Letters to the editor 4/21/11

Strong

I am writing in support of the community of Oakesdale. As a community we have the opportunity to do something great for our area. The old adage, “it takes a village to raise a child” can be put to good use by voting yes on the bond issue to remodel our school. As responsible stewards of our community we need to take care of our children no matter how many!

Remember we are remodeling most of our existing space, not putting up all new structures. For the cost of a meal or two out a month we can put our children in a facility that is safe, functional and updated enough to meet the new demands our children face. In small communities the school is the hub of the wheel. Think of all the events you may have attended, concerts, plays, sports, graduations, NHS dinners and the list goes on. Would it not be a tremendous loss if we could no longer have that here?.

I am very proud that all three of my children graduated from here. Over the years my children have enrolled their children here with the hope that they can have the same sense of community and pride in their upbringing. So many of us have these strong ties, let’s keep them and start new ones for other families.

My hope is a renovated school will bring in new students, as more people may choose to reside in the Oakesdale-Farmington area. This could rejuvenate our communities immensely instead of dying out completely like so many small towns have. The matching grant money from the state is available. We are already paying our share of taxes on it, why not put the money to use right here in our community. Our school is like a private school many people pay a fortune to attend in larger areas; let’s do what we can to improve it.

Supporting our communities and our children is what makes a strong community, I am voting yes for the future.

Cheryle Brown, Oakesdale

Response

I feel I must respond to the letters in favor of the Oakesdale School bond. I wonder if anyone realizes the majority of these letters are from 1) The superintendent 2) a current school board member, and 3) the co-chairmen and secretary of the Oakesdale School Renovation Campaign Committee. Ordinary citizens are not writing to endorse this measure.

We were sent another piece of propaganda this week and it was pointed out how other schools in Washington passed bonds and got their schools rebuilt. Now we’ve got to keep up with others! Reminds me of when my children were little. Had to have something because everyone else did even if we couldn’t afford it. I said “no” then too.

What wasn’t pointed out in the mailer was the fact that the schools referred to are much larger than Oakesdale. Eastmont High in East Wenatchee has over 1,300 just in the high school. Freeman has over 300 just in the high school. And even Davenport has over 200 in just grades 7-12. Oakesdale has less than 125 students K-12.

One of the letters last week thought that people with no children in the system had no right to come out against the issue. I beg to differ! Who does she think is paying for it! If only the ones with children or grandchildren in school paid for it then she’d have the right to that opinion.

Also, does anyone who rents realize that if you vote for this measure, just because you are not paying property taxes, how this might affect you? Do you really think your rent will stay the same when your landlord is paying double in taxes to the school district?

Think people! Then vote no on the Oakesdale School bond.

Susan Heise, Farmington

Important decision

I am writing this letter the day after attending the Oakesdale Schools Arts Fest at the Tekoa Theater. I left the performance totally entertained and proud of being a part of it. Students from grades 6 – 12 performing together is an amazing thing to see. Today I am basking in the glow of student potential and feel a need to express my support for the Oakesdale Schools Renovation Bond, which is all about kids and communities.

Several years ago, there was a discussion within the Oakesdale/Farmington communities and a neighboring community to form an academic cooperative.

Had the decision been made to approve this merger, our high school students would have been transported to the neighboring community and the middle school students from both communities would have attended school in Oakesdale.

The communities of Farmington and Oakesdale decided against the proposal.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for the citizens of these two communities was that if the high school students were no longer attending school in Oakesdale, the community would suffer – it would lose its identity.

I felt that the vote not to consolidate reflected a certain pride in our community.

The school represented a symbol of unity and quality of life in a supportive community.

Today, another important decision confronts the citizens of these two wonderful communities. They must decide on whether they want to pay for the improvements of an aging school building and to help bring it up to standards for safety, technology, and energy conservation. Without improvements, the school buildings, in a few more years, may not be safe enough to provide a place to educate the children of these communities. If this happens the students may be transported to a nearby community for their education, and our community would be without a school.

The voters of Oakesdale and Farmington must decide what is best for our students and the communities.

