John Rose

Long ago and far away Kadizzle was a new resident in the town of Hazen, North Dakota. The little town was having a meeting about taxes and the public was invited for comments. In front of about 75 people who wanted to bitch about their taxes was a panel of the town commissioners, and the tax assessor. Ed was the town tax assessor. As the meeting went on people made their comments, and then John Rose stood up. He must have been eighty. Like an old man his balance was not good, and he was frail. John stretched his right arm out with a pointing finger like a shotgun. Pointing at the rotund Ed, John said " That man, that man right there is an idiot, everyone in town knows it" It was one of the funniest moments Kadizzle can remember. The way John said it was perfect. John said it with a shaky old man voice, and you could tell by his demeanor he could not understand why anyone would not recognize the problem. 

Indeed, John was correct. Ed assessed the value of homes by how much the owner made not what the home was worth. At one time in history a doctor bought the house at the end of our street. It was a cheap run down house the doctor intended to fix up, but before he made any improvements Ed came to assess the home. 

Looking about the house Ed kept muttering " It is a shame, it is a shame".  Finally the doctor inquired what is the problem. Simple minded Ed replied "It is a shame you will have to pay the taxes you will be charged on this house". The doctor asked Ed to explain. Ed replied that the house was run down, but the doctor would have to pay based on his doctor salary. 

Kadizzle learned in Hazen many government decisions were made on who you were and if you were born locally. Out of town people were expected to pay more for everything. Kadizzle bought property to build a home and was going to be charged three times more for street assessments than the people on the other side of the street. Before the Kadizzles had a home in Hazen they looked for a rental. One woman asked what the rent was said one quarter of your salary. Asked to explain the woman said " You make good money and we are entitled to our share".  Hoopleheads have a different operating system in their brain. It is not really logic like we know it. Instead it is some mix of what grandpa and dad taught the Hoople.