Minnesota: raise income taxes!

Hello, Governor Pawlenty. Hello, Cook County. Hello, Minnesota legislators!

Stop taxing the poor! New gas taxes, new sales taxes, new fees, but NEVER new income taxes! Y'all are shifting the tax burden from the richest to the poorest.
Can you say, REGRESSIVE TAXES?
Minnesota used to be all about graduated taxes, all about ability to pay. No more. Cook County and Grand Marais are hollering for a new one percent sales tax, claiming that it is borne by tourists. Hello, hello? WE are the ones who live here, who pay the tax every single day on every single thing we buy.
The legislature passed a new gas tax without even asking what anybody thinks about that. This happens even as gas prices break all records. Us po' folks can hardly manage to buy gas to get to work. Our food, our heat, our rents and mortgages, not to mention our health care have all shot through the roof. How much blood can you squeeze out of a stone? How much poorer will we have to be before the big D word is spoken aloud?
As for property taxes, nobody seems yet to have caught on: we are being taxed on inflated property values!!! We can no longer sell our homes for their inflated values but we still have to pay taxes on them. Property taxes are also regressive, but necessary at the local level, WHICH is why Minnesota used to offer lots of aid to local governments as well as homeowners. Back in the day when Minnesota government meant something good for people, before the Repugnants took over.
As for the No New Bridges governor, who keeps sending my "tax bill" spiraling by increasing all those fees like license tabs in the name of "no new taxes" meaning no new FAIR income taxes, well I hope you will be soundly defeated by an old-fashioned Minnesota DFL progressive next round.
True

Ta da! Here comes the world's biggest ATV parade

The Cook County Star has announced that our ATV club is "recruiting ATV enthusiasts" to attend a hopefully record-breaking ATV parade in Silver Bay on June 14th. So much for "just wanting a place for locals to ride their ATVs around."
ATV clubs from around the state will be trying to make the North Shore the premier destination for the nation (and the world?). You can trust this info, it came from the horse's (I mean the ATV's) mouth.
True

Duluth News Tribune | Pawlenty vetos transportation bill

Ah, so! Finally the True Colors emerge: the RichPlenty Gov goes for more highway, bridge deaths

Duluth News Tribune | Pawlenty vetos transportation bill

Cattle Abuse, Beef Recall Highlight Systemic Weaknesses - CommonDreams.org

Here's a link to a St. Paul Pioneer Press story about the beef recall, and a press release on the same subject from Food and Water Watch:.

Stay tuned for a post-in-progress to be called "The Lunch Box," reflections on school lunches, animal rights and those animal rights "terrorists."

Cattle Abuse, Beef Recall Highlight Systemic Weaknesses - CommonDreams.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 20, 20082:18 PM
CONTACT: Food & Water Watch Jennifer Mueller at (202) 797-6553, e-mail: news (at) fwwatch.org

Video Reveals Big Problems at Meat Plant

WASHINGTON DC - February 20 - The February 18, 2008 announcement that more than 140 million pounds of frozen ground beef produced by a plant in California was being recalled has sparked lots of media coverage, not only because of the sheer size of the recall (the largest in U.S. history) but because of the dramatic video footage of the humane handling violations at the plant that sparked the recall. To top it off, the company that produced the recalled meat, Hallmark/Westland, is the second largest supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program. So it’s no surprise that this has become a pretty big story, just the latest in a string of examples of our broken food safety system. But, as always, there is more to the story that what you see on the news.
What are downer cows exactly?
The recall was instituted because the plant violated a rule that downer cattle (those that cannot walk into the slaughter plant under their own power) are not allowed into the human food supply. This is because these animals could be suffering from neurological problems and are considered to be high risk for mad cow disease. When plants try to use downers, workers end up pushing, dragging, or otherwise forcing them into the plant. That is what the video footage obtained by the Humane Society of the United States shows. In addition to being cruel and inhumane, it is illegal, and that is why the USDA shut down the plant earlier this month after the video was released.
How did the plant get away with this?
We think this is one of the most important questions. USDA has a longstanding problem with vacancies in the ranks of its meat inspectors, so there are questions about whether there were enough USDA inspectors in this plant to do all of the things they need to, including looking at live animals before they go to slaughter. Additionally, some inspectors have raised concerns that USDA management in the plant instructed them not to go outside to check animals. Click here to read more about these concerns.
Why was the recall so big?
The amount of meat covered by this recall is so large because the USDA included all products that came from the plant for a long period of time – two years. This means that USDA is concerned that these violations may have been happening for that long, a sad commentary on their willingness to enforce their own rules. Because the recalled product is from such a long time period, most of it has probably been eaten, which makes the recall too little, too late. The other issue with this recall is that not all of the meat went to schools – some went to retail stores. For years, we have been urging USDA to include the names of stores where recalled product was sold in their public announcements. This massive recall just shows once again that this information is vital for consumers and the agency is irresponsible not to release it.
What can I do to avoid meat from plants that don’t treat animals humanely?
Check out the Eat Well Guide to find out where to buy local, sustainable meat in your area.

