Ignorance fails to solve problems
There are many reasons people don’t want to hear the truth. If they don’t know about a problem, they can’t be held responsible for it or be expected to resolve it. It will be someone else’s worry, not theirs.
As long as they remain uninformed they are not burdened with stress or tension, which can lead to depression and sleepless nights.
Knowing the details or the extent of a serious problem in the community can also result in frustration, anger and even embarrassment. People naturally want to be proud of the community in which they live.
Reactions to the delivery of negative information, from a poor report card to a business bankruptcy, vary in their intensity, but they can include retaliation or punishment.
Dave McAdoo had no illusions. He knew no one likes to hear bad news, but he also realized that attempting to conceal or downplay information about drug abuse problems would only make the problems worse.
McAdoo was the executive director of the Fayette County Drug and Alcohol Commission until he accepted a new assignment in a larger agency north of Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. During his years of service here, he was heavily involved in numerous community projects aimed at fighting the twin problems of crime and drug abuse.
The nature of his job put him frequently in the center of controversy. If you didn’t want to hear bad news, if you didn’t want to know how bad the drug problem is in Fayette County, if it would make you uncomfortable to know how some young people were using certain drugs, then you didn’t want to talk with Dave. He would tell you the truth, straight up.
Because Dave pulled no punches, he made some people uncomfortable. He was advised, on more than one occasion, to tone down his comments when speaking to a civic group about the drug problems in the county.
Some might ask what harm could be done if McAdoo put a public relations positive spin on his reports to the public. Dave knew it would be the absolute worst thing he could do. If he withheld facts which some people found shocking, such as teen-agers using heroin, Dave knew the battle against drug abuse would be lost.
The public wants to hear that the war against drugs is being won. They want to hear that pre-teens are not abusing drugs.
That the schools are drug free. That their children and even their grandchildren are not being exposed to illegal substances.
He was fully aware of the criticism he always received for exposing the extent of the drug problems. The bearer of bad news, in this case McAdoo, was a target for those who prefer to sweep problems under a rug.
What would happen if McAdoo remained silent while such problems exist in the community, or if he said nothing when he knew the abuse of drugs was becoming even more widespread?
He knew for certain that without public attention the drug problems would only get worse.
He also knew that parents needed to know true facts about illegal drug sales so they could take steps to protect their children.
Ignoring reality or pretending that the community does not have serious drug abuse issues creates a dark atmosphere for such illegal activity to flourish, affecting more young children, ruining more families, and raising the crime rate.
The entire community population loses.
Dave McAdoo was a dedicated, committed public servant, willing to sacrifice his own personal comfort and sometimes risk his professional career, to keep the community involved and informed of the drug abuse threats in the battle against drug addiction. He will be difficult to replace.
Mike Ellis is the editor of the Herald-Standard. His e-mail address is: mellis@heraldstandard.com.