July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Community dinner set for Thanksgiving (11/13/07)
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
Thanksgiving Day is quickly approaching and the committee for the 17th Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner is busily making preparations for serving a hearty festive meal to hundreds of individuals. Around the tables at Asbury Church there will be individuals and families who are unable to commute to a family gathering; some with financial challenges and unable to prepare the traditional meal for their family; and there will also be many people who attend this community event simply for the fun, fellowship, and the delicious food it offers.
In addition to the meal and the opportunity to gather with others, there will again be a variety of door prizes and gift certificates to various local businesses. Our hope is to provide a bit of enjoyment and to give the home budget some relief even after the holidays are over.
As always, we are looking forward to including the homebound in this holiday tradition by furnishing double portions of food to carry them through a long weekend. If you are homebound, we have many drivers standing by who are anxious to deliver a traditional meal to your home. Please call either the Asbury U. M. Church at (260) 726-8464 or Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church at (260) 726-8832 (mornings) with your request. If you choose to brighten the day of homebound individuals by joining them for dinner, feel free to stop by Asbury for the number of carryout meals you will need.
If you have your own holiday tradition with your family but would like to lend a hand, please feel free to make an extra dish (in a disposable container, please) and drop it off at Asbury as you travel to your gathering. Any dish is welcome, but vegetables are especially needed.
Or, if you want to spend an hour or two assisting as needed, we invite you to stop by at your convenience. Help is always needed in homebound preparation (9-11 a.m.), homebound delivery (11-noon), serving the dinner and drinks in the Fellowship Hall (at 1 p.m.), and the clean-up (between 3:30-5:30 p.m.).
The welcome mat is out to the entire Jay community. We encourage all of you to join us for this heartwarming day. Even if you cannot be a part of this celebration, we hope your family shares a bountiful holiday of peace, joy, and serenity.
Dolphus Stephens, member
Community Thanksgiving
Dinner Committee
Arrogance
To the editor:
When I read last week's edition of The Commercial Review, I couldn't believe the unmitigated arrogance of the Jay School Board. After being told by the people that they didn't want to fund an extra gym at the high school, they voted to fund one by diverting money from the capital project fund.
Originally they voted for a bond issue to fund a $4.5 million gym. After enough signatures were raised to start a petition drive where the side with the most signatures wins, the board voted to cancel the project. They claimed that the state would not have allowed the bond issue anyway. Logic tells us, of course, that they would never have voted for the bond issue if they thought the state would block it.
The truth is that they put their finger in the wind and realized that if they held the petition drive they would be creamed so badly that they could never claim even minimal support for the project.
Their response to the "will of the people" was to scale back the project enough to fund it with money confiscated from the capital project fund. If they honestly believed they had the support of the people they would fund it with a bond issue so the people would have a voice in the funding. Instead they chose to sneak behind the people's back. If they blow $2 million on this project then, in a few years, they can tell us they need to raise taxes to fund a $2 million bond issue for needed school repairs and we won't be able to turn that down.
By then we are supposed to forget that they used the money already earmarked for repairs to build the "Bryan Alexander" memorial gym.
Whoever did the math for the project needs to say "I'm not smarter than a fifth grader." Or maybe it should be "I'm a lot sneakier than a fifth grader." We are told that they will fund the gym with $250,000 per year set aside from the capital projects fund and that they will have $1 million for the project by the end of 2009.
A total of $250,000 times two equals $500,000. Take out $100,000 for the engineering firm and they are $600,000 short unless they plan to utilize $600,000 in taxpayer money already earmarked for school repairs.
Our praises go out to Larry Paxson, who voted against pilfering the money from the capital project fund and who "expressed concerns about the state of existing buildings." We seem to have exactly one honest member on the school board. Halstead and Masters were wishy-washy but gave in to the establishment. Could it have anything to do with the fact that only Larry has around 40 years of school administration experience?
The CR story said "President Bryan Alexander noted that when compared to other school corporation's debt relative to their budgets, Jay Schools are below the state average. "It's not the numbers. It's the ratios,'" Alexander was quoted.
Bryan, Indiana's per-capita income is $31,173, and Jay County's per-capita income is $16,686. It's not whether you can afford your mortage, it's if you can afford your tax bill. Many retired people pay more per month for taxes than their mortgage. Jay County's ratio is 54 percent. Is Jay County School's ratio greater than 54 percent Mr. Alexander?
I will be actively campaigning against Jay Halstead, Mike Masters, Bryan Alexander, Greg Wellman, Frank Vormohr and Mike Shannon when they come up for re-election. I will make sure that "we the people" will not forget their elitist arrogance and hurt the average taxpayer behavior.
And by the way, since we were promised in the spring that they would not have to raise taxes to build the $4.5 million gym, why haven't I heard anything yet about our tax cut?
