Tilting at Windmills, Once Again...
To: Scott.Stewart@pulaskicitizen.com
From: "J. Kendrick McPeters" <mcpeters@usit.net>
Subject: Letter to the Editor (text body 293 words long)
To The Editor:
A well informed public is a public that can be trusted to vote responsibly. Alas, many of those running for county office are not doing very much to inform the public of their intentions, should they get elected or re-elected. Citizen-Press editor Scott Stewart asked the candidates a lot of thoughtful questions, but, for some reason or another, many have elected not to answer, or to answer by saying nothing specific.
Perhaps it was the need for "essay style" answers that discouraged so many candidates from complying with Mr. Stewart's questionnaire. Had simple "yes" or "no" answers been solicited, the response from the candidates might have been more illuminating.
With that in mind, I have attempted to fill in the gaps, for the Giles County voter. I have recently mailed out questionnaires to every county commission and county executive candidate. My questions are strictly "yes" or "no" in format, and the small number of questions -- fifteen for commissioners and eighteen for the executive -- makes answering them a quick and easy proposition.
As many of you are already aware, I am the webmaster for a community affairs blog, entitled "Giles Free Speech Zone" (go to www.snipurl.com/sbla). It is my intention, upon receipt of the filled out questionnaires, to publish on my blog, the answers given by the candidates.
Keep an eye on my blog, and, hopefully, the candidates who want your votes, will have enough respect for you, the voter, to spend the few minutes of time required to answer. And for those who don't? My advice is to vote for someone else! Democracy doesn't work in an information vacuum, and a few "yes" or "no" answers is the least we should expect of someone aspiring to public office in Giles County.
Kendrick McPeters
1126 Northside Drive
Pulaski, TN 38478
From: "J. Kendrick McPeters" <mcpeters@usit.net>
Subject: Letter to the Editor (text body 293 words long)
To The Editor:
A well informed public is a public that can be trusted to vote responsibly. Alas, many of those running for county office are not doing very much to inform the public of their intentions, should they get elected or re-elected. Citizen-Press editor Scott Stewart asked the candidates a lot of thoughtful questions, but, for some reason or another, many have elected not to answer, or to answer by saying nothing specific.
Perhaps it was the need for "essay style" answers that discouraged so many candidates from complying with Mr. Stewart's questionnaire. Had simple "yes" or "no" answers been solicited, the response from the candidates might have been more illuminating.
With that in mind, I have attempted to fill in the gaps, for the Giles County voter. I have recently mailed out questionnaires to every county commission and county executive candidate. My questions are strictly "yes" or "no" in format, and the small number of questions -- fifteen for commissioners and eighteen for the executive -- makes answering them a quick and easy proposition.
As many of you are already aware, I am the webmaster for a community affairs blog, entitled "Giles Free Speech Zone" (go to www.snipurl.com/sbla). It is my intention, upon receipt of the filled out questionnaires, to publish on my blog, the answers given by the candidates.
Keep an eye on my blog, and, hopefully, the candidates who want your votes, will have enough respect for you, the voter, to spend the few minutes of time required to answer. And for those who don't? My advice is to vote for someone else! Democracy doesn't work in an information vacuum, and a few "yes" or "no" answers is the least we should expect of someone aspiring to public office in Giles County.
Kendrick McPeters
1126 Northside Drive
Pulaski, TN 38478
posted by J. Kendrick McPeters | 7:37 PM
63 Comments:
Here is the commissioner questionnaire:
Dear (candidate),
As you probably know, I am the webmaster for a community affairs blog -- entitled Giles Free Speech Zone -- (www.snipurl.com/sbla) -- and you have probably heard of my keen interest in local politics. It should come as no surprise, then, to find that I've prepared questionnaires for every candidate for the County Commission, and for both County Executive candidates.
Please take a few minutes and answer the following questions with either a "yes" or a "no." After you're done, sign and date the affirmation below, and mail me back this letter, using the enclosed self addressed, stamped envelope.
On Monday of next week, I will publish on my blog all the answers of the candidates who were kind enough to reply, and I will also announce the results in a paid ad in the Tuesday issue of the Pulaski Citizen. This questionnaire is your opportunity to get your views before the entire county, at no cost to your campaign. Please don't forget that not bothering to answer is itself a type of answer, and that the voters would, in that case, likely draw conclusions that aren't favorable.
