My Turn to Squeal on Rodger Jones

I have something in common with the author of last week's fascinating Points essay, a woman who got raked over the coals by authorities for letting her kids play in the nearby park, unsupervised.

Source: Rodger Jones.

That's how Rodger Jones, editorial writer for The Dallas Morning News, sets the stage for his readers to sympathize with whatever it was that happened to him. Can you say false equivalence? Do you think Jones was innocent of wrongdoing, like the innocent woman he's comparing himself to? No, Jones admits, passively, that in his case "mistakes were made." Do you think maybe Jones "got raked over the coals" for those mistakes? No, Jones admits, "There were no coals in my case and no raking."

So what exactly does Jones have in common with the woman who suffered injustice? Let's find out, after the jump.

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Jones admits he violated the City of Richardson's watering restrictions, multiple times according to the information notice placed on his door. Someone reported him. He got a warning. No big deal. Certainly nothing like what that mother faced -- interrogation by Child Protective Services. Why try to compare himself to her? Why not just learn from the written information sheet he received and move on?

But Jones shows no sign of learning anything. Instead, he pleads that his "fancy sprinker system" is beyond his comprehension. He knows how to run it manually, but says he just can't remember to "turn the darn thing off." It's like he shouldn't be held to the same watering restrictions as everybody else because, well, "I forgot".

Instead of learning from this experience, Jones is obsessed with who it was who reported him. He has his "suspects" as if they are the ones who did something wrong. He calls them "enemies" as if people who are serious about conserving water in this drought hate him personally. He considers making an open-records request to find out who they are, idly musing about "what would I do with the information." You can almost hear this journalist who writes for The Dallas Morning News cackling "Bwahaha" while typing his column. It's understandable why someone might not want to confront Jones openly about his violations.

This column is the second Rodger Jones's dud in a short time. On the other hand, his colleague, Steve Blow, who has been in a slump for years, shows signs of coming out of it. I've got a deal I'd like to propose. How about Sunnyvale and Richardson ask The Dallas Morning News for a straight-up trade -- Steve Blow for Rodger Jones? OTOH, I'd trade them both to get Ian McCann back on the Richardson beat.