How do I find out if I bought meat involved in this recall?
The ground beef from Hallmark/Westland will have a stamp on it that says "Est. 336" on the package. This is the indentification number for this plant. Click here for a list of types of product types that were recalled.
###
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New Scandinavia: a modest proposal

If you don’t like it here, move to the USA

Cook County voters supported Obama by mega margins. What this tells True is that we want change. What True knows is that no matter who succeeds the Bush Throne, change won’t come because a quarter century of right-wing policies exacerbated by wars of aggression have allowed the military and their rich backers to dictate policy. The Supreme Court no longer hears redress of grievances, from Kangaroo Court trials to spying on every American citizen 24/7.

True loves Obama, but there is no way he can reverse the right wing wars on the environment, worker safety, sovereign nations who have oil that the USA wants, and the transfer of an independent media to the new Unitary Executive. Our fall-back supports, the Supreme Court and Congress, cave at every turn. Wimps? Not. These guys buy in to the international-corporate-free trade-imperialist-bloody war fought by pawns-decimation of constitutional rights-global domination-torture apologists-environmental pirates that exploit child labor and kill union organizers…. Hmm, you get the picture.

Cook County is home to the sovereign nation of the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa. The casino and resort have brought jobs and prosperity to the tribe, who has shared generously with the rest of us.

So, here’s my idea: Let’s declare Cook County a new sovereign nation (except for the Portage Band). We won’t subscribe to the international policies of death and cruelty and we won’t be subjected to Big Brother spying and we won’t pay any state or federal taxes. We’ll follow the Monaco model: people will come here for luxurious vacations and spend tons of money. Or even the Texas model, the oil and gas companies subsidize the state and the people pay zilch in taxes.

We can “nationalize” our greatest assets, like the East Bay Condominiums, Bluefin Bay and the Lutsen Mountain complex that aspires to become a tourist Mecca using public funds while dumping wastes into the Poplar River. Let them pay for mitigation! They can afford it, and even after that we can use their profits to restore our wetlands and repair our aging infrastructure: wastewater treatment, roads, harbors and inland lakes. Or, if they don’t want to do that, tax them up the wazoo. They use up our natural resources without recompense now; the government of New Scandinavia will have a few words to say in its own behalf.

In our new land, we can declare that silent sports trump invasive noisy and gas-guzzling ATVs. Our ultra-rich patrons like the peaceful expanse of woods and water. They might fly in but they expect we will shelter the airport from their personal experience of wild beauty. We are sovereign. Spy satellites from the USA can be shot down. Say, what Border Patrol? We are the Border. We invite visitors, we welcome them. We don’t try to shoot them down or build barb-wire fences to keep them out. We are a neutral nation, no wars of aggression, ever.

Other assets, like the Grand Marais Harbor, Artist’s Point, the pool, the campground and many another beloved tourist site, await nationalization. These are resources owned by the New Scandinavia state.

We’ll be so sought after, so longed-for, by the ultra-rich who find their own playgrounds increasingly destroyed or polluted. Clean and green and we already know how to behave towards the Muggles.

Yes! Let’s do it. The West was in a big hurry to recognize Kosovo’s independence. So, why not recognize New Scandinavia’s independence? We don’t have oil but we do have the breathtaking beauty of our lakes and forests, the Lorelei lures to attract the ultra-rich who are by their nature limited in number.

Not that our old friends won’t be welcome. The Rich Bitches will subsidize their stays as well as our infrastructure that will protect us into the next century…

Hey, hey, what do you say?

