To the editor: The railroad is back on the front burner again, folks, no matter what politicians say today they will always use the opportunity to get what they or their friends or family want. Any excuse will do at the time. They can always offer up a crumb to a few to try and convince them that they should support the wrong thing much like a child telling his parents that Johnny is doing it or Johnny is getting a train track, so he needs one also. Never mind that he already has a car, a truck, a motor cycle, a golf cart, a horse, a Ski Doo, a boat, a subdivision with miles of road to walk or run on and neighbors everywhere. "Daddy I want my very on Train Track so I can keep up with the Joneses."
The first thing that was said was that the Federal Government had $1 million available for the project. Where is it coming from? China, I suppose, and with a big interest charge. This is not free money, folks, it's your tax money that you will have to pay. If little Covington can get a million dollars for this lame brain project just imagine what Atlanta can waste. Oh yes ,Rep. Lewis just spend multi-millions on a train track that has already failed twice.
President Obama and The Occupy Group are blaming banks and Wall Street for the trouble we are in, so what responsibility do the local city, county and state governments bare? They just keep taking more and more. Local governments have set up persons to research government grants for just such projects and free money. Why are corporations evil when they are made up of shareholders and employees? Why are the local businesses evil why they are your neighbors and they provide you with services that you need? Why do you blame God for your problems when you have not done the right thing for yourself or your fellow man but have wasted your own resources? Greed is inherent within all of us we just need to learn how to direct it so that it can do the most good for all.
We're $15 trillion in debt and no one cares; that one million dollars that Covington's Mayor Kim Carter referred to is part of the trillions that you owe. Yes, you owe; it is money that has been borrowed from China. China, that's where they make all the toys your children tear up each year and then ask for more toys.
If a small few want a trail, I suggest that they pool their resources and buy 10 to 20 acres, the put trails on it and charge any new people who want to use it. They could pay for the upkeep with yearly fees, and if they need police they could pay for private protection. Remember it was only a short time back that people were concerned about robberies and mugging on the Oxford trails.
Who will pay for clean up, maintenance and security? Someone will get robbed and assaulted, and will Mayor Carter console and reimburse that person for the loss or will she blame the police for not being more proactive and preventing this? Will the council then hire more police and more maintenance personnel, install lights and put up rest areas with bathrooms and then more maintenance personnel to correct their mistakes?
Questions for the Covington City Council:
How do the people who own adjacent land feel about this idea? Who owns this land?
Will the land adjacent be improved and by whom?
Will businesses be built adjacent to the tracks?
Will the county build a road adjacent to the tracks to accommodate business and what will be the cost for that?
Who benefits from this purchase and how? I would guess less than one percent of the public would use this corridor.
What is the cost to improve this corridor and make it useable now? Where is this money?
Will access routes be set up so that people will be able to get on and off this trail in the middle and whose property will this effect and what will be the cost and who will profit from this misadventure?
Why not add a third lane to the current highway and make it useable for walking, bicycles, gold carts and electric cycles? This would be more accessible to the public at all points of entry, the public would be more likely to use a safer route, the businesses would be more likely to benefit from foot traffic, wear and tear would be less on the highways and have many more benefits others could think of. Red lights are already set up on highways and crossovers would be safer. Would this plan be more costly than trails? Who would benefit he most from more people using the route suggested?
Remember, government never prosecutes itself or public employees when they are doing the public business, but they get it wrong a lot of the time and once the money is spent you will never recover it. Be cautious in your decision; be frugal in spending the people's money; be wise in choosing the best course of action, because this will last a lifetime. No one will be punished for a mistake except the public when the bill comes due. Our own U.S. Department of Justice has not prosecuted anyone for the housing catastrophe yet, but they keep giving out bonuses. We need to elect the U.S. Attorney General by a majority vote of the 50 State Legislatures and perhaps we would get a Justice Department that works for the people and not for the administration.
