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In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
It’s interesting what you can learn reading the newspaper. Every week I try to read almost every article or column because I do want to know what is going on in Coosa County and what the other contributors have to say.
I like to read other peoples’ opinions, and I do find many areas of common ground. But I also enjoy reading opinions of others who I “agree to disagree with.” It’s the exchange of information and opinions that can help us all learn something we might not understand otherwise.
I was glad to see the front-page information about Westwater’s progress and the new Two Rivers Lumber project in our industrial park in Kellyton. Coosa County desperately needs new businesses to provide both jobs and taxes. It’s a great start, but I hope we can also start seeing some development on the west side of the county.
It’s amazing what grants can do to help make areas available for businesses, and I thank all those at the local, state and national levels who have worked on them for Coosa County!
Those were the two “news” articles that I was most interested in. But there were several other contributions that were also timely and interesting.
First, there was a letter to the editor from a reader who I think might have been responding to my recent column about school choice. She had some very good points, and I agree that we do not need to eliminate public schools. The majority of parents will continue to send their children to the public schools they are assigned to.
It is a confusing issue, and people don’t like changes. Basically it gives parents the ability to use SOME of their tax money differently for their children. The impact on their current public school is minimal and COULD actually be beneficial. I basically support lower income and middle-class families having options only the wealthy could afford.
I see Chuck Bradley is contributing to the paper now, and he had a great column on what the actual responsibilities and limitations of the County Commission are. While they make the decisions for the county, they are basically under the authority of the state legislature and cannot just change any law or ordinance they want to.
They are also limited on how the tax dollars are spent and have to justify those to state auditors. Those of us in small, rural counties unfortunately don’t have the power and influence in Montgomery that the larger, urban counties have. I would like to see a caucus of the smaller counties join forces to have a louder voice in Montgomery.
The next article was a “Special to the News” about funding for Alabama being cut because of all the cuts being made at the federal level. In all truth, those cuts should not affect funding to the states because the fraud and waste have been going to foreign countries, non-governmental organizations and pet projects of the elected officials.
If all of that is cut out we should be able to get closer to a balanced budget and have more money available for the states. Many of the agencies and departments are not part of our constitution and never should have been included in the federal government. We all have to live within our means and cover the NECESSITIES before we can splurge on something else.
I do feel for the federal employees who are being laid off or let go. If the services are really needed jobs should open up in the private sector. ALL taxpayers should understand that much of our hard-earned dollars are going to things we do not need, that don’t benefit us or our fellow citizens, but are being spent on outrageous causes that don’t affect the everyday person here in America.
I’m sure it has been beneficial to the employees who have been allowed to work from home all this time, but that should have ended years ago. That was supposed to be a temporary situation during “COVID-19.”
Many people are very capable of working without supervision and are able to close themselves off from their personal lives to put in a full day of productive work. But there are also many who are not able to concentrate on what they are being paid to do and only do a portion of the work that is expected. It’s like working beside someone who reads books or plays on their phones while YOU are steadily completing the work assigned to you – but they are being paid for the same amount of work you are! Where is the fairness in that?
The main question to ask is if the government exists to provide jobs or does it exist to do the business of the citizens. What comes first – the chicken or the egg? Give change a chance. The Band-Aid is being jerked off, and the pain shouldn’t last exceedingly long. The results are being seen, and they are eye-opening!
