ELECTION RESULTS!

News flash on KELO TV......Roberts County Voters defeated the Opt-Out by 78% NO votes.

Approximately 24% of the voters turned out for this special vote.

You can view the entire news story at KELO TV by clicking the following link:

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=90678

A special thanks to KELO TV for keeping us informed and a very special thanks to all of you voters who GOT THE JOB DONE!!

VOTE VOTE VOTE

Just a reminder that each and every one of you is important and that you VOTE tomorrow on the Opt Out issue.

Make sure you go to your local polling place and cast your ballot. Give your neighbor a ride to make sure they vote as well. Call your neighbor and ask that they give you a ride to vote if needed. I believe polls open at 7 am so do it early and be done.

Just please VOTE!! Roberts County voters must make a statement and let those CC know that we are fed up with their mismanagement of all things county!!

VOTE VOTE VOTE

Where Did Your Taxes Go?

**a take on last week's headlines**

Last week's local paper had the headline: "Where Do Your Taxes Go?" Most of us just want to know what we got from those taxes.....just where DID our taxes go?

We got: 3 Commissioners who think they are almighty, a jail we cannot afford and did not want but we got it anyway (thanks to the CC), an awful LOT of Sheriffs, a short-lived investigator for the States Attorneys office under Kay, Kay still on the county payroll, an Auditor who did not file any audits for several years. What else? Oh yes! We got to pay for a paved road exclusively for ex-commissioner Voeltz. Aren't we lucky to get all that??

No matter if you think you want to pay more taxes or you are tired of paying and paying and paying.....please make sure you are registered and then make sure you get out and vote on Tuesday.

We probably got much more from paying taxes. Who can think of more things we got from those taxes????

SOTA Says It All

Chuck has a very good editorial in this week's SOTA. You can access it by clicking HERE There are also some very thought provoking letters to the Editor in this weeks issue as well.

Seems it all goes back to our sorry bunch of CCs. Everything that has been plaguing RC for years now has its' roots with the CCs. Everything they do, everything they say will haunt the RC citizens for a long, long time.

We are sure there will be yet another sob story printed in what passes for the local newspaper this week, begging the voters to pass the Opt Out issue. Wonder if the opposite view would garner front page week after week? Of course not! Censureship is alive and well in RC.

Just remember when you go to vote on this important issue next week: These same CCs asking for more of your hard earned money to "balance the budget" are the very same who squandered your tax dollars for wasteful spending, ill-thought out expenditures, corruption throughout to say nothing about personal gains. These CCs have proven they cannot manage our tax dollars....don't give them more!!

More CC Madness

So now Chad Ward quit. Looks like those CC are getting exactly what they hoped for....a jail staff that is predominately white and obedient with the Sheriff position in their pocket as well.

Their nice little expensive jail will really be comfy now, especially as it will be mostly empty. All those contracts will wither away with no other departments willing to send prisoners to RC.

Can't someone stop their madness?? Do they ever think? They most likely have a person waiting to take over, someone who won't think or talk back, someone who will do just as they tell him no matter how stupid.

There is another budget installment in the local paper, with more figures pulled from the air.

This time it goes over the expenses for the courthouse. Seems to me if they got rid of the biggest expense there, namely Kay, they could easily balance the budget.

I would bet that most of you could find one or more areas for budget cuts without even trying.

What do you say?

RC Budget: Chapter 2

We must be the only county to have a county-owned newspaper. Seems whatever those CC want published gets into print EXACTLY the way they have it written with no fact finding whatsoever.

This week it was the chapter with the fiction about the highway and landfill budgets.

Highway Dept: If the operators of the RC road equipment were taught how to drive the machinery so they wouldn't damage our roads we'd be able to get along with less expense. Expense for adding gravel that was graded off the roads into the ditches, expense for re-tarring roads that had been damaged by an over-zealous roadgrader gouging chunks of tar from the roads, expense of having to employ bulldozers to remove snow that snowplows had not removed or snow fences not put up etc.

Next time you are out and about see for yourself. When crossing into another county you can see how differently they take care of their roads, unlike RC. Other counties have no ice staying on the roads all winter long (as RC does) Why? Because they get out and remove it rather than waiting a week or more. Other counties have passable gravel roads after a rainfall (as RC does not) because they have rounded roads thereby allowing moisture to drain off....RC roads are either flat or have holes gouged in them allowing water to stand, ever notice?

One big expense easily tossed would be to have landowners/operators mow the roadsides, as they do for townships. Many counties have done this and cut a large chunk off their budgets.

Have you forgotten how bad our roads were this past winter? Over a week went by without maintenance just because there were internal problems. A week where we had several snowstorms and many blocked or impassable roads.

Landfill: This should not even be an issue as there was little if any upgrades for a long long time there. There hasn't even been any rodent control expenses from what we hear. With all the "paying customers and counties" using our landfill RC should have a lucrative business there.

Perhaps if RC didn't go around and pave commissioner's roads as "perk's" our budget might still be in the black. Just ask ex commissioner Voeltz about that.

What do YOU think?

RC Budget Baloney

There has been some really thought-provoking comments lately regarding RC budget.

Just exactly what IS the county budget, broken down by department, line by line expenditures beside what was budgeted for that particular item or action? I'm not talking about the budget "fairy tale" published in the local un-newspaper...I am talking about just what really goes on?

RC citizens only know what they are "hand fed" by our Auditor or our CCs or what the Courier is allowed to print. We have no idea what really goes on with our tax money do we?

For instance: There is a cost to RC for training new employees, even if that training is done by present employees. Think about it. When you are showing someone how to do something you are doing yourself, you're doing that task slower with less results and more time spent. Who is paying for that extra time? RC taxpayers, that's who!
And when an RC employee is repairing something that was damaged by stupidity or ignorance, even with no actual charge to the county, the employee who stops what he or she would be doing is being unproductive (on the RC payroll) so factor in that cost as well.

It appears to me that the RC budget is playing "catch-up" with the run-away expenditures rather than an intelligent and honest effort to reign in that excessive and often thoughtless spending.

What do YOU think?