Stephen Erwin
Portland[[In-content Ad]]
Thanksgiving Day is quickly approaching and the committee for the 17th Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner is busily making preparations for serving a hearty festive meal to hundreds of individuals. Around the tables at Asbury Church there will be individuals and families who are unable to commute to a family gathering; some with financial challenges and unable to prepare the traditional meal for their family; and there will also be many people who attend this community event simply for the fun, fellowship, and the delicious food it offers.
In addition to the meal and the opportunity to gather with others, there will again be a variety of door prizes and gift certificates to various local businesses. Our hope is to provide a bit of enjoyment and to give the home budget some relief even after the holidays are over.
As always, we are looking forward to including the homebound in this holiday tradition by furnishing double portions of food to carry them through a long weekend. If you are homebound, we have many drivers standing by who are anxious to deliver a traditional meal to your home. Please call either the Asbury U. M. Church at (260) 726-8464 or Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church at (260) 726-8832 (mornings) with your request. If you choose to brighten the day of homebound individuals by joining them for dinner, feel free to stop by Asbury for the number of carryout meals you will need.
If you have your own holiday tradition with your family but would like to lend a hand, please feel free to make an extra dish (in a disposable container, please) and drop it off at Asbury as you travel to your gathering. Any dish is welcome, but vegetables are especially needed.
Or, if you want to spend an hour or two assisting as needed, we invite you to stop by at your convenience. Help is always needed in homebound preparation (9-11 a.m.), homebound delivery (11-noon), serving the dinner and drinks in the Fellowship Hall (at 1 p.m.), and the clean-up (between 3:30-5:30 p.m.).
The welcome mat is out to the entire Jay community. We encourage all of you to join us for this heartwarming day. Even if you cannot be a part of this celebration, we hope your family shares a bountiful holiday of peace, joy, and serenity.
Dolphus Stephens, member
Community Thanksgiving
Dinner Committee
Arrogance
To the editor:
When I read last week's edition of The Commercial Review, I couldn't believe the unmitigated arrogance of the Jay School Board. After being told by the people that they didn't want to fund an extra gym at the high school, they voted to fund one by diverting money from the capital project fund.
Originally they voted for a bond issue to fund a $4.5 million gym. After enough signatures were raised to start a petition drive where the side with the most signatures wins, the board voted to cancel the project. They claimed that the state would not have allowed the bond issue anyway. Logic tells us, of course, that they would never have voted for the bond issue if they thought the state would block it.
The truth is that they put their finger in the wind and realized that if they held the petition drive they would be creamed so badly that they could never claim even minimal support for the project.
Their response to the "will of the people" was to scale back the project enough to fund it with money confiscated from the capital project fund. If they honestly believed they had the support of the people they would fund it with a bond issue so the people would have a voice in the funding. Instead they chose to sneak behind the people's back. If they blow $2 million on this project then, in a few years, they can tell us they need to raise taxes to fund a $2 million bond issue for needed school repairs and we won't be able to turn that down.
By then we are supposed to forget that they used the money already earmarked for repairs to build the "Bryan Alexander" memorial gym.
Whoever did the math for the project needs to say "I'm not smarter than a fifth grader." Or maybe it should be "I'm a lot sneakier than a fifth grader." We are told that they will fund the gym with $250,000 per year set aside from the capital projects fund and that they will have $1 million for the project by the end of 2009.
A total of $250,000 times two equals $500,000. Take out $100,000 for the engineering firm and they are $600,000 short unless they plan to utilize $600,000 in taxpayer money already earmarked for school repairs.
Our praises go out to Larry Paxson, who voted against pilfering the money from the capital project fund and who "expressed concerns about the state of existing buildings." We seem to have exactly one honest member on the school board. Halstead and Masters were wishy-washy but gave in to the establishment. Could it have anything to do with the fact that only Larry has around 40 years of school administration experience?
The CR story said "President Bryan Alexander noted that when compared to other school corporation's debt relative to their budgets, Jay Schools are below the state average. "It's not the numbers. It's the ratios,'" Alexander was quoted.
Bryan, Indiana's per-capita income is $31,173, and Jay County's per-capita income is $16,686. It's not whether you can afford your mortage, it's if you can afford your tax bill. Many retired people pay more per month for taxes than their mortgage. Jay County's ratio is 54 percent. Is Jay County School's ratio greater than 54 percent Mr. Alexander?
I will be actively campaigning against Jay Halstead, Mike Masters, Bryan Alexander, Greg Wellman, Frank Vormohr and Mike Shannon when they come up for re-election. I will make sure that "we the people" will not forget their elitist arrogance and hurt the average taxpayer behavior.
And by the way, since we were promised in the spring that they would not have to raise taxes to build the $4.5 million gym, why haven't I heard anything yet about our tax cut?
Stephen Erwin
Portland[[In-content Ad]]
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