New Voice

This conversation has been taking place on our sister blog Ruston Truth. The dialogue began a few days ago, and I think it warrants consideration here on our main page. The author asks for input on his ideas. New voices are vital and I encourage folks to respond. Comments are no longer previewed, but will removed if they do not meet our criteria (to be accurate and civil). Karen

I have to say I rather enjoyed the last comment and i thank the author for responding to my comment. I want to state for the record that even though i lived in Tacoma for 22 years, I really enjoy living in Ruston and I hope that having our town ours is something we continue to have as the years go on. I was somewhat concerned that even though i respect Wayne and I always like hearing his ideas and opinions that i came across as someone from his camp. I don't always share the same feelings about things. I like the idea that our fire department is a block away from my house as opposed to a mile or so. We have many problems in this town and for as many problems we have there are many things we can be grateful for. If you care enough to read on I would like to share my ideas on that. I stated before I lived in Tacoma for 22 years before I moved here, and one thing i really liked about Tacoma was the garbage service, now by saying this one thing i want to make sure i clear up ahead of time is that my issue isn't with the men who pick it up, it is with quantity. i enjoyed having three big containers (trash, recycling, yard waste) to throw my trash away in. On the other hand I cant morally justify eliminating jobs of people who have faithfully served the community that I have lived in for only a few years and they have served far beyond that. Touching on a far more sensitive subject. The Fire Department. I have tried to stay out of all our small town politics to the best of my abilities. My only true experience with RFD is when we had our windstorms last year and some power, telephone and cables line were knocked down. I went outside because i rather enjoy rough weather, and who did i see in the alley way? None other than Don Torbet clearing lines and taking care of other issues. This is small but very significant in the fact that I will bet everything that i have worked for my entire life that if we disbanded our fire department two year ago, when we woke up in the morning we would have been driving over fallen power lines (yes i know driving over a power line wont kill you because a car on rubber tires isn't grounded). I have to agree that everyone needs somewhere to vent and as Americans we all have the right to do so, but there are far more effective means of inspiring a movement than name calling and rumor spreading (for clues read Machiavelli "The Prince". No serious it will clue you into what happens when invaders such as the "cabal" come in and try to change a civilization. If you want to borrow my copy just let me know) We have much to gain here from not merging with Tacoma and many of us already know that. This is a very emotionally based issue. But what i want to try for a second is to try to take the emotion away and talk using rationing and reasoning. I see the differences as being. 1. In Tacoma with several hundred thousand constituents does your voice from a small corner of the city really matter? 2. If we were in Tacoma would you have your council members Home Phone and personal email addresses? 3. If an appointed city official such as chief of fire or police did something questionable what sort of bureaucracy would u have to go through as opposed to showing up at a council meeting and sharing the issues at hand. I firmly believe that I am the only person in this town that is not on one side or the other and I am very curious to hear from you all thank you. Oh by the way my name is Mark.P.S. I only responded to Hose drills because it was the last blog not necessarily because it was the correct blog