Vernon
Q ..
Oh yes.
A ..
You know a lot of people didn't care for him, but I liked him.
Q ..
Well, you knew where you stood with him.
A ..
Oh yes. He always treated me good. He'd listen to my side of the story and even though
he'd get different advice from other people, he still would listen to what I had to say. He
didn't always agree with me but he would listen and then make his decision. But I always
told him out flatly several times, "John, what I'm telling you is for your own protection.
You don't have to agree with me and do what I'm suggesting, but you need to know about
it before you make the decision. You'd be unwise to make a decision without knowing
about what I'm telling you. So you better listen to me when I tell you about this. He
took it in that context.
He agreed that he really should know about that. I said, "It's bad for you to be given
advice on doing something without knowing the ramifications of it. Now you really need
to know what the hell the outcome might be if you make that decision. So he would take
it gracefully. But he would really get wild at times though. He knew he had to do
something when I'd tell him about field issues. He'd say, "God almighty, that's going to
cause a lot of problems. I've got a General out there who just doesn't want to do this.
But anyway' it worked out pretty good.
Q ..
The politics of dealing with the Directors of Civil Works and the division engineers have
got to be really a painful thing sometimes.
A ..
I got one general pretty mad at me. He would never speak to me again. Just because we
I just couldn't agree
had a disagreement over at the Rivers and Harbors Board one
with what he was saying. He didn't like me to tell him something different apparently
because he never would speak to me again.
Q ..
Well, just as long as they don't come in to be your boss.
A ..
Well, I was pretty sure this guy wasn't. I knew he wasn't as a matter of fact.
Q ..
Well, that's okay then. You don't have to worry too much about that.
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