Better government

Published 10:44 am Thursday, April 24, 2014

What Vicksburg, Warren County, The State of Mississippi and the United States of America need is better government not more and bigger government. We need our elected officials to perform their jobs and not worry about their legacy.

The people of Vicksburg elect a mayor and two aldermen. They expect these people to sit down and work out the city’s problems in a fair and cost effective manner. They should look at all of the city’s employees and be sure that the taxpayer is getting his money’s worth. They should not pick on the first responders as they did. These are the people that the public depends on for protection. Also, they should work with the county to see that the ambulance service continues as it is now. We have the best ambulance service in the country. Spend the taxpayer’s money wisely and provided the services to the community and the legacy will take care of its self.

The county elects five supervisors to over see the county government. They to need to sit down together and make sure they spend the county’s money the best way possible. It seems that we spend a lot for legal fees and engineer fees. When we have a problem like we have with the Circuit Clerk, it needs to be handled when it occurs, don’t kick the can down the road, it costs more. As it looks now, we have about 1 ½ million invested in this and might not get anything. They also picked on the first responders when they failed to provide a raise for the sheriff’s deputies. We count on these people every day. They also need to work with the city on the ambulance service and see that it stays as it is.

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The county school board three years ago hired a superintendent on a 3-2 vote. When she left, we were $750,000 in the hole and had gone from a C to a D rating. Now they hire a new superintendent, again on a 3-2 vote. Does this mean we will be 1 ½ million in the hole and have an F rating for our schools? We should be able to do better. There is no discipline in the schools and without discipline learning can not occur.

The state and federal governments are a joke. They should provide only the things needed for the people to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of the American dream. We don’t need new programs and more government employees to get in our way. We need the infrastructure and the basic laws for our economy to perform. It is time for term limits. We have too many politicians that make a career out staying in elected office. They need to understand, that if they do their job, the legacy will take care of its self and they don’t have to stay in office for 40 years.

The national debt is a big problem that must be addressed by these people. I had a teacher back in the 50’s that taught us history. She told us “there is a payday some day.” What she was saying is that every debt has to be paid someday and that time is coming soon.

Robert E. Quimby lives in Vicksburg