Without further ado, here are the questions:
(1) Will you support the adoption of the Financial Management Act of 1981? __________
(2) Will you vote to adopt a wheel tax? ___________
(3) Will you support the construction of a new school administration building? ________
(4) Will you vote to sell the ambulance service to a private company? __________
(5) Should the Hunter-Smith Building be sold? ___________
(6) Should The Hunter-Smith Building be repaired and used as a courthouse annex? _______
(7) Will you vote to borrow money to build a multi-million dollar complex of ball fields? ______
(8) Would you under any circumstance vote to increase the property tax? ________
(9) Do you have any direct or indirect relatives who work for Giles County? __________
If "yes," please list on back who they are and where they work.
(10) Will you vote for a Private Act to allow zoning referendums? ____________
(11) Will you vote to repeal the Floodplain Zoning Resolution of 1999? ____________
(12) Will you vote to repeal the Land Use Management (zoning) Plan of 2003? __________
(13) Will you vote to petition WKSR to resume live County Commission coverage? _________
(14) Would you support the withholding of funds from the school system in order to get a line item budget and more responsible budgets from the school director? _____________
(15) Will you vote to allow citizens the opportunity to address the County Commission on issues prior to the commissioners voting? ___________
I, ______________________, affirm that the above given answers are all truthful, and written by my own hand this ___________ day of July, 2006.
And here is the questionnaire I sent to Mr. Gordon and Mrs. Vanzant:
Dear (candidate),
As you probably know, I am the webmaster for a community affairs blog -- entitled Giles Free Speech Zone -- (www.snipurl.com/sbla) -- and you have probably heard of my keen interest in local politics. It should come as no surprise, then, to find that I've prepared questionnaires for every candidate for the County Commission, and for both you and (opposing candidate).
Please take a few minutes and answer the following questions with either a "yes" or a "no." After you're done, sign and date the affirmation below, and mail me back this letter, using the enclosed self addressed, stamped envelope.
On Monday of next week, I will publish on my blog all the answers of the candidates who were kind enough to reply, and I will also announce the results in a paid ad in the Tuesday issue of the Pulaski Citizen. This questionnaire is your opportunity to get your views before the entire county, at no cost to your campaign. Please don't forget that not bothering to answer is itself a type of answer, and that the voters would, in that case, likely draw conclusions that aren't favorable.
Without further ado, here are the questions:
(1) Will you support the adoption of the Financial Management Act of 1981? __________
(2) Will you support the adoption of a wheel tax? ___________
(3) Will you support the construction of a new school administration building? ________
(4) Would you support selling the ambulance service to a private company? __________
(5) Should the Hunter-Smith Building be sold? ___________
(6) Should The Hunter-Smith Building be repaired and used as a courthouse annex? _______
(7) Do you support borrowing money to build a multi-million dollar complex of ball fields? ____
(8) Would you under any circumstance support an increase in the property tax?________
(9) Do you have any direct or indirect relatives who work for Giles County? __________
If "yes," please list on back who they are and where they work.
(10) Will you enforce the Floodplain Zoning Resolution of 1999? ____________
(11) Will you enforce the Land Use Management (zoning) Plan of 2003? ____________
(12) Will you appoint known anti-zoners to the Planning Commission? __________
(13) Will you support a Private Act to allow zoning referendums? ____________
(14) Will you support the repeal of Floodplain Zoning? ____________
(15) Will you support the repeal of Land Use Management? __________
(16) Will you petition WKSR to resume live County Commission coverage? _________
(17) Would you support the withholding of funds from the school system in order to get a line item budget and more responsible budgets from the school director? _____________
(18) Will you do all you can to see that citizens are allowed the opportunity to address the County Commission on issues prior to the commissioners voting? ___________
I, _______________________, affirm that the above given answers are all truthful, and written by my own hand this ___________ day of July, 2006.
I love it! But if you think there will be many or any responses I think it will be a case of SOL.
mr mcpeters, I commend you on this effort to inform the voters of giles county, I would like very much to see the yes,or no answers. I also believe if any of the candidates do not have time, or think maybe they should not respond to this request, for whatever reason, the voters should take the liberty, to respond to them, in the same way, come election day. Keep up the good work mr. mcpeters
whitt
mr mcpeters,
do you mind stating what your professional job is and how long have you been employed at this job?