New Scandinavia is here to stay!

True

AlterNet: Blogs: Rights and Liberties

True just read this post from Alternet.... It says everything and We hope you will read, mull over and take to heart.
True

AlterNet: Blogs: Rights and Liberties

Great Lakes pollution threatens public health

Government Suppresses Major Public Health Report
By Maggie Mahar
AlterNet

Tuesday 12 February 2008

The public has been denied important information on the link between pollution and health problems including lung, colon and breast cancer.

This article originally appeared on Health Beat.

The Center for Public Integrity, a public interest investigative journalism organization, has obtained copies of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study of environmental and health data in eight Great Lakes states that was scheduled for publication in July 2007. The report, which pointed to elevated rates of lung, colon, and breast cancer; low birth weight; and infant mortality in several of the geographical areas of concern has not yet been made public.

A few days before the report was slated to be released, it was pulled. Meanwhile, at precisely the same time, its lead author, Christopher De Rosa, has been removed from the position he held since 1992. The Center for Public Integrity is asking why.

The study, "Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern" was developed by the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) at the request of the International Joint Commission, an independent U.S-Canadian organization that monitors and advises both governments on the use and quality of boundary waters.

The CDC report brings together two sets of data: environmental data on known "areas of concern" - including superfund sites and hazardous waste dumps - and separate health data collected by county or, in some cases, smaller geographical regions.

The study does not try to prove cause and effect. Instead, it outlines areas for further study and data collection on the link between pollution and health.

"Let's say we have a superfund site and we also find elevated risk of leukemia in the county - is that related? We don't know, but people living in the area can logically argue that we ought to find out," Dr. Peter Orris, a professor at the University of Illinois School of Public Health and one of the peer reviewers of the study told Oneworld.net.

Since 2004, dozens of experts have reviewed various drafts of the study, including senior scientists at the CDC, Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies, as well as scientists from universities and state governments, according to consumeraffairs.com. Orris is just one of the several experts who reviewed the study and who, along with the International Joint Committee in a December letter to the CDC, have called for the report's publication.

Canadian biologist Michael Gilbertson, a second peer reviewer, told the Center for Public Integrity that he felt the findings were being suppressed because they were "inconvenient." On the record, he added: "The whole problem with all this kind of work is wrapped up in that word 'injury.' If you have injury, that implies liability. Liability, of course, implies damages, legal processes, and costs of remedial action. The governments, frankly, in both countries are so heavily aligned with, particularly, the chemical industry, that the word amongst the bureaucracies is that they really do not want any evidence of effect or injury to be allowed out there."

Orris also raised concerns that the publication may have been halted based on orders outside the CDC. Once again, it seems that the Bush administration is trying to shrink government by making sure that a federal agency doesn't do its job-a problem that I wrote about here in a post titled "The FDA- What Happens When You Starve the Beast." Corporate interests are protected-at the expense of the nation's citizens.

"I have an overall concern with respect to the culture of this administration, which permeates all levels of the scientific wing of the government," Orris said. "The administration has regularly cut funds so that they don't find statistics that could be potentially politically embarrassing - for instance, the sampling of toxins in fish in the Great Lakes has been cut way back."

"If the messenger doesn't come with the message, no one knows it's there," he added.

CDC spokesperson Bernadette Burden told OneWorld that the report was held back because internal and external reviewers - including the Environmental Protection Agency and several state health departments - identified "numerous discrepancies and deficiencies" and determined a rigorous review was needed. She added that the CDC plans to release the report after the review is completed, in "weeks rather than months."

Burden cited several examples of "discrepancies", including the fact that the county-level health data "reflected people's illnesses from 1988 to 1997, while much of the environmental data used in the report came from the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory dated 2001 and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination system with 2004 data."

As Oneworld.net points out, CDC did not clarify why these issues were not identified until July 2007 despite several years of review.

A new director of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health and ATSDR, Howard Frumkin, was appointed in July 2007, shortly before the report was due to be released. He replaced De Rosa, who had served as director of the Division of Toxicology for fifteen years. De Rosa was named special assistant in Frumkin's office - a position that appears to carry "no real responsibilities" according to a Feb. 2008 letter from members of the Congressional Committee on Science and Technologies to CDC director Julie Gerberding. The letter called the move an apparent retaliation.

