Here's a story just begging for some of that olde tyme investigative journalism. What on Earth are we to make of this situation?
- Contentious city election season in which fears surface that a candidate will sell Amarillo's water to Mesa Petroleum
- Candidate most widely believed to be conspiring to sell water loses election
- Five days pass
- Mesa announces that it is no longer pursuing water purchases
There may be nothing to see here. It's really really really really difficult to tell, because the story is cobbled together rather badly, even by Amarillo Globe-Republican standards. For one thing, it's a balance victim.
In its news release, Mesa said the Panhandle has more than enough water to supply local needs and places downstate.
[snip]
Not so, said [Kent] Satterwhite [the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority's general manager]
OK. Mesa says we have plenty of water, local authorities say . . . not so much. We already know about this difference of opinion. But we'd lo-oo-oo-ve to know what's up with Mesa's latest decision. Was this decision made before or after the election? Why? Did Mesa decide they wouldn't pursue purchases since their toady lost? Or maybe maybe maybe Hodger the Dodger was telling the truth and he did hate T. Boone Pickens like the Black Death, and maybe maybe maybe T. Boone is just announcing this decision now to make the Dodger look like he's Boone's accomplice . . .
The article as written by Kevin Welch doesn't merely invite such useless idle speculations; it drags speculations inside, handcuffs them to the bed, and touches their knee, all night long. This piece is Jacques Derrida's waking dream; it self-deconstructs into an endless universe of free-play and multiple possible meanings. The only possible substantive meanings are found in the binary oppositions: each unit is defined only by what it is not. CRMWA is not Mesa. Mesa is not CRMWA. Mesa is not a water buyer. Hodger the Dodger is not mayor of Amarillo. Spacedark is not understanding what the hell is going on here.
SPACEDARK
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