Archive for the ‘Letters to the Editor’ Category

To the Editor:

The Madison-Plains Board of Education is ignoring the will of the majority of voters in the Madison-Plains School District. The Madison-Plains Board of Education insists on dragging all Madison-Plains students to a central campus on Linson Road and house them in trailers costing several million dollars. This proposal is a waste of taxpayer dollars.

The majority of voters of the Madison-Plains School District indicated at the ballot box that they want to retain and use Midway Elementary, Madison Rural school and Mt. Sterling school to educate the district’s elementary children. The Mt. Sterling school, a historical building, can be remodeled with the State of Ohio paying 100% of the cost. The remodeling of Midway school and Madison Rural school can be funded at a rate of 75% from the State of Ohio. A private donor from the Madison-Plains School District will pay the remaining 25%.

This proposal is a win-win situation. The elementary children will be educated in their neighborhood remodeled school buildings — not tornado-bait trailers as Superintendent Boone Hall wants. With this proposal, the taxpayers will not be subjected to a horrendous real estate tax increase that will cause many senior citizens to lose their homes.

Ben and Ann Houser, Mount Sterling

To the Editor:

I decided to wait awhile for the smoke to clear after the third defeat of the Madison-Plains school bond issue.

But wait! The administration and school board apparently did not get that information. They continue to go full-bore ahead — damn the torpedoes! — with their plan to move our little ones and everyone else to the Linson Road location. Never mind the 1,300+ voters who said they didn’t want that.

A member of the board recently said that voters must simply have not wanted the higher taxes. To find out if this were true, I decided to perform a small survey, so I went out and talked to as many people as I could find. It was not a large sample, to be sure, but at least I did not do what the board did and limit myself to only talking to those people who I knew would agree with me.

The results: of those that voted the issue down, 16% said that, yes, higher taxes were their reason. However, 12% just did not care for the arrogance of the board, and the remaining 72% favor multiple elementary feeder schools.

I’m truly disappointed in the board.  I felt all along that its members would eventually see the wisdom in coming to the table with us to discuss other choices and other possible funding. It’s a very dangerous society indeed when the voters’ wishes are so easily dismissed.

I am very uncomfortable with the idea of taking our 82 children who walk to Mt. Sterling Elementary, putting them on a bus, and expecting the 20-mile trip to the trailers to proceed without incident twice a day for an entire school year. Read the paper. Every week, it seems something bad happens. We can’t afford to take chances with our youngest students.

Had the levy passed, our elementary schools apparently would have been safe enough for three years or so until the new building was completed. Now, all of a sudden, these same buildings can’t be used. What changed, besides possibly a juvenile need to “get back” at those who expressed themselves at the ballot box?

Our committee has come up with eight possible avenues to pursue that could preserve our elementary schools in their current form. Two are very do-able, two are possible, two are long shots but hold promise. I actually believe one or both of the final two options will finally come to the forefront.

Stay tuned.

Danny Crawford, Mount Sterling

To the Editor:

This pertains to every person, business, worker, school, self-employed and taxpayer in Madison County. As you all know, there is an election coming up that will affect us all when it comes to the county auditor’s office, which controls the purse strings for everything that moves in our county.

I was a business owner in London for more than 20 years. During that time, I had four different CPAs. One retired, one died, one sold his business, which brings me to the fourth and last. This CPA has an elaborate office. She charged me four times more each month than the first, 2½ times more than the second and two times more than the third. But when you’re between a rock and a hard place, you take what you can get.

My last CPA was Jennifer Hunter.

The first month, and every month after for the next few years, I would receive in my return statement a letter stating Jennifer Hunter was in no way responsible for my records, as I declined to submit all my personal statements. I gave her everything, just as I had with all the previous CPAs. One of the previous CPAs even went through an IRS audit for me and came out smelling like a rose!