As many as 9 million people - including residents of Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee - may be at risk from exposure to pollutants including pesticides, dioxin, PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls), and mercury, according to Sheila Kaplan, an investigative journalist who covered the story for the Center for Public Integrity.

Kaplan has read all three drafts of the study, from 2004 to 2007.

"It's important for this work to be followed up on," she told OneWorld. "What I hope from this report is that communities will say, 'We deserve to know this information and whether exposure to these chemicals and metals is killing us.' More work needs to be done."

You will find Kaplan's full report here.

Stop that spying or I'll give you something to spy about!

True,

Who still believes in the sanctity of the home? Or would you believe a person's house is her castle? Does anybody else care that satellite spying on our every email and phone conversation has just been okayed by the US Senate?

Oh ya I know the argument, that only the bad guys have anything to hide. NOT. I have my private thoughts to hide. I have my friends, my memories, my saints, my sins, my longings and hopes and dreams and fears to hide from a merciless Big Brother who would shred the American Dream for the sake of imperial domination, for the sake of oil and wealth and limitless power.

Well, then, scumbags aka elected officials, put this in your pipe and smoke it:

As a person of peace I am the enemy of the United States who stands for endless war. Enemy, enemy, enemy. USA equals Evildoer, evildoer, evildoer.

Ah so, you spy on me? OK then I will spew out all that stuff you are looking for and dare you to come and get me:

F**k Bu$hco. Death to the Repuglican agenda. Impeach Bush and Cheney and put them in jail. End Torture and arrest all those who condone or practice it. Let you be judged and sentenced to your own wicked and cruel torments of others, like the old fairy tales where the baddies were dragged behind a team of horses in a nail-studded cask. YOU ALWAYS PAY FOR WHAT YOU DO, or so I wish.

Nya nya nya, You Can't Catch Me I'm the Gingerbread Man...... by the time you head to my Castle I will be so out of here, out of this friggin country where I was born but no longer belong....
Anonymous

Oberstar Praises Minnesota Transportation Bill

Dare we hope that our beautiful but dangerous highway by the lake will be repaired and made safe? Or that light rail will allow us to travel from Duluth to the Cities in a few years? Or that the no-brainer, i.e., paying people money and giving them jobs to fix our failing infrastructure, so disdained by Pawlenty and his ilk, may actually come to pass? Oh, ya you betcha. Just go ahead and hope.
True

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Washington DC – Congressman Jim Oberstar says the transportation plan unveiled by Minnesota legislators on Tuesday is one of the best he has ever seen. “It’s a realistic, futuristic, investment plan that binds greater Minnesota with the metro area,” said Oberstar.

As chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Oberstar has been critical of the Pawlenty Administration’s lack of investment in the state’s transportation system. “There’s been an ideological mindset in the Governor’s office and with our Commissioner of Transportation that somehow these road needs will be simply be met on their own, by some deus ex machina coming in to solve the problem. Well that’s not happened.”

Oberstar calls the legislation unveiled by state lawmakers a “bold initiative” that recognizes that maintaining and upgrading transportation infrastructure need constant attention and a dedicated source of revenue. Minnesota has not increased the highway user fee for road maintenance and construction since 1988. Since that time, the cost of road construction materials and labor has increased by 47 percent.

“State Senator Steve Murphy and Representative Bernie Lieder have crafted a bill that makes the resources available to address our most critical concerns immediately. They are also ensuring the revenue stream keeps up with inflation,” said Oberstar.

Oberstar says the Minnesota state transportation bill will stimulate the economy and is a good investment for taxpayers. “It’s a sustainable investment program that will create 33,000 jobs a year in the construction sector that will stay at home; they are home grown, Minnesota jobs, using Minnesota materials,” said Oberstar.

A 2007 study found that traffic congestion costs Minnesota’s economy $1.1 billion a year. In effect, Oberstar says those costs are a congestion tax paid by everyone in the state in the form of lost jobs and higher cost goods and services. He adds that there are clear consequences for the state if a comprehensive transportation investment plan is not passed. “Greater Minnesota will be disadvantaged, travel and tourism will be hurt, our state economy will suffer; there is a cost to failing to invest,” said Oberstar.

