The wisest piece of advice ever offered is that the only thing to do with a bad deal is get out of it. Immediately. It is also the hardest to follow. In personal, business or public affairs, people become emotionally attached to bad deals simply because it is humbling to admit error. Clinging to bad deals is a distraction. It leads to failure.

The City of Brady has many bad deals on the books. They cost more money every year as evidenced by the ever-increasing budget and deteriorating vital, basic public services. The first priority is to identify bad deals and get rid of them. Right now, if it doesn't improve water, electricity, sanitation, roads and security in Brady, it is a bad deal and a distraction. When one pops up on the agenda, terminate it. Immediately. That means, right now.

At the last City Council meeting (See Priorities and Distractions), the first distraction was about grants that might be available to the City. There is no such thing as a free lunch, so forget about it. "The Man's" Jonestown Kool-Aid is free money. Brady has had enough of it, maybe even a fatal dose. (See The Terrible High Price of "Free"). Fire the grant writers and consultants on the spot. It will save a little money and free our mind.

The second distraction at the October 1 City Council meeting was the MUDualistic ATV Park. This project has been doomed to failure from the beginning. The developer did not have enough capital to even begin the project, much less complete it. The idea that MUDualistic would be able to ignore federal, state and local law is ludicrous. To begin a project by alienating, threatening and publicly humiliating adjoining landowners is foolish beyond comment. All this was pointed out to the City Council in August of last year. The entire MUDualistic project sounds like something a bunch of drunks would come up with just before they puke and pass out. It is a bad deal that has gone on too long.

About six people that were in City Government (James Stewart, James Minor, Gail Lohn, Kathi Masonheimer, Randy Barrows and Susan Horton) rammed the MUDualistic development through. Notice that three of them no longer have their positions. The three that remain appear to be perilously close to putting MUDualistic's interests ahead of the interests of The City of Brady, Chamber of Commerce, the EDC and the people of Brady.

In the meantime, MUDualistic becomes increasingly belligerent and threatening toward anyone who disagrees with them.

These three seem to have forgotten that MUDualistic is a private developer, responsible for all costs associated with the project in return for 80% of the gross revenues generated and an equity interest in the business developed.

Many feel MUDualistic has received benefit of public funds, labor, equipment and material that is not available to all citizens. A forensic audit would tell whether those feelings are correct or not. If any public funds, equipment, labor or material have been transferred to MUDualistic without full payment to the city, the mess becomes a criminal matter instead of just a distraction. It is past time to cut losses and close this bad deal before it becomes worse and even more costly.