Time to clean the gutters
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It is about time the people in Richmond spoke out about their police department and its demise. It has been weeks since their city officials disbanded the department.
This writer has been wondering when the Richmond citizens were going to stand up for their civil rights. This is a brazen action of the few against the many — the many being those who will find themselves without proper police protection.
And to the former police official who plans on running against Sheriff Craig Davis (according to a small item in The Herald), he should try — with a little more gusto — to get his job in Richmond back instead of coming to Franklin County and trying to take the sheriff’s job away from him.
I have some good advice for the city and county commissioners in Franklin County: Do not try what the Richmond City Council did in their town. Franklin County taxpayers are pumping large amounts of money through the courthouse doors and there should be ample funds to support our police and sheriff’s departments. I will go a little farther, though it will most likely ruffle some feathers.
We can get along without a city manager and without city and county commissioners because all they do is spend tax money on things we don’t approve of anyway. As far as this writer is concerned, our police officers and sheriff’s deputies — both men and women, the fire department, our detention guards and the gentleman who is our emergency preparedness director cannot be done without in an emergency.
I have a question for our preparedness director: Where are the tornado shelters and the fresh water and food supplies that will be needed in the event of a catastrophe like Greensburg had? You might start working on that, sir.
We have other needs that should be provided by city and county leaders, but they are not. We need decent streets and roads — which we are currently not getting — and sidewalks all over town — not just near the schools. Where this writer lives on Olive Street, there is not one single sidewalk to the high school and back down the other side to Seventh Street. I must walk every day when weather will permit. I have a bad knee that will require knee replacement when the doctor is ready. I walk from Seventh to Eighth street five times and from Eighth to Seventh five times. It used to be 10 times, but my leg is no longer able to handle the strain. And because there are no sidewalks, I must walk in the street.
It may sound to some like I don’t walk very far, but I would ask them to imagine the most vicious toothache they have had and multiply that 10 times. After the fifth lap back to my sidewalk, my leg from my knee to my hip is totally numb and it limits my mobility; that can be dangerous in itself. Some of the cars drive as fast as 65 to 80 miles per hour down Olive Street. And some of those drivers will be talking on the phone and not paying attention to where they are going. I have nearly been hit three times.
Things are more dangerous in the area because after a rain storm the drainage is not good. The gutters are full of dirty slick water, trash thrown out by people and dead earthworms. And there are two mulberry trees, one at each end of the street, that add their fruit to the mess. It all gets very slick and walkers cannot get up close to the curb. The street sweeper cleans only once a month, if we are lucky. Sidewalks would make it safe for people to get out of the way of cars.
I must clear up something I said earlier in this letter.
All drivers that go down Olive Street are not speeders, most are courteous and sensible. Some that see me stop and give me something to lean on so that I can rest my leg. Some will stop and inquire if I need help. For that I am truly thankful. Sidewalks are a necessity, especially where there is a lot of traffic. Our taxes should be providing these, but they are not because the people pulling the purse strings are spending our money for unneeded recreation centers, county equipment, soccer fields, parks and a TV program showcasing county business meetings.
If they would stop that TV program, they would have more people at the live meetings — plus it would save tax money. The day I attended, there were very few people in attendance.
And do we really need anymore parks? We have six already. This town has only 13,500 population and many of them don’t or are not able to use the parks.
Now the commissioners are crying for a raise. “Why?” I ask. These people don’t earn what they are getting now. Also they hired an administrator against the wishes of this taxpayer. These people spend every penny and most of what they spend is some nonsense.
They just gave themselves a raise on December 5, 2007. I know. I was there when they voted on it over the objections of two people in what crowd there was. It was called longevity pay but if it quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck it is a duck. That was nothing more than a pay raise.
Now one year later, like a bunch of little kids who have gotten the I-have-to-have-what-they-are-getting syndrome, the commissioners surrounding our county are receiving $5 more, so they think they have to have the same. This writer is wondering if, in order to get that raise, our police and sheriff’s budgets have been cut. I see very few police and sheriff’s cars here on the west part of Ottawa.
What the Franklin County taxpayers should do is insist on an independent audit of the city and county books to see where our tax money is going. Wherever it has gone, it sure hasn’t benefited the taxpayers.
Until the morals change by these people who run for office — those who care more about the amount of the check they will receive than do about the taxpaying citizens who pay their salaries — nothing will change; just the faces at the table.
— Vista M. Hanson,
Ottawa
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