McNiel musings
I went and voted.
I have been told I can't complain if I don't vote. I realize that the results concerning the Pea Ridge school millage increase will not come out until next Wednesday, but I thought that I would tell you why I voted the way I did.
The school administration officials have their job administering the school policies. The problem is that the only time that they really want to let the public in on any of the specific workings of the school is when they need more money from the public. Of course, this is natural. If I was running the school, I would not want to have every citizen triple checking every decision I made either.
There are several reasons that I could not bring myself to vote for the school millage increase. I did not learn about this until about two weeks ago but did you know that the State of Arkansas intends to give the school district over 10 million dollars only if the citizens of Pea Ridge will first endorse the 5.1-mil increase.
My perception is the Pea Ridge School district will be double dipping. First of all, they will get the additional taxes from the citizens of Pea Ridge when we pay for our real estate taxes and they will get some of the money from the state coffers which the tax payers of Pea Ridge paid when we bought the various products for us to survive and thrive on. Any other time when it is discovered that someone is double dipping it is generally frowned upon. But apparently it is considered a good thing when the school gets to do it.
Another thing that I can't seem to get past is the phrase on the ballot measure that says something to the effect of "plus any other things as needed." This tells me that the school employees could purchase virtually anything they want to buy without any type of oversight or review and they could simple say, "Well, it was approved by the voters."
Back to this double dipping thing again, summer will be here soon and the school will be giving free lunches to the students again. The problem is that the school does not check to see if the students already qualify for food stamps. If they are already getting food stamps, then they should not be getting free food. I believe that this practice is actually encouraging double dipping.
One last thing, what would it take to get the school officials to get all of the school uniforms and such to be "Made in America"? Maybe the sports fans can get into the game for a dollar off the original admission price if their Blackhawk sports memorabilia says; "Made in America." Just imagine how many American jobs would be created if all school uniforms and sports memorabilia were "Made in America." Maybe president Trump can sign that one into law.
Boyd B. McNielPea Ridge, Ark.
Editorial on 05/10/2017