Tiger GPS: Government and Public Service Blog

2020 Presidential Candidates continue to call for free college tuition, in at least some circumstances. Public schooling is free from K-5 to grade 12. Some suggest that public colleges and universities should also be free. I disagree, higher education is a privilege not a right. Just like having a driver’s license, it is a privilege. I agree that everyone should have the opportunity to go to college, but that is where scholarship and grants come into play. The American tax payers cannot afford to send anyone who wants to go to college for free. We already pay enough in taxes as it is right now. After you graduate, you get a job and then guess what, now you are paying for all of these people to go to college on your hard-earned money. Next, if you flood the college system with hundreds of thousands of new students, you devalue the degrees. Now everyone can have the same education as you. How are you going to be marketable for a job when you have the same degree as everyone else that is applying for the same position? You can only go so high in the education system.

I say all of this to let people know that if you want something in life you have to go and get it. Nothing is free in this world. Everything comes with a price. So when people are complaining that college is too expensive and they can’t afford to go to school, I agree, but in order to get ahead in life you have to make sacrifices.

There are many solutions to going to college for free or for a reduced price. You can apply for scholarships and grants. However, many of these need to be revised. College tuition has risen so much over the past 10 years, now scholarship and grant processes need to catch up with the times. You can work for a company that offers college reimbursements. Many employers will help pay for your college tuition if you just ask. Then, there is the military. They truly offer free college tuition, but just like everything else in life, it’s not really free. You have to serve our county in order to come out with a college degree. So the moral of the story is if you want a college degree, “suck it up buttercup” – you have to pay for it just like everyone else.

In mid-September of 2019, I returned from the Bahamas after helping with the early disaster relief efforts on the ground in Abaco, where the eyewall of Hurricane Dorian passed through the area with record-level winds and storm surge. Our team was able to make over 1,000 gallons of drinking water and nearly 5,000 gallons of clean water for hygiene and sanitation for a community of Marsh Harbour residents that lost almost everything they owned.

When we arrived, there were almost 250 people in a shelter set up at the local primary school that had not had access to clean water in several days. We were able to purify fresh water that was stored in a cistern located in a utility building next to the school, meeting an urgent need for those in the shelter and in the surrounding community. Over the days we were there, the population in the shelter dropped nearly to zero, but the people in the surrounding neighborhoods started coming to get water from us.

I can truly say that I have never seen such widespread destruction in all my life. The entire town of Marsh Harbour was destroyed along with other communities on Abaco. While some better-constructed structures were still standing, none escaped without at least some damage. Electric utility poles were snapped. At the town’s water treatment plant, one of the large water storage tanks was shifted off its foundation while the other had its top ripped off. The trees that were still standing were stripped of their greenery. Water made it all the way into the second stories of most houses during the storm. Cars, boats, and debris were transported by the high waters and deposited in places where they didn’t belong. Several poorer communities (primarily consisting of Haitian immigrants) where the houses were not necessarily built to withstand even moderate hurricanes were wiped completely off the map. The extent of the loss of human life will likely never be fully known. Bodies were still being recovered as I was departing.

Most people had a story involving the personal loss of a family member or friend. The most extreme case I encountered involved a pair of brothers (around ages 15 and 13) who had lost their father in the storm. Their mother was no longer around, either. They were trying to decide whether to evacuate with at least one younger sibling to Nassau (the capital city, located on another island about 100 miles to the south) or to stay in their home. While the answer seemed obvious to me, the shock of the situation, the uncertainties surrounding evacuation, and the boys’ relative lack of life experience all conspired against them to create confusion and doubt. I spent some time talking with them, encouraging them to consider their younger brothers’ and/or sisters’ health and safety. At the end of our discussion, they seemed convinced that evacuation was the right answer, but I was unable to confirm whether they made it out or not. I did not see them return to our water point before I departed.

Despite all the misery and suffering, I also encountered a number of stories of strength and resilience. People were generally helping one another in whatever ways they could. They talked about rebuilding and were hopeful for the future – even in the face of the total destruction of their community.

The trip was a swirled mix of contradictory feelings. It was heart-breaking and inspiring. Emotionally draining but spiritually filling. Exhausting and energizing, all at the same time. I am glad to be home, but I ache to be back there again, knowing that these wonderful people have a long road ahead of them in order to get their lives back to normal. Please don’t forget them as they will need continued prayers and support in order to rebuild and restore their communities.