###

Oberstar Says Congress Will Not Pass Bush Budget

So you want to puke over Bu$hco's 2009 budget? Take heart, folks with this news release from our Jim Oberstar:

Monday, February 04, 2008

Washington DC – Congressman Jim Oberstar is calling the budget for fiscal year 2009 that President Bush submitted to Congress today “proof positive that the President’s economic policies have failed the American people.”

“Seven years ago, President Bush took office with a projected surplus of $5.6 trillion. He’s turned that surplus into a $2.4 trillion dollar deficit and added $3.5 trillion to the national debt; the taxpayer’s share of the national debt grew from $25,000 to over $30,000. Under President Bush’s watch, we’ve seen our government’s effectiveness decline dramatically, as evidenced by the debacle of Hurricane Katrina and the disgraceful treatment of our veterans at Walter Reed Hospital. The budget President Bush unveiled today promises to saddle our children and grandchildren with more debt, while offering fewer services to working families,” said Oberstar.

President Bush’s budget proposes cuts of over $196 billion to Medicare and Medicaid in 2009. “Cutting back on health care for the poor and elderly will only increase the numbers of uninsured and underinsured in our country,” said Oberstar. “There were 40 million uninsured Americans when President Bush took office; today, there are 47 million, and that number will grow even larger if we enact this budget.”

Oberstar says there is no chance that Congress will approve the President’s budget as it was introduced today. “Democrats in Congress are going to introduce a fiscally-responsible budget that focuses on the priorities of the American people. It will be a blueprint for investing in America’s future that will address education, health care, tax relief for working families and reinvigorating the nation’s economy,” said Oberstar.

###

Toxic Government Report Uncovered - CommonDreams.org

Link to this Truthout report of a report the government refuses to publish about toxic contamination in the Great Lakes, including Duluth harbor. In the story, there's also a link to excerpts from the report itself. This is scary not only because it's endangered health and safety of Americans and Canadians but also because the government would rather not let us know.

Toxic Government Report Uncovered - CommonDreams.org

Bush Administration Argues Veterans Have No Right to Mental Health Care

Support our troups? Of course, unless you are a Bushie. Put troops in a desperate no-win situation, then opt out on caring for their PSTD among other egregious lapses in thankfulness....Read on:

Bush Administration Argues Veterans Have No Right to Mental Health Care:
"Tuesday 05 February 2008

Veterans have no legal right to specific types of medical care, the Bush administration argues in a lawsuit accusing the government of illegally denying mental health treatment to some troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The arguments, filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, strike at the heart of a lawsuit filed on behalf of veterans that claims the health care system for returning troops provides little recourse when the government rejects their medical claims.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is making progress in increasing its staffing and screening veterans for combat-related stress, Justice Department lawyers said. But their central argument is that Congress left decisions about who should get health care, and what type of care, to the VA and not to veterans or the courts.

A federal law providing five years of care for veterans from the date of their discharge establishes 'veterans' eligibility for health care, but it does not create an entitlement to any particular medical service,' government lawyers said.

They said the law entitles veterans only to 'medical care which the secretary (of Veterans Affairs) determines is needed, and only to the extent funds ... are available.'

Go to the link for the rest of the story.

True

Obama landslide winner in Cook County: Yes!

Nobody even came close to challenging Barack Obama's caucus victory in Cook County on Super Tuesday. This is good. True is old enough to remember the 1960 election of President John Kennedy, also an inspiring and charismatic figure but he only won by a short margin. How different the future of our country might have been if he had lost; despite the right wing assassins who took him down along with his brother Bobby, MLK Junior and John Lennon, we at least had a time where idealism found a place in the sun, where young people were thrilled to work on behalf of their country, where the rich and the poor united in working for America and for the world. "Ich bin ein Berliner," said JFK to screaming crowds in Berlin, long before the Wall was torn down. "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Thousands of young people flocked to the Peace Corps and millions more of us worked on a more local scale to bring peace and justice to our people.
Much of being a great leader is being a visionary, capturing the hopes and dreams of the people. John Kennedy made some big mistakes early on, most noticeably bringing us to the brink of nuclear war over the Bay of Pigs. But, he learned and he always led from the heart.
And that is why True believes in Barack Obama. He might not stand up so strong as John Edwards on behalf of the poor, the two Americas, but when elected I believe he will step into the big footprints of history. I believe he will try to extricate us from the endless and evil war in Iraq, will start a new dialogue with other nations, will build a base of Americans with his experience as a community organizer guides him....Nobody else has the capacity to inspire the young, to bring everybody back to the table where peace and justice might be on the agenda.
YES, Cook County!
True

