Cumberland Times-News

Opinion

August 20, 2010

If you can’t take the time to get involved, just keep quiet

Cumberland Times-News

— To the Editor:

This letter is directed at the people in the following categories:

1. Those who don’t get involved in politics at all.

2. Those who say, “You can’t fight City Hall.”

3. Those who won’t go to party headquarters to help.

4. Those who say, “But my vote won’t make a difference anyhow!”

5. Those who won’t discuss politics “because I don’t like to.”

6. Those who can’t engage a neighbor in a political discussion.

In fact, it’s for any fathead that thinks the world just runs on without his making any contribution except to himself (herself) and his immediate surroundings.

1. The city of Frostburg is announcing, on television no less, that the city fathers are looking for new ways to tax you and me. My suggestion is that they should look for ways to cut spending and sell any and all properties including the “Center,” the old City Hall and any other building that the city owns.

2. Frostburg city fathers have suggested cutting out garbage pickups “to allow those workers to do other things.” I suggest they leave the garbage pickup as it is and fire several of the people who work in City Hall.

3. The governor has “given” our tax dollars to buy slot machines for the race tracks,

Huh? Years ago, all of the local tavern (bar) owners went to the county commissioners and asked that they ask the representatives to allow Allegany County bar owners to have gambling, including slots, in their bars.

Jim Stakem told all of us that we might get paper gambling, but he’d not request slots or other machines where we could make money. Yet he was one of the first in line to approve of gambling at Rocky Gap!

Certainly it is a citizen government, and certainly you can ask those who seek office these questions.

I . Will you absolutely cut taxes in the county?

2. Will you return to the tax structure of 15 years ago?

3. Will you stick with the constant yield, or will you raise it?

4. Will you reduce the number of employees on the payroll?

5. Will you support the idea to eliminate elected Mayor and Council, since they don’t do any more than bring the ideas of the administrator to the public? (The administrator could do that, and when he quits he could first advertise for a committee to pick a new administrator.)

6. Will you stop the federal spending, especially for radical Imams, foreign bailouts and unemployment benefits?

7. Ask the Fed to reduce every Social Security retirement check by 10 percent. They did that to every check that I’ve received.

I’m sure you have other questions, in Frostburg, in Cumberland, in the county and the state, but to ask them, ya gotta go to the meeting!

Otherwise, don’t gripe as your rent goes up. Don’t gripe about “those people who don’t do nothin’ in government.” Don’t ask anyone else, “What happened at the meeting?”  Just shut up and hope the adults can fix this mess.

Eileen Steele

Frostburg

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