Photos and videos documenting some of my experiences and in Marsh Harbour as well as links to selected outside resources with additional information about Hurricane Dorian’s destruction in the Bahamas can be found online at https://sites.google.com/view/marsh-harbour/home.

April 9th, 2019, was like any other day at work. I logged in to my computer, checked my email, and did my supplement reports to criminal investigations. I also used my personal computer to register for Fall 2019 semester as I continue to pursue a master’s degree. There were no warning signs of what tomorrow would bring.

The following morning, I looked at my work cell phone and noticed that I hadn’t received a work email since about 3 am. I just figured it was a slow night and didn’t think much of it. At 8 am, I walked into the Greenville, NC, Police Department and saw a paper note taped to the door stating: “Do not use/turn on computers! Virus city wide!” It would seem that fate had a sense of irony as I was at the time studying cybersecurity in my homeland security class. An interesting question posed in the course was “who is responsible for cybersecurity?”

My first thought was this security breakdown was the fault of the information technology (IT) department. How could the subject matter experts not keep our computers secure from outside threats? It should be as simple as “Googling” the answer. Then I realized that I couldn’t even “Google” the answer myself or email them to ask them these questions. The communication channels that I had been accustom to as a working adult for the past two decades were gone. I felt like I was back in the early days of local government and might have to walk over to the IT office to ask them what the next steps in recovery were. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that IT was not solely responsible for this. It was my naïveté to think that way.

My second thought was that this was the administration’s fault. How could our leaders fail the community and their employees by getting hacked? After all, they are paid the “big bucks” to oversee the city and make the best decisions for all. With all the city policies written about scenarios, it was difficult to realize that there was nothing in place for such an event. The convenience of using and over-reliance on the internet had been exposed. However, essential city functions like police and EMS response remained intact due to those services not solely relying on computers. While we still had simple but useful tools for communication for our staff working the streets (two way, multi-channel radios), we were forced back to paper processing. (What is amusing about the timing is that the police department had just gone through a significant upgrade to our online records management system.) The further into the situation we went, the more I realized administration was not primarily responsible for our vulnerability and was critical in coordinating efforts on our road to recovery.

After more than 45 days of computerless activities at the office, I concluded that it was not the fault of a single individual or department. We all failed to recognize that cybersecurity is the responsibility of everyone. Only in the past two years had we started city in-services about phishing and other lazy cyber attack methods. This was a step in the right direction, but more efforts were needed to educate ourselves on how to protect ourselves and our communities. There is no simple solution to the complex question of how we protect ourselves online. If we start to consider this general problem as a real threat, maybe we can start moving in the right direction in terms of learning and applying the best practices.

A fundamental concept that I have learned in my cybersecurity class at Clemson is that you control what you choose to click; therefore, users should stop and think before they click. Another concept is to have an incident response plan to a cyber attack, similar to a disaster response plan. This would help with confusion about roles and more progression in recovery efforts. It is not a top-down solution nor a bottom-up problem, and everyone has a stake in promoting good cybersecurity habits and what better time than now.

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution forbids the taking of private property for public use without “just compensation.”  The authority of federal, state, and local government to take private property for public use providing just compensation to the owner is called “Eminent Domain.” Is this policy fair? How does the government justify compensation of the landowner?  Is the public need of the land greater than the owner’s use of the land?

~No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. 

Currently, my family has land that will be taken over by the state of North Carolina for widening the road needed for double railroad carts to come through the town of Waco, NC.  The current bridge that is in Waco will not allow for double railroad carts, so the state is going to widen the road and raise the bridge to accommodate the transportation need of double railroad carts.  The town of Waco is approximately a half-mile long and on this stretch of land that resides the major businesses of Waco.  A county store, gas station, post office, feed store, car lot, and church. My family owns the land and building the church is on, plus behind that land, there are eight apartments that my family owns as well. The rent the church pays and the income from the rentals of the eight apartments is currently what is paying for the healthcare of my Grandmother.  The process of eminent domain will include my family’s land, all eight apartments and the church.  In addition, taking over the other major businesses in the Town of Waco.  The state does not take into consideration that my family is using that money and income to pay for my Grandmother’s healthcare needs.  Yes, they will pay our family for the value of the land, however, there will no longer be an asset that generates passive income left for our family.  There is no explanation other than we must go along and sell this land to the state for the railroad system to take into effect.  This will totally wipe out the entire town of Waco with no businesses left to provide for the town. I do believe in this circumstance there is greater use of the land for the landowners, the town of Waco, and the community members of this town.