Joe,
Just for the record, I have already gotten ONE of the questionnaires back. Care to guess who that candidate is?
Whitt,
Thank you for the words of encouragement. It is comments like yours that make keeping this blog worthwhile. Thanks again.
Anonymous asked:
"do you mind stating what your professional job is and how long have you been employed at this job?"
Well, at the moment I am the caretaker for my 80 year old invalid mother. It's a full time job taking care of my mom-- I can't even leave the house for more than a couple of minutes without finding a "babysitter" to watch her while I'm out. How long have I been "employed" at this? Ten years, ever since my father died, although it's become much more intensive of a "job" since my mother lost the ability to walk, about two or three years ago.
On to your next question... how much does this pay? Answer: I get room, board, meals, and free internet, but that's about that. I don't get a check for taking care of my mother. I used to get a check for doing the book keeping for my brother's business, but the air conditioning business isn't what it used to be, so that stopped. (I still do the books, though, without compensation.)
On to your next question... why do I do all this work without getting paid? Because I love my mother more than I love money, and the only alternative to me doing it, is to put my mom in a nursing home. And, on top of the fact that I couldn't bear to see her in a "home," there is the small matter that I promised my father, on his deathbed, that I would take care of my mother after he was gone. So, I made a promise which I am now keeping. Please feel free to sneer at me for being "unemployed" and "broke," but I am happier doing this than I would be, had I abandoned my promises and left my mother to the tender care of the "pros" at the nursing home.
As for what my employment record has to do with anything, I'm afraid I can't imagine. Likely, this is the beginning of an attempt to discredit me, but, honestly, what is the point? If I was a homeless person who sleeps under a bridge in a cardboard box, that wouldn't say anything against my blog -- which, as the product of other people's postings -- stands on its own.
But before anyone attempts to use my poverty to discredit me, they should be aware that, for six years, I've been working on a solution to my dilemma. That dilemma is, of course, the conflict between my desire to live comfortably well off, and the reality that I'm an unpaid caregiver. My solution is, I've invented a system for building houses and other structures with poured concrete, that may very well revolutionize the building industry. I'm going to meet with a patent attorney within the week, to start the process of securing my intellectual property.
The upside is simply enormous. Every year, over six hundred billion dollars is spent building two million houses (this doesn't count mobile homes, incidentally). That's such a huge amount of money, and my needs are so small, that I don't need but the thinnest sliver of the construction pie, to be set for life. You know, a slice so thin that you can see right right through it...
And, considering that my calculations indicate that monolithic concrete houses can be built, with my system, for less money than it takes to stick build a flammable, termite magnet, conventional wooden house... I believe that I'll wind up, eventually, getting that thin slice of the pie.
But until then, feel free to make ad hominem attacks on this blog, based on the paltry fortunes of the blogmaster. Such attacks will roll off me like water off a duck's back, and, if I were a betting man, I'd bet that they will have little impact with the blog's readers. But go ahead and try... If you want to attack the blog, and have no rational basis for doing so, then go ahead and attack me instead.
I've been attacked before; I'm used to it, and I've expected personal attacks since the very moment I first launched this blog. So go ahead, attack me and get it over with, so we can move on to important matters, such as the upcoming county elections. Thankyouverymuch.
McKendrick ,
I'd like to congratulate you for your well-considered answer to what appears to be a deliberate 'stirring it up' attempt.
You are to be heartily commended for having the commitment to taking care of your invalid mother for so long and for your efforts at maintaining this blog as a tiny aperture into the machinations that transpire in Giles County .
I can clearly see the need to establish linkage between a candidate for office's place of employment and the potential for conflict with that office -particularly when employed by the County . I have a more than hard time seeing the relevance to anyone else of yours in association with this blog where the majority of comments are written anonymously by others , some of whom seem to simply want to spend their efforts sniping at others .
I am looking forward to seeing the candidates answers as a LARGE component of deciding how I will vote in August . However my vote is already set "FOR " the Financial Management referendum .
Bill Proud
mr mcpeters,
(do you mind stating what your professional job is and how long have you been employed at this job?_
Why did you take my question as an attack on you? I haven’t lived here all my life, like others. I can tell by your postings how intelligent you are, so I simply wanted to know more about you, simple as that.
mr. proud
i have a list of all voters in giles county and I found your wifes name registered but not yours. just wondering why.
