Nineteen brand-new scoop shovels were donated to Cortland County legislators as they started Thursday's meeting in legislative chambers on the third floor of the county office building. The legislators were handed the shovels by the county treasurer. When questioned about the purpose and the name of the donor, the county treasurer said that an explanation and purpose for the gifts could be found on tags attached to each shovel, and that the donor wished to remain anonymous.
Reporters and witnesses speculated that the shovels had something to do with the annual Cortland County Legislators' Manure Pile Tossing Contest to be staged at the county fairgrounds later this year. (Legislator Arnold won last year's contest.) Several legislators were asked to divulge or explain the message, but the legislators nervously removed the tags, placed the shovels on the floor, and refused comment.
Following an executive session on the administrator's new contract, a question arose about the ethics of accepting a gift of a shovel. Since no specific value for each shovel was known, and since the gifts did not appear to influence the legislators or create a conflict of interest, the question was set aside for study by the ethics committee. Meanwhile, the legislators agreed to keep the shovels.
At the conclusion of the meeting, reporters again asked legislators about the message on the tags. Someone heard Chairman Park tell reporters that he would provide an answer to their question "later, perhaps tomorrow."
The mystery message, however, has not been made public at the time of this post.
Anyone who knows anything about the mystery message tagged to the handle of these scoop shovels, or the name of the donor, is requested to leave a comment to this post.
Prior posts Historic Swap of Assets (Part A), and Trojan Jack-Ass (Part B) dated October 12, 2011, and Nineteen County Legislators Found Dead at County Landfill dated September 20, 2011, have something in common with this current post.
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