True, the government must pay just compensation to take someone’s property with the power of eminent domain. It is a safeguard written into the Constitution by the founding fathers. The principle of just compensation ensures that the needs of the country are met through eminent domain, while at the same time guaranteeing that the individual will not alone bear the brunt of public use without being fairly compensated for the loss of land or property.

Most eminent domain cases in North Carolina, therefore, focus on what the land or property is worth, and not whether the government can be stopped. Scenarios in which the government may exercise eminent domain include, but are not limited to:

• Building a highway or road
• Building a school
• Creating a greenway or green space
• Building a public park
• Putting down water or natural gas lines
• Installing electric lines, poles, and access areas to reach them
• Putting down communication cables such as telephone cables or fiber-optic lines
• Building a hospital
• Constructing a public administration building, such as a Town Hall

An eminent domain attorney in NC, Chris Beacham, remarks, “In reality, the government’s power in this aspect of the case is pretty broad and one-sided against the property owner. That’s why it’s good to put some power on the property owner side to ensure that they are paid full market value for the property taken and for the damages or diminution in value to any remaining property.”

I do not believe anyone in the MPA program doubts how powerful social media can be with politics. Our current president may be the most galvanizing subject to ever land on a social media feed.  Is that a good thing?  One can certainly argue either side of that question.  The number of Americans engaged, enraged, and debating policy topics on Facebook is astonishing.

Our news media platforms are able to post an article within moments after an event occurred.  In turn, the Facebook-ing population can take a clickbait headline, not even read the article, and post an emotion-fueled opinion that satisfies their urge to vent. Often times, the event does not have any direct or significant impact to their daily lives, but regardless, emotions are spilled.  Our society may be more informed than ever, but they are surface-level informed. Weeding out the opinions from facts, exaggerations from detailed content, and attention-grabbing headlines from true statements can often be difficult and time-consuming.  From the Kavanaugh appointment and Trump’s daily remarks, to immigration and healthcare reform, the polarizing political conversations will only continue to shape our perspectives and future elections.

There are certainly positives to how open and abundant the news has become. Americans are engaged in a number of conversations online and they care.  That’s the keyword – care.  Regardless of whether or not they care for the right or wrong reason, an incredible number of Americans genuinely care about what is happening in DC and their own state’s government.  The numerous platforms and forums have also shed a greater light on domestic social issues and our federal government’s diplomacy.  The culture of this nation is evolving rapidly, nearly the same pace as our technological advances.  Injustices cannot hide from the public in today’s social media era.

With the good comes the bad.  The United States feels more divided now than at any point in the last few decades (or longer). While the emotions raging on Facebook may only represent a minority, and the extremists of that minority, they are still visible to millions of viewers.  The term “fake news” is thrown around daily from both liberal and conservative news media outlets.  Americans have a sharp decline in trust from what is perceived as news. According to a 2018 report by the Knight Foundation, “Most U.S. adults, including more than nine in 10 Republicans, say they personally have lost trust in the news media in recent years. At the same time, 69% of those who have lost trust say that trust can be restored.”  If you cannot trust the news to stay current on significant events, who can you trust?

Where do we go from here?  There is little doubt that inaccurate news and social media will play a significant role in upcoming elections.  Should we amend what is available to the public on various social media platforms?  If so, is it feasible without infringing on constitutional rights?  Do we ride out this wave and hope our population performs its due diligence and finds facts in the garden of lies and exaggerations? One thing is certain:  it is an incredible time for political and policy news.

Dearest MPA Colleagues – I recently recorded an episode of Cerner Corporations’ official podcast, “Perspectives on Health and Tech.” In the episode, titled Why Veterans and Service members need a modern EHR, I ask Veteran, former congressman and Cerner Government Advisory Board member Patrick J. Murphy these questions:

• How have your experiences in the federal government and cybersecurity spaces informed your view of how we can provide the best health care for Service members, families and Veterans?

• What’s your personal experience with receiving military health care?

• How will Cerner’s federal work help transform health care for all?

• How does your position as a commissioner of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission relate to federal health care modernization?

• Why should companies participate in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes campaign?

• What do you want to accomplish as a member of the Cerner Government Advisory Board?

I invite you to engage with the Cerner social media posts on Facebook ,Twitter and LinkedIn and to share the podcast on your own channels. You can find the link here https://www.cerner.com/blog/why-veterans-and-service-members-need-a-modern-ehr . You can also listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music and Stitcher.