulfport and see the Watchdog return someday.
All Good Wishes
A sad day for the Watchdog to be off line.
As the city council gets ready to install some Gestapo tactics for our police and other enforcement officers to harass citizens and visitors alike.
Now the police will be more concerned with ticketing smokers in non-approved areas then they will be in solving more serious crimes.
And those that ran afoul of code enforcement,and there are many, now face the real prospect of having to face a city appointed attorney, Who gets paid by the city, and probably his performance, and continuing job prospects will depend upon the amount of fines levyed against property owners. The city currently does not proscecute many cases because of the costs involved in taking the violators to court against the amount of money the city ends up with. All this could change.