As promised, I am going to talk about Elk County Employees. Last night on another thread I learned that our road crews are paid $8.00 per hour. I was getting more than this as a clerk/typist when I retired in 1991. They work a 40 hour week and are paid once a month. One hundred sixty hours at $8.00 per = $1280.00 a month. After all the withholdings are taken out, the take home pay would be about $900.00. Our workers have the same expenses the rest of us have, including rent or house payments, car payments, utilities. After adding up my necessary expenses there isn't much left out of that $900.00.
I am shocked but I don't know what I can do about it except to let other Elk Countians know. With wages like this I can only assume that these workers are in Elk County for the same reason I am. Because this is where they want to be. We can all be more tolerant. I am sure that the road crews are not the only county employees that should be paid more. I am sure they would be paid more if it were possible. I hope that when Elk County receives their payment from the wind farm that there will be raises for these people. I can't think of anything that is more necessary.
Meanwhile, I can say, I do not and will not complain about the taxes I pay, especially the ones in Elk County.
Wilma - I definitely agree - our road crew is underpaid. Their hourly rate ranges from $9.19 on up to the highest is getting $12.90 per hour. This has been a problem for a long time. The road crew is the only personnel that got raises this year. And that was a struggle given the economy. There is always different views to this also. The road dept is the largest dept in the county and we all know how badly our county taxes went up. I also can tell you that the road dept is the one I hear the most complaints about also. So do you reward people for bad performance, tardiness, destruction of county equipment...on the other hand, a person can barely survive on these wages. And we all know that to attract good people you have to pay them decent. I believe that we can make head ways with this department, but it is going to take a long time to turn around the last 20 years of mismanagement. I will also put in my 2 cents on the wind farm. Folks, we have very little chance to turn this county around and we have the opportunity knocking (begging) to come in. Please let it happen and be supportive of it. The alternative does not look positive.
You have my support, Liz. I see the wind towers everytime I go west and they appear so peaceful to me. I haven't been close to them, but I have been in the oil fields in Oklahoma and I was surprised as to the condition of the surrounding fields. They were green, cattle were grazing contentedly, right amongst the pumps. The wind towers can't be anymore destructive than that. If there were going to be problems, I would think they would have developed by now with the ones at Beaumont.
Quote from: L Hendricks on May 10, 2009, 07:48:56 PM
I also can tell you that the road dept is the one I hear the most complaints about also. So do you reward people for bad performance, tardiness, destruction of county equipment...on the other hand, a person can barely survive on these wages. And we all know that to attract good people you have to pay them decent.
I think that for the most part the people on the road crew are good people. They have miles and miles of road to take care of and very few resources to do it with. They cannot be everywhere at once. Perhaps if folks using the county roads would slow down the roads wouldn't be so bad.
I've slowed down, only because of the pot holes and washouts.
I do know that they have really tried to fix the roads out to our house, but with all the rain, it is kind of a lost cause right now. They put gravel down last week or the first of this week, and the roads are back to the same bad way. I know that it isn't the county employees problem. It's just the weather that we have been having. I know, for the most part who grades our roads, and the guys that do our roads try hard. They are gravel roads not pavement. I feel the opposite that the faster you drive the pot holes don't seem as bad- LOL!! Just kidding!!! ;D
Not trying to step on anyone's toes around here, so read this post carefully. This is not just aimed at county workers, but small-town workers in general...
It's a fine line with employees when you live in a low population area like we do. You want to support the local workers by offering them jobs, but they may not have been trained specifically for that type of work, either. And sometimes training has to be done by fire... "here's the keys, you'll figure it out". It may be more difficult for employers to get training programs to come here, or too expensive to send employees elsewhere for proper training. This goes for any local job, not just the road crew!
So, do you support the local workers who maybe don't have the proper training, but are willing to get paid less... or do you become more specific in your hiring process and only hire those who qualify and pay them more (but have fewer people apply and to choose from)? It's a "catch 22" problem, I think.
I also think that employees should be paid fairly (including cost of living raises), but I'm a firm believer that additional raises and bonuses should be based on productivity and performance (measurable!). A guy who has been working for 10+ years shouldn't get a large raise if all he does is lean on a shovel or damage equipment. And the guy who has only worked 1 year but really shows good performance in his workmanship shouldn't get passed by a raise just because he hasn't worked long enough. Yes, you risk stepping on toes, especially with small workforces and local workers, but the employer has to decide what's more valuable. I think eventually if you start rewarding the good and punishing the bad (even as far as firing people because they just can't do the job), you'll get better performance all the way around. Then "the bar" continues to rise for performance evaluations and rewards.
Also, remember that rewards and bonuses don't have to come in the monetary format, either. How about a "free day" to the top employee each month? Or the boss taking someone out for lunch? Especially when it's a team effort type job, employers can still reward good performance with sometimes little effort! My brothers work for construction companies and their bosses take them out on the lake, or to go fishing at least once a month during the summer.
Maybe we should go to 3 days a week. 13.5 hours is about all the dry not raining time we have been having lately.
How is it that you can't build a pond with out the division of water resources all up in your business but you can channel the water down a non natural county road and blame it on not getting paid very well?
Is there any way we can start a program where we build a mile of road as a place to show off our skills? One that doesn't need constant grading. Where the water runs down the ditch not the middle of the road. Something that you could say hey I built that two years ago and we haven't had to touch it since. Then go to the next adjacent mile and do the same thing.
