Time for change in Webbers Falls

By Dennis Berton
Local view

June 17, 2009 04:40 pm

— I remember moving back to beautiful Webbers Falls from California when I was 13 years old. There were several businesses in town. It was a great place to live, with very little crime, a place where you could raise your children and not worry about them getting hurt or in bad trouble.
Around 20 years later, I began to notice a change. Businesses started to go under. The road that once went down the center of town moved out around the city.
It was then that I first decided to run for city council, which I lost. While I was campaigning, the one thing that stands out in my mind was the attitude of the people. Now I understand why this city is in the state it’s in today. I was told by many of the people back then that if I did not like the way the town was being run, I could take the same road out that I came in on.
It’s sad to say that there are still some of those same people and attitudes here today.
But several of the townspeople came to me and asked if I would run for city council again. I did and I won.
I’m still hoping that it’s not too late to get this town off its hind legs and get something going for our young people to carry on with after we’re gone. I have the same thoughts, hopes and ideals that I had 20-plus years ago, about getting growth and business coming here.
But what I'm still being faced with today is running head to head into some of those same people that I had fought earlier — one still being the current mayor of years ago.
What I was told when first entering office was the law states that after this election, new officers would be elected directly.
Well, now we are going well into June and my predecessor has illegally blocked our stepping forward.
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure what is going on in this town, and some people are playing right into it and don’t even know it. We have to go by rules set in the Oklahoma Municipal League.
We have a mayor and a city manager. It just so happens right now that it’s the same person. The mayor gets $1,100 per month. The city manager gets $1,500 a month. The total equals $2,600 a month.
I'll say it one more time. Don’t be manipulated or deceived ... But enough of the negative. Negative brings negative.
We can only have hope for the future, and ask God to let us see the true path.
Dennis Berton is a Webbers Falls town trustee.