I am sure that the increased taxes weigh heavy on the minds of the voters.

It has been made clear what our property taxes will be if the renovation is approved.

If the vote to renovate our school is voted down, the buildings may eventually not meet safety standards and be condemned.

Our students would have to attend school elsewhere, possibly in a school district with a higher tax rate, which we would be responsible to pay.

However, there is more to consider than the tax rate, as the vote to forego consolidation indicated years ago.

Will the quality of life in these communities be affected if our school is lost? Will home values decrease? Will businesses be lost?

Quality schools for our children may cost us more tax dollars in the present. But isn’t it worth it in the end?

Doug and Rachel Hovde, Oakesdale

All doubt removed

I have been fighting for two and one half years to save the beautiful Palouse from the devastation of a wind farm.

This last go-round with the Final Environmental Impact Statement: I did not participate because the $500 fee for an appeal was prohibitive, just as it was “designed” to be.

This was a carefully calculated move by the County to eliminate participation in the process and it did work, in my case. I find it totally disingenuous that Whitman County will be financially reimbursed by First Wind for the work they do on the EIS, yet they placed a charge of $500 on any appeal. We suspected the County was thumbing its nose at citizens, but now they remove all doubt.

First, we saw the County dismiss the citizen’s Board of Adjustment, as the entity that will issue any Conditional Use Permit for the wind farm, in favor of appointing a hired “hearing examiner” (aka “rubber stamp”).

For the Environmental Study they hired CH2M Hill, who follows First Wind all across the nation doing their “boiler-plate” environmental reports for them. These two corporations are so closely connected that employees who work for First Wind have also worked for CH2M Hill —- hmmmm.

Additionally, Whitman County has also hired a “Greenie” lawyer from Seattle to represent the County and fight against its own County citizens, while the County supports the Out-of-State Corporation — First Wind! Isn’t government great?

Maybe Whitman County can have the Greenie lawyer and CH2M Hill help them find that missing $278,000 they “wrote off the books!” Don’t you just love how “gubmint” works for us?

Carolyn Kiesz, Thornton, WA

Quality

“A school is four walls with the future inside.” This statement may make it seem as if those walls aren’t really important, but we believe that the quality of the walls greatly impacts the quality of the future.

We believe a dynamic school is imperative to the life of a community and the current bond proposal before the citizens of the Oakesdale School District is an investment not only in the future of the school but in the future of the community. This bond issue has raised many comments, which we would like to address in this letter.

Some have asked why the school doesn’t just fix the things that really need fixing one at a time. The main reason is that the buildings are just old and everything needs fixing. A piece-by-piece approach to try to fix the numerous problems with the heating, electricity, plumbing, and other issues would actually cost more, which would require more and larger special levies, increasing property taxes more than the bond would.

If the bond does not pass the community will have an even older school, requiring more money just to maintain its condition, which is unacceptable. The study and survey process scored the school facilities just above the recommendation that it be demolished and rebuilt. Having the children of our town attend school in such an environment should be unacceptable to everyone. If we don’t pass this bond it is likely that at some point in the near future we could lose our school, our kids will go to school somewhere else, and we as a community will be helping to pay that district’s tax debt rather than our own.

If/when consolidation ever happens and we have a renovated facility, in which the state has just invested nearly 5 million dollars, it is highly likely that students from other districts would be sent to our school and those patrons would be helping pay our tax debt, thus reducing the amount each person pays.

Some have mentioned the money that is available for the matching fund portion of this project not being “free money.” That is correct, but this is already a state tax we pay and it will go somewhere… why not to our school in our community?

The most troubling statement is that the Oakesdale School does not have enough students to warrant this expense. All students deserve a school that is safe, comfortable, and efficient and that is conducive to today’s teaching strategies and equipment. Why should this only be warranted if we have a certain number of students in the building? And what is that magic number? We don’t believe you can put a dollar value on a child.

We strongly urge the citizens of the communities of Oakesdale and Farmington to vote yes on the School Renovation Bond.

Marvin and Marilyn Wigen, Oakesdale