You need to buy a new list from Ms Bassham
Bill Proud
mr proud,
i did buy mine from ms bassham, about two months ago.
Bill,
Thank you for the kind words, and thank you for using the response to my questionnaire as a guide to your voting decisions.
Just out of curiosity, do you think you could vote for a candidate who "answered" by throwing away my questionnaire, and sending me a note which says:
"I appreciate your questions but it would be inappropriate to answer some with a yes or no. Some of the questions should be brought before the citizens of Giles County and let them decide, how I feel would be irrelevant."
"If anybody wants to know how I feel on a question, all they have to do is come and ask me personally. The people of Giles County should say how they feel not the officials."
"Thank you."
(name withheld -- for the moment)
Now, does that inspire confidence, or what? (Name to be revealed after passing of deadline, in hopes that the "official" changes their mind, and decides to grace us with a few "yes" or "no" answers.)
Dear Anonymous,
It looks like I was a little quick on the draw. Sorry about that. I've been expecting an "anonymous" attack on me for so long, that I misinterpreted the spirit in which your question was asked.
Bear in mind that, in today's very materialistic world, there are few things more shameful than "not earning a good living" -- and perhaps you will see that it was easy for me to assume that you already knew the answer and were prodding me to make it public, in order to put me in a bad light.
Fifteen years ago, I was heavily invested in fighting zoning, and the other side -- not having the facts to defend themselves -- resorted to a campaign of innuendo and namecalling against me and my allies. I assumed that, once I opened a blog which allowed anonymous comments, that this campaign would be resumed. Even Penny Thoughts, as apparently uncontroversial as he was, got attacked anonomously on the old blog. So I read your post and thought "so it begins again" and wrote the essay above.
Evidently -- and to my great astonishment -- the anonomous sniping against me hasn't started (yet), and my assumptions about you were wrong. Again, I'm sorry I flew off the handle; maybe next time I'll remember what they say about "assume-ing."
Speaking of candidates, I'd like to welcome to the blog a new county commission candidate brave enough to post here: Brandon W. Bass. He posted a piece in the following thread:
http://snipurl.com/su3j
It's worth checking out.
To Kendrick
It was a great shock to me, when I read your answer to my question. At first, I thought, what the hell is he talking about? Now, I had a good laugh, since you explained. I thought you might be in the news business, or an author.
Certainly, I don’t know enough about you to criticize you in any way. I like reading you comments and appreciate your intelligent
mind. I only wish I had such a way with words, but I afraid, NOT.
No bad thoughts, regarding you or your statements!
To anonymous at 10-46 AM thursday ....
In today's rapidly rolling revisions a list 2 months old registers as vintage hit 'refresh ' on your computer ...WOOPS NO ! That wont work either . Guess you'll have to divvy up for a newer one eh ??
Or check my admission ticket at the polls ...WOOPS NO that wont work either , it's private unless you're a poll-worker ...Are you ? If so give me a big smile on the day ...I'll be voting FOR the candidate who didnt cause the old blog to close as well as FOR Financial Management ...Will you ?
Bill Proud
kendrick
since you know i'm not attacking you, would you list the candidates that you personally think would serve our county well or would any of the people on the blog that seems to know a lot more about the people running for office than i do? thanks in advance for the help.
Dear Anonymous,
I have not yet decided who I am voting for. To be perfectly honest, I am waiting to get back a few more of my questionnaires, before making a final decision.
And since I don't want this blog to be about me, I'm really not sure that I want to issue a list of candidates I endorse. But I will gladly do this... I will give you a list of people who, IMHO, don't deserve to be re-elected:
Chris Morris, Edwin Lovell, Roger Reedy, Bill Holt, Larry Worsham, Butch White, Tommy Campbell, and Terry Harwell.
What did these folks do? They voted against suspending the rules and allowing me to speak before the vote was held on zoning, three years ago this month. One of them went on to vote against zoning anyway, but -- IMHO -- it was unforgivable to deny input from the public before voting on such a controversial matter.
