NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS - COUNTY FUNDS!

28 March 2014, Vol.1, No.25 > NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS – COUNTY FUNDS!

The POCAHONTAS CRIER

The Pocahontas Crier is an independent Internet News Service that has so far endorsed two candidates for County Commission

–       one a Republican & the other a Democrat   –

in addition to providing in depth news reporting on important issues directly affecting the Citizens of Pocahontas County!

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REFERENDUM FOR COUNTY FUNDING OF NGOs!

A cursory review of the minutes of the county commission for the past fifteen years or so will quickly reveal that local ‘NGOs’ (Non-Government Organizations) have been raiding the ‘county till’ (i.e., treasury) to the tune of tens-of-thousands of dollars – with little to nothing to show for it to the Citizen-Taxpayers of this County who are footing the bills!  And this is all the more hypocritical when the current county commission forks over $80,000.00+ to a private NGO that allegedly works with a handful of ‘females-only’  –no male allowed – while the Durbin Library, which helps All Persons male & female, remains unfinished after several years of effort, along with the other county libraries that are collectively receiving less funding! 

The example in this instant case is the NGO calling itself, High Rocks Academy, a private organization started by Susan Burt(-Kinderman), and operated by Susan Burt and her daughter, Sarah (Burt-Kinderman) Riley, that rakes in an estimated three-quarters-of-a-million dollars per/year from private and government ‘sponsors’ – yet still comes before the county commission begging for more funding!  The tragedy is that High Rocks has received more funding as a ‘private-NGO’ than all FIVE LIBRARIES COMBINED – and still the Durbin Library remains unfinished!  There is a saying that ‘Charity Begins At Home’, but if the current county commission wants to be so magnanimous at trying to ‘buy votes & support’ then Common Sense should dictate that the ‘Hotel/Motel Tax’ should actually go towards ‘TOURISM’ as the law requires and those elements that support ‘Tourism’ – which the public libraries actually do – compared to whatever it is that High Rocks claims to be doing that allegedly ‘empowers young women’!  Maybe High Rocks should also submit a ‘petition’ to declare itself a RAD (Resort Area District) like Snowshoe so it too can become a ‘quasi-municipality’ since the funding it receives from the county-treasury is more than all other organizations combined – and as a whole more than that of Hillsboro or Durbin or perhaps even Marlinton itself!

Ironically when reading the statutory-laws regarding giving private NGOs public-funds, it appears that there very well may be a LIMITATION of only $1000.00 per/request per/organization – if so, then the current county commission has gone way, way, beyond what they are allowed to do by law when giving away pubic-funds!  And worse yet is that since NGOs are not government agencies, they have not provided any ‘cost-to-ratio-benefit’ as to just how providing them funds has been a BENEFIT TO THE MAJORITY OF CITIZENS of this county instead of paying the salaries of just a few private, non-government, individuals!  This is truly a matter in which,

‘THE COMMON GOOD MUST COME BEFORE SELF OR ANY SPECIAL INTEREST!’

Therefore, the first priority for a new county commission coming into its first meeting in January 2015 would be to require a legal opinion from BOTH the State Ethics Commission & the Office of the Attorney General regarding the stated LIMITATION of providing $1000.00 per/request per/NGO and whether or not that is indeed the limitation or not so that all the county commissioners and various groups and organizations will know what to expect in the future.  And the second priority for an honest & righteous local government should be to establish a proper county budget that includes all the county government agencies that come under the oversight of the county commission to have a proper budget set forth.  Then once completed and the budget is met as required by law – a list of all county agencies & NGOs looking for assistance could be compiled – and a Public Referendum could be established so that the rank & file Citizen-Taxpayers can choose what NGOs, if any, should be funded with public-funds for the mutual benefit of everyone!  And it is also from public-funds such as this that Public Works Projects can be funded and unemployed folks put to work – and these projects too can be chosen by priority by the Citizen-Taxpayers of the county for the mutual benefit of all!  

THIS TIME…there’s no excuse…

 IT’S YOUR CHOICE…

TO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!

Just say ‘NO’ to those who want to keep this county in Poverty & Pauperism

– and –

Just SAY ‘YES’ to real Progress & Prosperity for the future!

On Primary Day – YOU have a chance to elect two persons that will always put YOU first!  They know that:

THE GREATER COMMON GOOD ALWAYS COMES BEFORE SELF OR ANY SELF-SERVING SPECIAL INTEREST!

Keep up to Date – Stay tuned to these Websites:

www.pocahontascommentatorplus@blogspot.com

www.crier88.blogspot.com

►   IF YOU are registered to vote as a Republican, you can

       Vote for Norman Lee Alderman in the Primary Election

       on 13 May 2014;

►  IF YOU are registered to vote as a Democrat, you can

      Vote for Patti Heinemann in the primary election on

      13 May 2014;

►  If you are not registered to vote, then you must register

      to vote on or before 22 April 2014;

►  If you are registered to vote, but with no party

      affiliation, then you must request Loud & Clear either

      a Republican or Democrat ballot on Primary Day when

      you go to the polls;  &

►  Since Norman is unopposed, he recommends that you 

      request a Democrat ballot to vote for Patti so that this 

      county can again have an Honest & Just county 

      commission!

►   Early Voting is from 30 April 2014 to 10 May 2014 – so

       Vote Early & avoid the rush!

Email  comments & suggestions to: The Pocahontas Crier  at pocahontascrier@gmail.com  

If you wish to financially assist, kindly send all campaign contributions to: The United Campaign for County Commission (UCCC), c/o Citizens for Common Sense Alternatives (CCSA), a registered Political Action Committee, 7837 Wesley Chapel Road, Green Bank, West Virginia 24944-9063 

Phone: 1.304.456.4565 or 3282 (also fax)

[The Pocahontas Crier is part of The Crier Coalition of Internet News Services comprised of The Pocahontas Commentator,

The Pocahontas Crier, Signal Fires of WV & Echoes from the Holl’r.]