School project is a bad idea (06/14/07)

To the editor:

First, I would like to commend Mr. (Bob) Snyder for an excellent letter that he wrote and was printed June 1 in The Commercial Review. He pointed out several things that should at least get the Jay County taxpayers to start thinking and asking questions of the school board and administration.

I would like to point out a couple of things that has made me want to question whether the school board and administration really has all parties, including taxpayers and students, in mind or is it a personal agenda?

When the current renovation at Jay County High School was scaled back to not include a multipurpose building, many taxpayers, at least the ones I talked to, felt it should have been scaled back even further. But when some community leaders came forth and commended the school board for really making a great effort to scale back the project, it seemed we would have to live with that decision.

I personally feel that we, as taxpayers, should have fought harder, and here is why. At one of the first school board meetings after the time had elapsed for a remonstrance petition to be filed, a board member made the statement that since we (meaning board members) all know that a multipurpose building was always part of this project we need to find a way for it to become a reality.

He then asked Brad DeRome, the business manager for Jay Schools, if there was any way he could find some money to lay back for this building. If you remember at the time, according to the administration the Jay School Corp. was in a financial bind. Mr. DeRome's response was, as I remember, that he didn't know where it would come from.

But as we all know they did find $250,000 and have continued to do so, and now say they will have $750,000 to put towards a new building. Question: Where did this money come from? I know that the state has relaxed in recent years the rules as far as moving money from one account to the other. Did we just rob Peter to pay Paul?

If we did, what's going to happen to the projects that the $750,000 was supposed to fund? According to Dr. Long and Mr. Alexander, they will not have to raise taxes to fund this multipurpose building - only put us $6 million further in debt. And what happens when those other project have to be done? Will taxes then have to be raised? If so, I fail to see the difference.

Why this is upsetting to me and other taxpayers is because at the first 1028 hearing it was clearly evident that the swimming pool and another building to maintain was two things we could live without - at least until the board showed it could make a significant reduction in our debt.

In my opinion, to bring this multipurpose building up almost immediately is a slap in the face to Jay County taxpayers.

One last point. At the recent 1028 hearing held May 21, Mr. Alexander and Dr. Long both agreed that it becomes more prudent to bond and pay interest than to save for this project because of escalating construction costs.

Excuse me, but isn't this the type of thinking that has gotten this country and state and local governments in financial trouble, and debt goes higher and higher? In the words of a famous talk show host, "how's that workin' for ya?" If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got - which is more debt than even our great-grandkids can't pay off.

Here is a novel idea. If, as I have heard it said many times, we are doing this for the kids, then why not do everything possible to pay off our current debt and only borrow when extremely necessary so that the tax rate would not continually go up.

Would that help attract new business and industry so that more of our kids would have a job and an incentive to stay in Jay County?

Ralph Guingrich

Portland

Soldier's letter

To the editor:

To whom it may concern (which should be everyone). My name is Andrew Whitacre, or as many of you know me, that good-looking Whitacre kid from down the block.

Now while I am no longer "just down the block," I still like to stay in touch with how life back home is going.

I have been able to do so with phone calls, e-mails and letters from home, but the one thing I have used most of all is the local paper, The Commercial Review.

Most of the time I would skip stories about the war in Iraq because well, let's face it, I am here and I know there is no way to fully understand it by reading the "facts only" articles that the news - television, radio and print - puts out to you.

So I felt that it was my obligation to write to you and let you know some "facts" that you might not know about the "war."

"It seems like every time you pick up the paper you hear about another shooting or another bomb going off or another hijacking. While I cannot say that these things are not happening, that is all they tell you. It really (makes me mad) because I know that without knowing all the good that is going on here, this war does seem pointless.

All right, if you want examples: My unit rolled into a village a while back that had not seen American forces in quite some time.

While talking with the locals, we learned that 90 percent of their day is spent at or near their homes. Children are not allowed to play unsupervised, and overall they were scared to death to be out at night. They told us that the insurgents had been coming into the area and doing and threatening things (that I will not print) within mere weeks of us making an appearance in the area. I began to notice a drastic change in the overall atmosphere of the area. Kids out everywhere, shops open all over; people would stop us coming through and faces would light up.

Now I am not saying that everyday here is sunshine and rainbows. We have faced tragedy more than once. I have lost brothers here. Good friends who, like me, wanted to do great things.

Things that would not so much impact himself or his loved ones, but an entire nation far away which no one seems to realize is struggling to survive. This country is filled with people who want the exact same things you and I want, who need the same things we do, and who love their families just as we do.

The difference is they were not blessed with being born into a nation that promotes, or better yet allows, for such things to come with ease as we have. They are forced to live their lives between a rock and a hard place, always in fear for their lives as well as the lives of those they love.

Now I am not trying to change anyone's opinion about the war. I know that it is a very touchy subject with a lot of people. And don't get me wrong. I don't like it here. I would be much happier back home with those I love.

But I have become a U.S. Marine; I vowed to fight for freedom, wherever and however it was needed. And that is what I'm doing.

Maybe not for you or your neighbor, but for another nation. A nation which has been beaten down by its leaders and overrun with terrorists. And just keep in mind that the people we are fighting are not the Iraqi people, but those who are hiding among them.

These are people who hate America and our way of life and will stop at nothing to hurt us. So do I enjoy being here fighting these evil people? No, but it sure as hell beats fighting them at home.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, and most of all your support.

God bless America,

Lance Cpl. Andrew Whitacre,

United States Marine Corps

(Editor's note: This letter was originally sent to and submitted by Janet Shauver, rural Portland, who is a former employer of Lance Cpl. Whitacre)[[In-content Ad]]