Letters - March 18, 2010

Bad thing

The City Council and Fire District #7 Commissioners are being pressured to call for a vote to annex the Rosalia Volunteer Fire Department into the County Fire District.

Along with this proposal they also want the town to turn over to the County Fire District all equipment, supplies and assets from the Ambulance Service the Town and Volunteer EMSs operator to the County Fire District # 7 at no cost and no strings attached.

This is a $300,000.00 plus asset that belong to the Town and its citizens and is monitored very closely to insure its continued success.

They also want the Town to turn over, again, at no cost and with no strings attached the Rosalia Fire Station and all its contents.

This is a $300,000.00 plus building.

There is absolutely no good reasoning whatsoever to turn these assets over to the County.

It will not make any situation they feel we may have any better.

The taxpayers also will be taxed on their property tax .570 per thousand more than we are now from the county district tax as well as a .500 per thousand EMS tax that the County has imposed on their county citizens that will automatically be added to the town taxpayers property tax. This is $1.07 per thousand tax increase on our property tax and no different or improved service will happen.

This annexation push is a bad thing for Rosalia.

Our Rosalia Volunteer Fire Department has operated for over 100 years with members of our Town protecting our homes and businesses.

The Ambulance Service was started in the late 70’s by the Town and several volunteer firemen and this service has grown into the great organization it is today operated by dedicated Rosalia firemen, as well as rural firemen.

Other than the let down from 1999-2001 the Town has worked hard to insure revenue was available to purchase equipment, supplies and keep a surplus of revenue on hand.

To turn this service over to a county entity could prove troublesome in the future, Myself and the few old timer firemen (40s-50s-60s) are all concerned this annexation could happen and we all feel the Town of Rosalia Volunteer Fire Department should stay intact.

My hope is that this City Council and the Fire District #7 Commissioners vote not to proceed with the annexation idea. It is something that would not improve either entities protection and could have high complications down the road.

If this does get to the ballot box we hope everyone carefully investigates the pros and cons of this issue and I am sure everyone would come to the same conclusion. It is a bad idea.

Ken Jacobs,

Rosalia

Food

Regarding the Water Trail:

We live near enough to the proposed water trail to be affected by its creation though we are not property owners, merely taxpayers.

Much has been said that we don’t need to reiterate, however, we think there is a point that the Fish and Wildlife, Parks Department and County Commissioners are not addressing. Maybe on purpose.

The land in question is not idle land, it is business land. Food - the very food you may be putting in your mouth at this moment - is produced there. As we understand it, in Whitman County, land that has been used as farm land is supposed to stay that way. And for a very good reason: to ward off starvation. The free range beef people so love is grown there. The wheat that makes up the hamburger buns that surround that free range beef so scrumptiously comes from there. And much, much more. There are plenty of places already in this country (California for one) where folks are regretting letting their farm land go.

So the next time you go to put food -any food - in your mouth, ask yourself, “Do I like to eat?” If the answer is “Yes” then serious consideration ought to be given to preserving the oh-so-necessary land to grow food.

A nation that can’t feed itself is weakened severely. Sure, we can get food from other countries but then we are putting our necks in a noose that other countries can choke off at any time.

We say, preserve our farm land. That is a precious resource that is disappearing at a frightening pace.

Jean Flanigen

Dale Vaszil,

Rosalia