During these years with Jennifer Hunter, I would receive letters from various offices saying I owed a penalty for not filing a return that was due to them. I would contact Jennifer, and she would tell me to bring her the letter and she would take care of it. A few days later, she would bring me a form to sign and send with a check to her office. This happened three or four times. On other occasions, I would ask where it shows where I paid property taxes. The answer was that it will show up later, and so forth.

When, at last, I sold my business due to health reasons in the middle of the year, I told Jennifer Hunter, “Let’s finish all this off now.” The answer was we had to wait until the end of the year.

The end of the year came, but the records were not ready. I filed for an extension until October 15. At 4:15 p.m. on that date, I was in Jennifer Hunter’s office still waiting when she came out and told me I had 15 minutes to make out two checks totaling well over $50,000 and get them to the post office before it closed. I told her this was absurd, but she told me it was right.

I made out the checks and mailed them. I then went to H&R Block. An elderly man looked at my returns and said they looked right. I was in desperation, but was helpless. Finally, the following year’s tax return was due. I went to Paul Thompson to do my tax return for the year between sale date and the year he was working on. I told him the experience I had had with Jennifer Hunter. He pulled up my records on his computer, which showed there had been no property taxes ever paid by me on my property. There had also been no depreciation on my building, my paved lot or anything else.

We filed an amendment for me. A few months later, I received two checks through the mail, which included, with interest, just about $50,000 that Jennifer Hunter had made me pay that I did not owe. I still have copies of those checks.

When you’re deciding who should be our Madison County Auditor, beware who you are voting for. Do you want experience or sub-standard CPA?

William E. “Steve” Dowler, London

To the Editor:

Madison County community agencies are coming together to form an Opiate Abuse Coalition and have had two meetings. I was able to attend the second one. At that meeting held September 27 at the Madison County Chamber of Commerce, I received the minutes from the first meeting. That information was astounding! I discovered we have seen a dramatic rise in opiate abuse in the county. The amount of heroin and other drug overdoses was a shock to me, and I am sure that community members will be shocked as well. As reported in the first meeting, there have been eight overdose deaths from January through August 2010. Statistics were not available at this time on how many overdoses there were that did not result in death. In many cases, the victims have been revived and have not resulted in death. One of those was my son, who was revived by Officer Brad Alshire, whom I would personally like to thank for going above and beyond the call of duty.

After the meeting, I met with London Police Chief David Wiseman to find out what we, as concerned citizens, could do to help. I also wanted to know why people who overdose aren’t being charged with a crime. He said the best way the public can assist law enforcement is to provide information to them. They are already short of manpower, and more cuts are to come. He explained that non-fatal overdoses are difficult to prosecute because HIPPA laws protect patient’s information recorded during treatment.

We need to start being concerned about our neighborhoods and neighbors. I know from personal experience by providing names, times, addresses and/or license tags to the Sheriff’s department or the various police departments in the county, you can stay anonymous. This kind of information can help put dealers behind bars and out of our community. It’s time we stopped turning our heads and saying we don’t want to get involved! If it is next door, you are already involved. If it is drug activity that you witness or suspect, call law enforcement, and if children are involved, call Children’s Services. If it is not your child or grandchild now, it could be tomorrow. This problem isn’t just on the other side of the tracks. Even communities like Lake Choctaw are experiencing this problem. As the Madison County prosecutor stated at the first meeting, the problem is moving from low-income to middle and upper-middle class addicts. Ernie Boyd, executive director of the Ohio Pharmacists Association, stated that the leading cause of deaths in Ohio has changed from car accidents to prescription overdoses.

Please help protect our kids and our community. Information below will assist you in getting involved.

Susan Brady, concerned mother and London resident

For a copy of meeting minutes of the coalition, contact:

Saundra LaPrise, director of Madison Family Council and the Department of Family and Children, (740) 852-0339.

Roselin Runnels, director of Programs at the Mental Health and Recovery Board, (800) 435-7968.

To report concerns about a child’s safety, contact:

Madison County Children’s Services, (740) 852-4770.

