This summer, our nation will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Over the next four months we plan to sift back through the layers of what occurred before July 4, 1776.
Influenced by economic, religious, and geopolitical motivations, the idea of starting colonies in the New World, and earlier in Ireland, was to plant English culture. The term plantation originally referred to the idea that the colonists - many of whom were of limited means back home - were “planting” England in new soil (not be confused with the later development of slave plantations).
Well, friends, I am delighted to report that the Seward County Commission acted in a financially responsible way yet again!! In the short couple of months that three of them have been in office, they already had: 1. quit wasting money trying to justify a tax increase none of them had been in favor of to begin with; and, 2. rewritten the budget to put spending in line with tax revenues.
Right now money is tight and employees in general aren’t getting raises. However, one group of Seward County employees, those who work for the Juvenile Correction and Prevention Services (JCAPS), wrote raises for themselves into their KDOC grant plan for the coming fiscal year. The pay at JCAPS was already significantly above that of Seward County employees in general, as I showed in a previous article.
Wow, talk about a change of PACE. After voting on fully 50 bills leading up to “Turnaround,” we pulled back to just two during Week 7 of the Legislature — plus an amendment rejection that gave us a total of three. Not that they weren’t important or time-consuming, because taxes are always at the top for debate, but it demonstrates how time and circumstance can change dramatically during a Session depending on pressure and priorities. It also shows how quickly we sometimes have to shift our focus from the Floor to committee action and vice versa.
That is the logical result of “starting over” with the second half of our 90-day calendar when we take up the measures sent to us from the House side. This is selective, of course, because there is simply not enough time to get to them all, but that’s where the decisions of Leadership become so important.
Carol and I enjoyed attending the Rosa Parks Black History Banquet last week at Seward County Community College. Congratulations to the scholarship winners and thanks to all the people that contributed and work so hard to put it on every year.
While there have been plenty of distractions in our community recently as the county continues to operate in chaos from one manufactured crisis to another, there are plenty of good things happening in our community that can get lost in the dysfunction.
Scholarships were awarded at the Rosa Parks banquet.
The City of Liberal is moving forward with the preliminary stages of a second overpass. Rail traffic has changed significantly since the first overpass was built with trains coming more often and at greater lengths. This has caused major delays in traffic movement crossing the tracks.
Eventually many attempt to go around by heading to the overpass, and it is usually packed because all other motorists have made the same choice.
A second overpass is critical to easing the flow of traffic, especially when some train stoppages have lasted more than half an hour.