Failure to communicate

It's almost cliche — and we don't look favorably on cliches used in editorials — but a scene from the classic Paul Newman film, "Cool Hand Luke" seems about right in describing the breakdown of a deal to haul trash from Huron County to the Erie County Landfill in Milan. "What we've got here is, failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it. . . well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men." What we had last week, was the start of a trial in an Erie County court in a lawsuit filed by Erie County against Huron County. Erie County contends Huron County broke the deal without cause and cost the home county $1.2 million, the amount it is seeking to recover. It was a contract between the two county governments that benefited residents in both counties. It'd been in effect for about eight years before it was abruptly canceled in 2018 by Huron County officials, who have been reluctant for the last two years to be more expansive with an explanation of what happened. It seems, by the numbers, the contract with Erie County was a better deal for Huron County residents than the one that replaced it, which is identical in services rendered but more expensive. Instead of a partnership with Erie County, Huron County opted for a partnership with a privately owned landfill at a higher per ton cost. It's difficult to make sense out of that. It also seems there's a better way to haul trash than how it's being done now, which requires all trash get hauled to a transfer station in Huron County, where it's dumped and then reloaded again onto trailers for haul away to the landfill. Instead, Erie County proposed that trash be hauled directly to the nearest landfill, eliminating excessive travel by haulers and the labor of reloading the trash at the Transfer station. But that offer also was rejected, and it's difficult making sense of that, too. The trial, conducted in front of a visiting judge via Zoom, didn't provide much more explanation for why the bad breakup happened, why it was necessary to upend the deal rather than let it expire, or why the communication between county commissioners from both counties broke down. We're still scratching our heads about why there was a "failure to communicate." The comparison with "Cool Hand Luke" falters, a bit, in the search for that answer. These were the lines uttered a moment prior to the famous one from actor Strother Martin, playing the sadistic captain of a chain gang on which Newman's "Luke" served. "Wish you'd stop being so good to me, Captain," Luke says. "Don't you ever talk that way to me. Never. NEVER!" the Captain replies, brutally beating on Luke. The bench trial, in front of visiting Judge Janet Burnside, will continue into next week. We hope she keeps the interests of residents of both counties top of mind when she rules. We fear that's not what happened when the deal went south.