Dear Sirs: The next time you walk through the parking lot of your favorite Newton County shopping center take a minute to see how many cars are from surrounding counties.

Now consider those shoppers from outside of Newton County helping us pay for better roads, better hospital facilities, better fire service facilities and better judicial facilities, just to mention a few.

This is not a new idea. That is what is occurring with our current SPLOST program. Without a YES vote on March 15, this novel approach to sharing the burden will end. Do we want that? Do we as Newton County residents want to take up ALL of the slack? I hope not. That will be the case if the 2011 SPLOST does not pass. There are several "have to" projects in the proposed $57 million SPLOST that will have to be funded somehow. That somehow will more than likely be an increase in our property taxes.

We will all have a choice to make and I hope you will make the right one. Remember, this is not a new tax, but a continuation of the current one penny sales tax. Please support the 2011 SPLOST and help keep Newton County moving forward.