When it comes to things like this, I haven't forgotten, and I don't plan to forgive. (On a happy note, there were six others who voted against allowing me to present the case of 80% of the county, but they aren't running for re-election. That's just fine with me.)
kendrick
which commissioners are pro-zoners?
Anonymous,
Here is a list of everyone who voted for "Land Use Management," aka zoning, on July 21, 2003. The commissioners shown in italics are not running for re-election:
Wesley Vick, Chris Morris, Edwin Lovell, Roger Reedy, Ronald Shirey, Bill Holt, Jeff Hatfield, Stanley Newton, Butch White, Tommy Campbell, Terry Harwell, Paul Walker
Giles County is one of the last places where a little freedom still rings. Almost anywhere else we see stacks of laws and orders telling the citizens how to live, what color to paint the house, if you can have a deck, how tall the grass can be, what kind of dog you can have, on and on, and even prohibiting the American flag! Most people are here because they like a folksie atmosphere.
If you'd like to tighten things up a bit, I'm sure there's a gated community within driving distance that has everything you could ever want. If you can't afford a "Beemer", get a bike with the seat jacked way up in the rear, head for the traffic & pedddddal like pro. Everyone will think you're Lance Armstrong - free meals, tv ads, autographs, girls...
The down side is getting run over by a pickup with Giles Co plates - late for work & pedal to the metal.
There must be a better way of avoiding the wonderful things someone else wants to ram down your throat. dm
dm
Yes, Giles County is still a wonderful place to live. Most of us would heartily agree to that. And speaking of freedom.....hey...I painted my deck recently and did not have to secure a permit to do so! Isn't that what we were told would happen to our freedoms here should zoning pass? On the contrary, true freedom derives from being able to live in peace and pursuit of happiness without the intrusions of others upon your rights! Think.
Obviously there is a need for zoning. I don't think any of us want a garbage dump next door. But we need smart, common sense zoning. No, this isn't a huge metropolis and chances are it never will be. We need zoning that matches the wants and needs of the people in this county. I think we need some general zoning laws that protect the citizens of Giles County from unwanted situations, but it doesn't need to be the nit-picky laws that tell you what color your shingles can be.
This topic is like every other thing in the world, there is a good side and bad side. The problem is to get the law makers to be realistic and use some common sense when writing the laws.
In regard to the comment about Giles County not being a huge metropolis, you are correct. It is not and never will be. Unfortunately for us citizens trying to eke out a living here, the administrations of both the county and the city of Pulaski try to run it as if it is.
What this county needs is a Metro Goverment!
William H. Taft
We don't need a Metro Government, we've already got a KINGDOM.
Imagine a zoning board run by Jackson & Gonzales! Suppose you appeal to a Commission that walks when they don't want to hear what someone wants to say. Suppose you want to rezone your property but the "Oh-zonerators" won't process your application until they get a tax increase. Suppose they like your property & decide to build a 'blend into society facility' for perverts in your back yard. You don't have to look very far to find endless reasons why anything spelled bureaucracy is founded on oppression with dollar signs.
dm
Please, I am begging you, don't wote for Janet Vanzant. She has no idea what she is doing. She is nothing more than a place holder. Thises have been the darkest days in Giles County's recent history as far as leadership. And don't give that stuff about boys and a woman. She has made me ashamed to even be a professional woman. it's a disgrace.
I also work at the courthouse. What bothers me is that the county executive is getting away with stuff and nobody is willing to call her hand on it. Where is the newspaper or radio? While standing and waiting on the elevator I overheard her tell one lady she was for the land use management plan. Then she turned right around the next day and I heard her tell a fellow that she was against any type of zoning. She is like that lizard than changes colors and tries to be whatever she knows the person she is talking to at that moment wants her to be. I get mad because she and her handmaid, Jane, are leaving all the time to go campaigning and still getting paid i'm sure. We work all day to get paid all day. I agree it is not about man or woman. It is all about her not being truthful which would be the same whether she was male or female. I sure don't want to see her back on the south end of the courthouse or out in the hall with that plastic smile.
Dear Courthouse Worker and Insider
It is about damn time you people started to reveal how she really is and I’m sure this morning’s event was the catalyst that pushed you to speak the truth since our leader has a problem with doing so. I want to also ask of you, please help us all voter her out of office.