To report crimes or suspicion of crimes in London, contact:

Chief David Wiseman, London Police Department, (740) 852-1414

To report crimes or suspicion of crimes outside of London but in Madison County, contact:

Madison County Sheriff Department, (740) 852-1212 [ask for the investigation section or go to www.madisoncountysheriff.org to report a crime under the section investigation on the left of the home page].

To the Editor:

The Tri Elementary Preservation Association is a small group of individuals with limited funds, but they stood up and spoke out against the giant with the Madison-Plains school bond issue.  Win or lose at the polls, this group did a great job and did it honorably

B. J. Little, Mt. Sterling

To the Editor:

With the most recent decisions made by the county commissioners regarding the construction of a new municipal courthouse, the 44,000 residents of Madison County are now the real losers.

Just two days from bid opening on constructing the new courthouse on Keny Boulevard, with construction to begin within three weeks, the newly appointed county commissioner, Paul Gross, made a motion to relocate the project to Oak Street after only a few days in his new position. Additionally, they required that the Special Project Fund of the municipal court pay upfront costs of $360,000 for the Oak Street properties.

This decision was made after many months of engineering, many meetings with the London Planning and Zoning satisfying their demands, conducting a very expensive traffic survey, the process of separating the three acres from the large plat, and nearly $200,000 of total cost invested for the Keny Boulevard location. Another part of the project involved the paying to the county $500,000 for the three-acre plat after the construction phase was completed and the building was occupied. This location would have provided 56 parking locations and would have afforded the opportunity to expand the facility into the extra land as part of the three-acre plat.

The Commissioners stated that the properties on Oak Street were purchased for the explicit purpose of locating the new courthouse there. This, however, is not true as the commissioners stated that the purchase was made because the investment was good and would be used for future Campus Style County buildings. 

The Oak Street location would provide only 28 parking locations. If expansion is needed in the future, a second story would be required to be put on the new building. This would entail extra initial construction costs for a heavier foundation and first floor construction members. A main London water main would need to be relocated which goes through the properties at an estimated cost of nearly $100,000 and may cause interruption of water service during relocation. Where are the construction trailers, equipment and the 75-100 construction workers going to park?

Now, Madison County residents have lost the use of a new, modern, and easily accessible with adequate parking, courthouse and have lost the payment of $500,000 to the general fund of the county. The county and city have lost the taxes which would come with a $2 million project, and the local eateries would not enjoy extra business which would come from the construction workers.

I suggest the Madison County Commissioners take the politics out of this issue, revisit their actions and return to the decision to locate the new municipal courthouse on Keny Boulevard as the previous commissioners approved.

Doug Pyles, London

To the Editor:

This is a response to the letter published in Our Community from Charlie Miller on August 21.

Mr. Miller, you are wrong again. I am a registered voter; have voted in all elections. How many more misquotes have come out of your mouth? Are there other quotes? For months, you have tossed out one quote after another. Which are facts and which are fiction? I am not expressing my views to make you happy.

Yes, I support Mayor Hockenberry’s ideas and the course of progress he is working so hard to offer to West Jeff. I read the news daily, and I see a man treated so unfairly. Why should I not be concerned? Unfairness anywhere is unfairness everywhere.

I see a mindset coming from three or four people in West Jeff who will never agree with any mayor who comes into office with great ideas and wants to see West Jeff move forward into the next century. When the mayor won his election, the people spoke and voted for change. Why doesn’t West Jeff have a supermarket? Certain persons didn’t want one. They claim the cost of a store was too much. Yet, they readily come up to spend $10,000 for a special election to get rid of Mayor Hockenbery. What is the rush? Why not let the citizens of West Jeff speak their own minds again? I’m sure $10,000 would go a long way toward beautifying your Main Street and other areas.

To the citizens of West Jeff: Don’t let three or four people negate your vote. This is about your future, the future of your children, your grandchildren, and schools and education that will be assured for them in centuries to come. Your vote will be the vote that decides a great future forever and ever. Beware of bearers of bad news. Support the mayor that you have selected. It’s your future.

