Klamath county problems call for change ruth ann patton 051110

Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.

www.heraldandnews.com

County’s problems call for a change

Herald and News letter to the editor by Ruth Ann Patton, Klamath Falls

What alarms me at the present time in Klamath County is the following:

• That business after business is gone with buildings standing vacant.

• That Commissioner John Elliott is giving the commissioners credit for Klamath County being “debt free” at the end of this year. People, it is you as property taxpayers who have paid off these loans. It has nothing to do with the commissioners’ office.

• That the commissioners will still take their raises in the coming year, yet reduce the upcoming budget in almost all other offices. Why?

• That we have trailers serving as school facilities for Henley Elementary School students while at the same time a $10 million road shop is being built (and that is only the first part of the road shop price) and an out-of-county business got the bid.

• That PacifiCorp customers in Oregon (that’s us, folks) will be paying for the removal of four dams with three located in California. Our county commissioners have given their vote of approval for this, although no one presently knows the actual cost of removal.

• Why our county officials couldn’t understand that, when people are out of work, homes are going under, and the timber funds are going away, the revenue to operate the county government would also be down.

Why then shouldn’t we start changing the present trend by electing someone with a degree in economics? Dennis Linthicum, a Republican candidate for county commissioner, understands this aspect and has both the knowledge and experience to back it up.

Ruth Ann Patton