Arts panel flap is pure silliness
I am appalled that ostensibly, educated adults have apparently lost all vestiges of common sense.
No member of the Arlington Heights Arts Commission sits on the board of directors of the Arlington Heights Historical Society and Museum and regardless of any "donation" to the Society, it is the Society Curator that makes the decision as to the art that is displayed in the art show.
In addition, the Curator is a paid staff employee and is not an employee of the Museum. Therefore, she cannot possibly benefit from any contribution made by the Arts Commission to the Museum to aid in covering the costs incurred for the display of Arlington Heights resident artists.
A small $200 donation is hardly an amount that would enrich any of us and barely covers the cost of the Exhibit.
Members of the Arts Commission have been showing their art since 2002, in the Museum Gallery, without any accusations of impropriety. They are merely displaying works of art they personally created. No art is sold at or during the display.
How the legal department can even begin to suggest that such a display could be an indication of impropriety on the part of anyone, is certainly mystifying.
The ruling by the village legal department seems to be stretching a policy designed to discourage corrupt practices and may be the result of a member of the legal department with too much time on her hands.
If so, I offer an alternative. Direct that idle time to joining the board of directors of the Historical Society.
Michael J. Singer
Arlington Heights