Florence E. Davis, London

To the Editor:

I am a firm believer in Letters to the Editor. This is a service that almost all newspapers provide. I also understand that the editors of these papers reserve the right to publish or not publish the letters, and I understand that. What I don’t understand is the apparent discrimination shown by some.

In the past few weeks, there have been two letters from a lady in London which have appeared in Madison County’s daily newspaper. These letters were written by a person who is not only not registered to vote, but who is supporting West Jefferson’s mayor and telling people in West Jefferson how to vote. I normally do not address a letter to the editor in a paper where these items have not appeared. However, I have sent two letters to the daily newspaper rebutting the comments by this person, and neither one has been published, and it has been over a week since they were sent at the time of this writing.

This is not the first time that letters sent by me to that paper have not been published, and with no explanation, even though one was requested. I guess my question is the same one that a number of people in West Jefferson have asked: Why is this person who lives in London concerned about happenings in West Jefferson? If she supports the mayor, why? What is her connection to the mayor? I am disappointed that her views are the only ones allowed to be printed.

Charlie Miller, West Jefferson

To the Editor:

Let’s go back about a year ago when the Madison-Plains Board of Education decided to build one K-12 campus on Linson Road, and the BOE decided to have a meeting with the public to get their opinion of one K-12 complex. At that time, they wanted to have a vote with the “Clickers” to find out what the public wanted. The number of persons that were at that meeting equaled about 6 to 7% of the voting population. At that time there were mixed decisions about the school board proposal. This should have indicated to the board that this idea may not work. You would have thought that the board would ask what would work and what the voters have in mind. But nothing was asked, and if it was, they did not investigate ideas given to them. The only thing they were interested in was the Exceptional Needs money instead of what would be convenient for the students and their parents.

The same levy has been turned down by the voters twice. Now the same levy is on the special election this August. This should have given the board the idea that this plan was not worth the hassle of having the voters upset with the same thing over again.

In my opinion, the board is letting this situation get out of hand with a portion of the voters getting upset with one another. How can we have a #1 community program with all the difference of opinions? I think the board is telling the voters to do as we say and like it. Don’t do that! That is not the way to get things accomplished.

As large as Madison-Plains district is, the board should make it more convenient for the students and for their parents. The more convenient it is, the more positive response you will have toward the schools. The board has to know that if the district wants to grow.

When the board removed the Fairfield Elementary School that was not convenient for that area, the same happened to South Solon. That wasn’t convenient either. Now this is going to happen to Midway, Mount Sterling and Madison Rural elementary schools, and that really won’t be convenient for these areas.

I am asking the board to go after what they need, not what someone wants. The board needs to stand up for all the voters.

We have in August a levy of $24,950,154 (6.99 mill) to vote on. The Madison-Plains board has passed a resolution on July 13th that reads “Resolution determining to proceed to Levy a Tax in EXCESS of Ten-Mill limitations.” This levy will be put on the ballot for this November election. It has been said over and over, “IT’S WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE KIDS.” Let’s take a five-year-old child today. This child will be 33 years old by the time these levies are fulfilled. Is this good for our kids? Will they live in Madison-Plains district or elsewhere?

Let’s look in the future when the present board members and administration have left their positions, and a new board and administration have to take over the burden of duties left behind by the present board. That will be a job no one will want to take on.
I am asking for all the voters to get out August 3rd. And please vote.

       Charlie Neff, Mount Sterling

To the Editor:

Remember this date — August 3, 2010 — citizens of the Madison-Plains School District. Real estate taxes have already increased between 50 and 70 percent because of the reappraisal of all Madison County real estate in 2008. Remember the extra money from your wallet it took to pay your increased real estate taxes in February 2010 and June 2010. Remember how you felt doling out your hard-earned dollars for extra taxes.

Remember, no real estate owner is exempt from the burdensome tax increase from the Madison-Plains bond issue. Remember to mark your ballot in secret. No one can discover your vote.

SAVE OUR HOMES. VOTE NO AUGUST 3, 2010.

Ben and Ann Houser, Mount Sterling