This is in response to the letter to the editor written on April 24 as a rebuttal about “Speak Out Warren County’s” analysis of the partial budget of the Warren County Parks and Recreation.

The article that was written is not a political ad. All articles are submitted and investigated before being allowed to be in Speak Out Warren County. It’s a community forum for which anyone can write an article on a subject of concern for our community. We do, however, encourage community involvement, like John Turner. Everyone has a opinion; it means we care about our community.

It’s true the Warren County Parks and Recreation budget is over $800,000 a year. However, discussions were about several areas of that budget that do not include the Clear Creek Golf Course. The golf course is another entire subject that drains our county budget and we will tackle that monster later. So all your talk about the golf course, while interesting, was irrelevant to the article.

It is true that a lease payment is made by the county recreation department for the Section 16 land. It is also true that the areas you mentioned, the Clear Creek Golf Course, the Pavilion, Culkin Baseball fields, the soccer fields (all of them), and both boat landings, only bring in a mere pittance of $8,000 a year to our schools according to the school district yearly budget and confirmed by the superintendent of schools. This compared to the hundreds of thousands brought in by the timber sales.

If the pavilion is so costly to maintain then maybe the golf course needs to ask for more than $175 per day for rental, or charge a cleaning deposit. Options could be used to correct the destruction John spoke of if it’s really needed to keep out those pesky neighbors, 4-wheelers and hunters (like we don’t see entrails by every roadside during hunting season). We already pay, through our taxes, for those who don’t pay for trash pickup.

You also mentioned that the lights are often shot out on the soccer fields. The soccer association and ball field pay for those lights themselves at a cost of $90 per light. Not one person mentioned shootings connected to these lights, just burn outs. The county does not pay for those lights.

The public record you mention (the budget for the county rec department) is available to the public, however it does not come with the typical figures and explanations. A one page budget for $800,000?

We contacted many of the people directly involved with these entities and have all the facts as correct as possible. We are not pleased about bringing up problems with our city and county government. It is our duty, as it is yours.

Negativity is never fun. So let’s not compare oranges to apples.

Deborah Reul

Candidate for County

Supervisor District 2