My boss who is an elected official supports her so it is difficult for me to say anything openly. But the courthouse workers do talk and most of the courthouse worker bees will not be voting for Mrs. Vanzant. I think the elected and appointed officials will because it's like when somebody gets in office they're all in some sort of little in group or sorority. They're saying people will vote for her because she "needs a job". Well, that's not a reason for voting for her. Neither is the fact that she is a woman. I'm a woman too but the courthouse is in a mess, real mess. If we don't get a real honest leader in here who will work with everybody instead of prissing in and out of the southend door (she don't come to other parts of the court house) we;re all going to be sorry. Mr. Gordon don't need the job. I know that. But he gave my cousin a job at Intermet when nobody else would give him a chance to work. He don't need the job which tells me that he wants to be county mayor for the $50,000 dollars it pays. It tells me that he's running so he can DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR OUR COUNTY. We can't talk openly. But, I can say it here. Courthouse peons for Glen Gordon for County Mayor!
I should have reread before I published. The sentence should read "He don't need the job which tells me that he DON'T WANT to be county mayor for the $50,000 dollars it pays." Sorry for the mistake.
Please, people it is NOT about money! It is about how to move this county forward.
Well you will be sorry if Glen Gordon is elected. Don't you know who will be running the county? He is trying real hard now.
No I don't know plese tell me.
To anonymous of Tuesday, July 18, 2006 7:10:31 AM
They can't tell you and if they did they would say Dan Speer or Corky Wakefield or somebody like that. Glen Gordon is his own man. He is not a Speer man or a Wakefield man. This is another attempt at the Vanzant camp to try to split off some votes by dropping some names and claiming allegiance with people they know you don't like. Smell the coffee brewing?
But.......could he be a "green" man???? Go Janet!
I guess the only good thing that I can really say about this blog is that at least Kendrick has the guts to say that he is running the show and not hiding being a Penny Thoughts smokescreen like Claudia Johnson did.
to anonymous,Tuesday, July 18, 2006 11:56:57 AM
claudia had no connections to penny thoughts.
Thank Lord we had a "green" man to save the taxpayers rear ends. Ask Janet. She knows that the "green" man saved her hinny too. Of course she is now taking the credit for his work and the work of the Budget Committee. But everybody knows who did the work.
Gordon isn't a "green" man. He is a man who is running for office at the encouragement of business people. Business people who've seen what the last four years have produced. Zero. He is a man who can move our county forward. You choose. Somebody who takes credit for others work. Somebody who will do the work himself.
But you need to remember the county executive is very limited in what they can do anything about.
Mr. Gordon will find his hands are tied in most areas.
To anonymous, Tuesday, July 18, 2006 2:22:07 PM
You must have inhaled the smoke, Claudia Johnson not connected to Penny Thougts--- Claudia Johnson was Penny Thoughts!!!!
Dear VanZant Anonymous, Monday, July 17, 2006 9:12:46 PM
Well you will be sorry if Glen Gordon is elected. Don't you know who will be running the county? He is trying real hard now.
Desperate people do and say desperate things! You better be careful, Mr. Gordon is an easy going person, but, if he feels you are wrong he won’t take any BS, how do I know, I worked directly under him for 12 years. There is non-better to his employees.
You don’t know “what the hell you are talking about”.
Anonymous Wednesday, July 19, 2006 3:29:47 PM
“Mr. Gordon will find his hands are tied in most areas”
PLEASEEEEE…………IT IS SO SIMPLE…THE PERSON IN CHARGE FORMS A WORKING RELATION WITH ALL OF THE COMMSSIONERS AND ANY OTHER MUNICIPALITES REQUIRED TO GET THE JOB DONE…JUST LIKE THAT. YOU DON’T ALINATE JUST CERTAIN PEOPLE AND CHOOSE TO LIKE JUST A FEW…THAT YOU FEEL THREATENED BY…………………………. LIKE THE PAST FOUR YEARS!!!!
Corky Wakefield supported Janet Vanzant in the last election. not his friend and fellow church member Don Massey. Didn't support Bobby Lee or the other candidate. Corky Wakefield supported Vanzant. where does that leave those of you who have been saying Mr. Gordon is a Corky Wakefield man? Vanzant is a Corky Wakefield woman. Boo! Scared now?
