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12/07/2003 Archived Entry: "THOUGHTS I'M PASSING ON TO THE COMMISSIONERS"

THOUGHTS I'M PASSING ON TO THE COMMISSIONERS

You have to go a long way to find a more avid group of rugged individualists than you find on the prairies in Kansas, particularly when it comes to protecting their rights to do whatever they want to do about almost anything. Specifically, I'm thinking of the perpetuation of these thoughts that have prevailed since the first traveler fell off a covered wagon on the land that later became Kansas.

I think we've reached a point now, made obvious with the plight of the people in Wilson, to set aside some of those thoughts and move forward. We're in a very vulnerable position to be overrun by outsider non-residents who have other ideas about how the landscape of Ellsworth County should appear. Those ideas, generally speaking, are not the ones we have held dear for generations.

All efforts on the part of a few to develop some kind of reasonable zoning laws for the county have fallen on deaf ears. For some reason, people reel in fear of zoning laws or feel they are so threatening as to ebb away all their individual rights.

For the last three years, County Commissioner Terry Kueser has brought up the fact the county needs zoning laws. No one is listening. Terry is right. It should be pretty obvious now that we need to pay attention to him and support him fully in his efforts. From his chair on the commission, he has an overall view of county matters that all of us are not privy to.

We've ambled around this part of Kansas with the innocence of babes while some of the savvy city folks have been conniving how to increase their riches from us while we are looking the other way. Look at all the land that has been acquired by lawyers and doctors and other businessmen from our towns and cities to provide a place for them to hunt. They've had the money to pay a hefty price for the land and that affects the farmers who have to try to make a living off their land.

Read about the talk of wind generated farms that some say would provide jobs for a few, while they dig 30x30x30 foot holes in the ground to fill with concrete, and a meager pittance of rent to some farmers, while the money-yielding generating system is owned by someone else and the energy produced doesn't benefit us, but ends up in some power grid in Florida. And we're left looking at monster windmills forever.

Without any zoning laws, or watching our backside, we fell prey to the Adult Arcade near Wilson. Wilson citizens could have averted that, but they didn't. We in Ellsworth are no more prepared than they. Now they are scrambling to do something about it. In the process they have given the Arcade exactly what they wanted....an enormous amount of free publicity that has increased their business.

Ellsworth county is not prepared for the possibility of a huge packing plant (which almost happened a couple years ago and tends to drive people from our small towns), hog farms or feed lots to arrive in our backyard. They are far more threatening to property values and lifestyles than the Arcade. Alcohol, meth labs and drugs that prevail in our county are taking lives and are far more dangerous to our citizens than the Arcade. I won't even mention the arsenal of weapons in our homes that would probably fill the Craft World building.

So, back to the resolution. It's appropriate to help the folks in Wilson and come up with some kind of reasonable resolution whose sole purpose isn't to regulate so heavy-handedly as to run someone out of business. We've already debated the merits of the business having a right to be there, so that's a non-issue. They have every right to be there and any effort to run them off through unreasonable hoop-jumping regulations and requirements will back fire, in my opinion. It's also not a religious issue as some in the group seem to think. We can all make our own moral decisions without a committee preaching to us what our values should include.

There is a need for a resolution, but not this resolution. When one is passed it needs to be carefully considered and well-drafted to meet our specific needs so that we make sure we do the right and fair thing.

Why the rush? Why dash to pass this particular resolution that came from the American Family Association in Mississippi? It doesn't take long to figure out what their purposes are when you visit their extensive websites and they are cross-purposes with many in the county who are very sensitive to First Amendment rights and censorship. Only a handful of people have had an opportunity to read the pending resolution.

We have to keep in mind that our county attorney will have to defend whatever resolution is passed. He is very capable of researching this matter as it applies to other towns in Kansas. He is also very capable of drawing up a resolution that is more specific to us and one he can defend and more than just a few can support.

I have only my own taxpayer's say in this matter, but the logical approach seems to include the following:.

...that we ask the county commissioners to move ahead with planning stages directed toward developing zoning regulations for the county...

...that we ask them not adopt the pending resolution NO. 03-R-15 until there are other independently generated resolutions to examine and other information to learn from....

...that we request they send the county attorney on a fact finding trip to Wichita to learn how they have dealt extensively with the arcade control/ licensure issue...

...that they request the county attorney to develop a resolution that addresses the bases that need covering, a resolution that is more moderate and middle-of-the-stream than the one pending and would be more acceptable to all citizens...

.... that we request the resolution then be published in the paper twice giving everyone ample opportunity to read it before it is adopted by the commissioners.

Well, those are just my humble opinions about how best to deal with this problem in a fair and equitable manner. Thank you for your consideration of these matters.