December 25, 2007 05:04 pm
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Did commission listen to residents?
I attended a public meeting at the Government Center Building. The meeting, held by the Planning Commission, was regarding the proposed zoning ordinance which will affect the unincorporated areas of Howard County. The meeting was well attended, with well over 100 residents. It was standing room only.
There was no question that the residents in attendance felt that the proposed ordinance went way beyond the scope that government should have in telling people how, and what to use their land for. How many trees and bushes to plant, the number of pigs, or the number of outbuildings you can have on your farm isn’t the government’s business if you listened to the residents in attendance. I did listen and tend to agree.
The ordinance is said to be a tool for economic development. I would say to the commission, to show me, not tell me. I know firsthand of businesses that have passed over Howard County because of its current zoning laws and ordinances. I think that this is the wrong time to introduce any ordinances that would restrict or reduce the possibility of having development from moving into our community.
About two years ago, I attended a meeting in the same room, with about the same number of people. It was very similar from the standpoint that not one person showed up in favor of passing the Davis Road transfer station. Every single person was against it. The appointed officials did not listen.
When over 100 residents take time on a cold, snow-covered, 20-degree night to attend a meeting that will affect not only them but everyone else, I hope this time the officials listen.
Dave Trine
County commissioner
U.S. doesn’t need more government
There are many points to discuss and even refute in Ms. Linda Campbell’s syndicated column addressing health plan issues (Kokomo Tribune, Dec. 14, page A4). The most telling part of her column is found in her conclusion. She writes, “[Professor Uwe] Reinhardt said that Americans who most likely would benefit from ‘a progressively financed, universal health care scheme’ either don’t vote or ‘vote for candidates promising them that one day they, too, will be billionaires, as long as they keep taxes and government spending low.’ If 2008 isn’t the time to stop following false logic, when will be?”
The typical, tired solution to social challenges proposed by “progressives” (formerly liberals) is to raise taxes, increase government spending, and expand government bureaucracy. History demonstrates that this proposal is a certain prescription for more government intrusion into our personal lives. Experience also shows that every time the marginal tax rates are lowered, citizens experience greater prosperity. In spite of documented evidence, liberals continue to espouse policies that ultimately conclude in melded forms of socialism and feudalism. Personal decisions are taken away from individuals and placed into the hands of an elite few. Just like those serving feudal lords, Americans are forced to work longer for “benevolent benefactors” with every tax hike and must live according to the whims and fancies they impose upon us.
As difficult as it is for Ms. Campbell and other liberals to believe, there are market solutions available to the health care challenges that face us that, if implemented, will alleviate virtually all of the difficulties that are cited in this column without imposing more government micromanagement over our lives.
Charles A. Layne
Bunker Hill
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