Oh, look out! Here come the PC police

Dear True,
Anonymous here again.
This time I am writing on behalf of all the expanding waistlines that used to be considered a normal part of aging. Now we are a great obesity hazard! We threaten the world more than AIDS or war or global warming. These decisions are made by the young and the frequently anorexic, the crazed gym members who pump iron but circle the parking lot to find a space so they won't have to walk.
Whatever data the PC Police are using, it does not include my grandparents who grew portly and stately figures in their old age.
It's just fat-bashing, another way to make us feel bad. Like so much reporting by the MSM, many facts are missing. Like the PC Police who refuse to allow anybody to smoke, even in the privacy of their homes, like the Temperance Ladies who got liquor banned and created the lovely speakeasies and the smugglers' heaven, there is just no tolerance for being normal, growing old, finding some anodyne in a little wine or whiskey, or enjoying a smoke now and then.
BOO to you, PC Police! You are the natural heirs of the spies who prey on our phone calls, emails, and posts such as this one. Why don't you take a peek at the mote in your own eye?
-Anonymous

Go to your precinct caucus (if you can)!

Dear True,
Coming of age in the fabulously hopeful 1960's I learned that the precinct caucus in Minnesota is the true way to grassroots politics. It's a nice idea. And I urge anyone who can to go to the Super Tuesday caucuses here in Cook County tomorrow night. There won't be another opportunity to choose the presidential candidate for your party.
Being much older now, I don't have such good night vision to be driving around on icy roads and highways. Being a resident of Cook County now I have only one place to go for my precinct caucus, and if I go I probably won't be able to get back home given the weather predictions and my remote location.
So! Is it fair, is it right, to deny the many homebound citizens of our 60-mile long county the chance to choose the next presidential candidate? We don't have taxis. Our Arrowhead bus doesn't run at night. And those of us who are most marginal are the very ones who need to let the pols know who we want to have a chance to vote for.
Minnesota, you need to do better. In the early glory days of Bean Feeds and long speeches by HHH, when most of us could drive or take the bus, it seemed good. Now I would like to demand an absentee ballot for my presidential choice, who happens to be Barack Obama. I am not a Hillary basher and would love for a woman to be the next prez, but she is just way too far to the right for me. She gets megabucks from the megacorporations and she is fuzzy about Iraq where we are pouring trillions of treasury dollars down a sinkhole and by the way generating bitter hatred against us, when we could be investing in desperately needed infrastructure.
Anonymous

Gmail - [True North] Gmail - 'Tremendous potential' for non-ferrous /Keewatin $300 ex... - truenorthgm@gmail.com

Here's some important info about non-ferrous mining, check the link:
Gmail - [True North] Gmail - 'Tremendous potential' for non-ferrous /Keewatin $300 ex... - truenorthgm@gmail.com

Read my lips, no new taxes

A good decision by the county board

Dear True,

Times are tough. It’s a safe bet that Cook County, at the tip of the Arrowhead, is especially hard hit by rising costs of gas and food; everything that other people take for granted has to be trucked up here and so we pay extra.

People are losing their homes. More and more of us visit the food shelf to make ends meet. We apply for fuel assistance but find it cut; Bushco prefers to spend tax dollars destroying Iraq. Budgets are scrunched down.

And so, it is with thanks and relief that I report that the county board decided not to ask for a continuation of the one percent sales tax now that the hospital bond is paid off. One percent doesn’t sound like much, but it can buy a couple of meals or a tank of gas over the course of a month.

The board voted unanimously to keep a sales tax referendum off the table this year. It will probably come back later, and most of us would probably support a tax that would give us a new library and a fix for the pool. But, not now. Now we need to help each other to survive these hard times. While the MSM won’t even admit to a recession, ordinary older folks are talking about their memories of the Great Depression, brought to mind by recent events.

There’s a time and a place for everything, and I am thankful that the county board recognizes that a one percent tax is not the solution now.

Anonymous