Common Sense

It’s a dated story, but the copyrighted coverage of the Waco Tribune Herald on Downtown Waco, Inc.’s recent fiduciary challenges deserves mention here.

Crux: The organization’s board initiated an internal investigation that has grown to a criminal investigation by the Waco Police Department after the potential of misappropriations surfaced this year. All this followed the retirement of the organization’s long-time executive director, whose name is now being described as central to the entire issue. Read it at the source: Reality check: Former Downtown Waco director targeted in investigation of missing funds.

Word on the street is this: the organization is credited with revitalizing the downtown Waco area. How exactly it differs from the Chamber and the specific economic development groups in the community - I’m not sure, other than the specific focus on the downtown as a very formally defined area.

What’s astonishing about all this are the ironies and surprises.

1) The woman who is in the middle of all this was lauded like Superwoman in the local press when she retired, including at the Trib. There was a big community celebration planned in her honor that was suddenly cancelled when the first percolations of this issue surfaced.

2) The newspaper (OK, J.B. Smith) had to really dig for details on this, but what a coup to find that the Trib’s own check to the organization appeared to be deposited directly into the woman’s personal bank account?

3) Most shocking is the fact that a non-profit could go missing at least $70,000 according to the reports, and still accomplish all the good things it did for Downtown Waco - so much in fact that community leaders are really struggling because they don’t want to see this organization collapse. What I want to know is how any non-profit in this day and age can operate for anything more than a month missing that much money and still get its work done to rave reviews?

This story and the reporting have just been riveting. It’s like your grandmother being accused of abusing puppies or something similarly heinous. You don’t want to believe it, you try not to believe it, and even when presented the facts, you’re just dumbfounded. Amazing.