Letters to the Editor

To the editor:

If you’re a homeowner in Oldham County, you just received an invoice from the Oldham County Storm Water District for $41.16 … The purpose is to keep lakes and streams clean by better managing storm water runoff. This is an unfunded, federal requirement.   One of Obama’s campaign platforms was climate change. With the emphasis our current administration is placing on keeping our planet green, you might wonder why more federal funds aren’t going to this cause. After all, water is fairly important.  None of us can live without it. It’s important that our residents can swim in clean water and fish in clean water. No one could argue that. If you haven’t taken a close look at some of the 8,500 earmarks included in the most recent $410 billion spending bill (produced a week after Obama signed the last $787 billion spending bill), consider how your tax dollars are being spent. According to the New York Times, $1.8 million to manage swine manure in Iowa; $190,000 for a Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Wyoming; $2.2 million to study grape genetics in New York; $175,000 for facade improvements on a dilapidated theater in Pennsylvania; $162,000 for cricket control in Utah; and a total of $41.5 million for presidential libraries of three former Democratic presidents: FDR, JFK and Lyndon Johnson. Obama has said he plans to ban earmarks. Just last year he proposed a moratorium on earmarks in the senate.  …  During Bush’s administration, Pelosi campaigned to expose lawmakers who sponsor pork proposals and demanded more transparency.  Obama’s tax credits are going to give workers an average of $13 more per week. That average will be less for Oldham County residents who are now chipping in to fund an unfunded federal mandate. It would be nice if taxpayers had a say in the prioritizing of their dollars.  $41 to an average Oldham County resident is a substantial amount of money.  Some here are unemployed and struggling financially.  To those folks, $41 means even more. Clean water is a priority, and federal funds should be provided to pay for clean water. It ties nicely into Obama’s green theme, benefits all and helps protect our world for future generations. It’s doubtful, particularly in the current economic environment that anyone in Oldham County places high priority on presidential libraries. In fact, it’s probably safe to say the majority have never been to one.  On the issue of transparency, Oldham County residents should be warned of future unfunded federal mandates likely to come … Now that we are entering into a tax and spend era, how long will it take before all the taxpayers who had hopes for tax cuts have them eaten up by more unfunded federal mandates? At this rate, not long at all.

  Claudia Hausmann, Crestwood

To the editor:

  I just want to say as a former member of the Ballardsville Fire Department I want to commend the chief, officers, their staff, the paid, the volunteers, the recruits and the explorers for a job well done on the house fire they recently responded to on Sunny Hill Drive in North Ridge subdivision.  I listened to the run on a scanner and was very proud of how professionally they handled the fire. My son and his family live in the subdivision and when we went to their house the next day, it was great to see that there was little damage done considering the fire they had upon arrival. Also when we left our son’s house that evening we noticed the lights were on and it appeared the owners were able to stay there.  When I was with the department, some of the present chief officers had joined the department as explorers and worked their way up and now they are very experienced not only as firefighters but well-trained officers. I know La Grange Fire Department was there also and the two departments work very well together.  Once again, I just want to say they put a good stop on what could have been a total loss.   Bob Widman, Pendleton