Dear Editor:

Open Letter to: Senators Byrd, Rockefeller & Representative Rahall
Subject: Obama Care

Gentlemen:

Now that the Federal Government has mismanaged: the Post Office, AmTrak, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and about everything else it has taken over, what makes a perfectly intelligent voter think the Feds will succeed in this much more important issue that impacts our lives?

If  Obama Care passes whereby it extracts $500 billion from Medicare to fund a program that uses this money for medical insurance for illegal immigrants and pay for abortion, those members of Congress who vote for this should resign in disgrace. They will be responsible for destroying the best health care system in the world all in the name of more government control over our lives.

I find it interesting that the elite in Congress will be exempt from this Socialistic Program.

George Behrens
Green Bank

Dear Editor:


Recently the ratepayers (mainly Snowshoe homeowners) who will pay for the proposed regional sewage treatment plant at Linwood received another slap in the face from the Pocahontas County PSD.

As a ratepayer who has followed this project closely, I believe that no one on the PSD board has a better understanding of the issues involved than Mr. Shipley. When he asked his fellow board members to reconsider Site 9 at Silver Creek, we homeowners were thrilled to finally have someone who cared what we thought.

Since this project began we have asked that serious consideration be given to not building an expensive regional plant, but to first upgrade existing facilities and then build cluster systems in the valley. Our concerns:
1—One spill from a regional plant would have disastrous and permanent effects on the pristine waterways, caves and drinking water in the county.
2--Snowshoe homeowners’ monthly bills will have increased by six-to-10 times when the plant is finished, making us the highest ratepayers in the state.
3—Local homeowners should not foot the bill for future developers. Slatyfork Farms and Slatyridge residents have made it clear they do NOT want to tie into a system. Snowshoe property owners opposed the transfer that put this in motion. I haven’t seen any homeowners in Big Spring at meetings clamoring for a plant. It’s developers who want a big plant--without having to pay for it.

Board member Amon Tracey said he wants to protect the ratepayers and do the right thing. He encouraged us to speak out at PSD meetings and call him at home. We all said the same things:
1--Wait until the environmental studies are completed by the Elk Headwaters Watershed Association.
2—Ask the DEP to extend discharge allowances until a regional solution can be formulated.
3--Consider a smaller plant at Site 9 and cluster systems in the valley.

Mr. Tracey agreed to have the board send a letter to the DEP and wait for a response. Mr. Shipley composed the letter and read it at the last PSD meeting. Mr. Tracey then invited everyone to express their opinions again. He led us to believe he was actually listening. Obviously he wasn’t. Then he and Mr. Smith voted with a small minority to proceed with a regional plant at Site 7.

Before the transfer of the Snowshoe plants to the PSD, Snowshoe president Bill Rock said the resort would donate the land at Site 7 to the PSD. Last month he indicated that there might be a charge for the land, adding more than $500,000 to the cost of the plant. At the last PSD meeting he made it clear that donating the Site 7 land was back on the table with a six-month time limit, but not so with resort-owned land at Site 9.

Mr. Tracey caved in to pressure from the resort and those who will benefit financially from a regional plant. He disregarded comments by knowledgeable ratepayers. He ignored the fact that most homeowners in the valley have not expressed a desire for a plant—and that it will cost a small fortune to run pipe to one farm--which will no doubt be developed.

I applaud Mr. Shipley for trying to do the right thing by the ratepayers. We are sorely disappointed that Mr. Smith and Mr. Tracey once again ignored those most affected by their decisions. It would have taken guts to stand up to Thrasher Engineering and resort management. Two-thirds of the board obviously didn’t have any!

Donnelle Oxley
Homeowner
Snowshoe Mountain

Editor’s Note: Our newspaper does not, according to policy, print letters to the editor concerning candidates for public office; however, this letter addresses Mr. Tracey in his Public District office, not as a candidate. Mr. Tracey will be allowed to respond to only the issues brought up in this letter.