RE: "blend into society" facility
Yes, good point. Would any of you who are so against zoning restrictions have a problem with a "blend into society" center for perverts being built right beside your house. Or, better yet, a halfway house for ex-convicts or an out-patient drug rehab center for addicts? You certainly would!
The crux of the matter is that you cannot take away the rights of some and give them to others!
We're getting close to the problem. Taking rights of one to give to another defines power. Power is the magnet of bureaucracy.
If you think bureaucracy will feather your nest above that of a major contributor, you're just plain not awake.
The Constitution (Amendments) does an awesome job of defining rights; but we have allowed those protections to be turned against us by letting government created bureaucracies decide for us. We know that a bureaucracy can decide to not talk to you, jail you for speaking to them, or just tell you anything of no substance - and get away with it. We all know this; but some are anxious to turn their property rights over to a new bureaucracy that will be able to do the same thing, except with many more dollars signs attached.
to anonymous....the question remains and begs an answer...what about the "blend into society" center for perverts and other "businesses" mentioned above? Would you have a problem with your neighbor constructing one of these in your back yard?
Blender bases are an integral part of the engineered society zonalism fights to create. It's not a problem for them.
The only protection we need now is from zonalism. Zonalism is a weed seed of communism. The commissars of zonalism can already zone what they own. They just can't tell you what to do ... yet! Their plan is to steal your property rights and increase taxes to create their own little enforcement bureau to keep everyone else under their thumb.
All I can say is that, without any formal plan in place, you had better look out! The next half-way house for ex-convicts may be built right beside your home! Ouch!
RE: "half-way" houses
Folks, that's a residential use if there ever was one, so they would be allowed into the FAR zone.
The LUMP doesn't even DEFINE "half way house" or "pervert," let alone zone them out. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. Read your precious LUMP, and you'll see that I'm telling the truth.
Kendrick....
Surely you knew that those references were merely used as examples of what people do not want in their neighborhoods. Didn't you? Nobody said they were defined in the LUMP as you call it.
What about a rock quarry in a residential zone?
Now that the election is over, I would like to address the zoning issue one more time. IF (and I say if) the present zoning plan is in fact full of "nits and picks", why can't the commission sit down as reasonable people and simplify it? By that I mean....leave the present plan in place and revamp it as needed. All we really want here is protection from those who would sell us out for a few pieces of silver. The most glaring example to me is the rock quarry in a residential area on Christian Road. That should have never happened....but it did.
Again, why not leave the plan we have in place and make adjustments to it as needed? We can't afford to get caught with our pants down again and have no protection whatsoever. So, if it would stop the whining of those claiming their rights are being surrendered in the name of zoning, why don't you folks on the commission resolve to do whatever is necessary to simplify the plan and make it more palatable to everyone? And, would you believe it, I am a pro-zoner as they call us?
Yes, that is entirely true. It's too late for the people near the quarry, but we can ensure that this sort of thing NEVER happens again to law-abiding and taxpaying citizens of this county....all in the name of progress!
So, I too would challenge the commission to examine the plan and, weed out those things that may be nit-picky...if they exist!
People do not want restrictions on their individual liberties; that's what happened to the "quarry road" residents. They just want their life-long investments in their homes and farms (for which they pay property taxes) protected. Simple as that!
So, let's let cooler heads prevail and get this settled once and for all. As one blogger stated.....let's give peace a chance!
Here's another idea for the anti-zoners. If you can repeal the present one, why can't you just as easily enact another one (to your liking) and simply make it law?
Sounds logical to me.
I think that is exactly what they are up to. Didn't you notice the candidates they had running for the commission? It's all a part of their plan. But sadly, I think their real agenda is to do away with "zoning" and leave people with nothing and vulnerable to whatever comes along. And THAT is what I cannot understand!
Hay anonmous.
That sur ain't the onlyest thing you don't understand. Didn't you ever think, sorry I didn't mean to embaress you, didn't you ever consider that maybe some folks don't have no hiden plan they jus do what they say.
Chucks...don't be a jackanapes! I fully understand that you are looking pretty foolish right now!
anonymous I don't no what that jackanapes thing is. But what I want to no is how can you see me right now, did yo put one of them spi things on my computar. I'm back now I had to go put on some better close. My underware had holes in them, I bet thats why you said I looked foolish.
No chuckles, you do a good enough job at that without anyone's assistance.
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