Something Named Carla: Stay Tuned

 Mysteries fascinate me immensely. I love a good mystery! How, what, when, where, and --most important of all--WHY did this happen? In solving a mystery, you must first gather the known facts, determine to what extent they fit together, and then come to a conclusion of probability.

 Sometimes the facts are so straightforward and in your face, it doesn't take much thinking to figure it out. Most things are not that great a mystery anyway. Sometimes, it's so obvious, you don't see it when it is staring you right in the face. Sometimes, it's hard to believe.  It may be so bold, so daring, so outrageous, and so hard to believe that anyone would have the nerve to do that. However, it is still the truth of the mystery. And sometimes, the truth really is stranger than fiction.

I have often wondered how former Cranfills Gap ISD Superintendent Carla Sigler was able to manipulate so many people into willingly doing her bidding. The facts show that much of what she did was harmful to others.   Much of what she did went so far beyond the realm of acceptable treatment of her fellow man, it is truly incomprehensible.

 I wonder how it was that so many apparently sane and normal people----especially Cranfills Gap school board members Kenny Wiese, Jeff Rose, Kathie Witte, Shelly Stuart, Virgil Tindall, and Ray Sorrels--- were willing to jump on Carla Sigler's bandwagon. Even today, with the Cranfills Gap school and town facing the unpleasant aftermath of her short stay, there are those who are still Carla Sigler's greatest supporters. They still vociferiously defend her to the death--- How dare you say anything bad about Dear Carla, my dear friend!

 Many of Carla's supporters still readily attack her detractors in private and in public. They spurn the friendship of those they had known and been friends with for many years--sometimes decades--even when it has come to light that things are not what they seemed to be, that Carla wasn't that saint they so loudly proclaimed her to be.  

Is it pride that prevents a person from saying to that old friend and neighbor, Gee, I wish all this hadn't happened this way... perhaps I misjudged some things, wish we could find a way to get past it? Is it having to admit you might have been wrong --just a little bit--about Carla Sigler, that whatever you thought about her, you must now recognize and accept the fact that the school and the town have suffered almost from the moment of her arrival.

 A brief apology could go a long way toward healing the town. It probably will never happen in Cranfills Gap, even for the sake of the school and the town. Most of those who supported Carla don't feel they have anything to apologize for. For those folks, it's a simple case of , "You are WRONG, and I am RIGHT! So there!!!!! "

This was proven by all the ridiculous comments on the KWTX Channel 10 website made by her supporters that ignored facts. Her supporters wouldn't even acknowledge that the Attorney General did find that Sigler and the Gap school board had broken the law and that there was serious wrongdoing by the board in the treatment of banned valedictorian Kaitlan Head in May of 2007.  

 The sometimes vicious comments by defenders and supporters of Carla Sigler and the Gap school board consisted mainly of personal attacks.  (You can determine this for yourself by Googling "cranfills gap school board" and accessing the KWTX news website listed which is about the fourth article down.)

Could it be that Carla's supporters never really liked those people anyway and were just pretending to like them all those years? Why would they suddenly turn their backs on old friends who were good neighbors and benefactors and supporters of the school and town for many years? You don't just wake up one morning and decide, Well, today is the day I am no longer friends with So-and-So, just because I feel like it. NO, something happens to change your mind. SOMETHING NAMED CARLA!

It may be too late to recover the magic and special qualities that not long ago were Cranfills Gap. It may have gone too far for any reconciliation, in whatever form, to ever take place. Human nature makes us mostly look out for ourselves, as proven by the Gap school board's willingness to lie to an Assistant Attorney General to protect themselves. 

 Life in Cranfills Gap will go on, but it will be Life after Carla, not the better Life it was before Carla. Most folks won't be able to get past it. And that's a shame for what used to be a great little school and a wonderful little town.

 Guess the Gap will just have to live with it, as "It is what it is." Whatever the consequences may be.

NOTE:      Please stay tuned. I will write more about and give examples of the mystery of Carla in others posts...............  

 P.S. Oh, by the way, I think I may already have a title for my million-dollar book I 'm writing about a tortured lost soul and her effect on her world and the world of those around her. I'll keep you posted!