As long as you have a boss you are going to have someone looking over your shoulder wanting you to do more with less. The boss in this case is every tax payer in the county. So if you quit trying to confront your bosses every time one says something you don't appreciate and do something that will get them to pat you on the back the better off both will be. Doctors, lawyers, and teachers usually can't fix roads or should not even try but they are paying your salary. Every one has an opinion but if you live here you have the unique position as you are your own boss. If you pay taxes then you can bitch as much as everyone else about low pay and lack of support from the public.
A lot of the problem is the ignorance of us the general public. Maybe is the accepted norm that you are still getting donuts at 7:30. Why should I care if you road equipment every day? Just because my watch says it is 2:15 that doesn't mean that it takes two hours to get back to the yard.
Have you driven down some of our fine roads while it is raining? Should we as citizens with digital cameras and a transit prove to you that a smooth road with high ditches is just a ditch in smooth road clothing? Water will not flow uphill. It will not jump over the windrow of crap you leave on the side of the road. It will not wait patiently while the three foot culvert empties as the 480 acres of water behind it backs up.
While I am alienating everyone else I want to mention the one shop plan. Why wouldn't a large fully functional facility be better than three strong barn sided pole barns with old signs for windows? The state of Kansas has less than 50 miles of highway to maintain in Elk county and they don't even try to maintain three separate buildings and I think they even have a special waste of money department.
So, black top them all (the roads, not the county workers) and be done with it. No more greasy mud.Ya high crown them a bit and the runoff goes right into the ditches. It would only cost a few billion. Have your DC reps get ya some of dat dere stimulus $$$. Makes new jobs too. ;D
I don't how to fund it but if we would have done that 30 years ago........We were just as broke then. It can't take as much money over the life time of the road to maintain an asphalt road. You will have a large upfront cost and then minimal maintenance.....NOT.... The ground around here is so unstable concrete cracks let alone all the asphalt breaking up all the time. The roads that were recently overlaid look as bad or worse now not because of the overlay but for the state of the base underneath it.
We don't have any pull in DC for the stimulus money. Only the health care dollars(ex gov sec of health and human services) and then we could use that to build a coal fired electric plant now that she is gone.
Would you believe cat fish farming in the pot holes? No? I'll ask Joe B. to send you some $$$
Catfish might be an option this year with as much rain as we have had. I don't know what we would feed them since you can't get a tractor even close the the fields because of the water.
My great uncle had a fish farm west of Howard. It was a very labor intensive enterprise. What if we had water wheel generators installed on the river banks that way when the river went out of the banks at least we would have power for the duration of the event?
Believe it or not we had about a 5 to 10 pound fish in the spot that goes under water between Hubbles house and Bellars. The girls were amazed and I was to. Especially the size of this fish!! Not really sure where on earth it came from, but it was there.
Maybe it swam over from Teresa's ditch. ;D
I do agree with PEP about driving around during the rain to look at the roads. You can only really tell what areas are problem areas during the rain. Well, the pot holes left behind are a good indication, but during the rain you can see where the water does/does not run and what should be corrected. A lot of times, this could probably be fixed with a shovel to re-route the water down the ditch earlier (vs. running over the top of the culvert and washing out the sides). I've done this in my driveway and at the culvert at the end of my driveway many times in my raincoat with my shovel. I even shoveled the extra gravel piled on the side of the road into the potholes to fix them (during the rain).
No, Diane, it was a walking catfish.
;D ;D ;D I sure hope not! Those things are spooky!
I first saw one of those in Thailand in 1972.
It came out of a large pool of water walked about ten feet and went into another large pool of water.
Have never seen one in Florida but they are supposed to be there having been brought in from southeast Asia.
They are in Florida. I've never seen one either. We have family there, I'll have to ask about the fish. We had some snake heads here, but I think they were successfully eliminated.
I have to make a comment on the amount of pay that was talked about. I know that they don't get paid alot, but there are other jobs around here that people do that don't get paid alot of money either, and those people still do a good job at what they do. I have no complaints about the work that they do. Would I like my road to be in better shape? Yes! Do I blame the county for the mess they are in, not really lot has to do with the weather. And also have you seen the trash that is thrown out on the county roads!!! When I am taking my walks, it is nothing to see a couple cases of empty cans within a couple miles. I am going to start taking a sack so I can collect them. But back to what I was getting at, pay isn't that great anywhere around here. That's just part of life.
Good for you Angie! When I used to go walking, I always took two sacks, one for aluminum, and one for trash. You would be surprised as to how quickly the aluminum accumulated, and the extra money was always nice! And there was always room in my own trash can for the little sack of trash I brought home. It does make a difference in the way the area looks, and it also makes an impression on the youngsters who see you practising the courage of your convictions. You go for it!
A comment concerning Pepelect's observation, above, on the efficiencies of paving Elk County roads thirty years ago.
There was a fellow that had the same thoughts about the roads in his county. (He did have access to a higher tax base, though.)
He was elected as a Judge of the County Court in the early twenties and was elected as the Presiding Judge a few years later. He was not a lawyer and was not really a judge. In this county a Judge of the County Court was actually a high sounding word for county commissioner.
In 1930, when many states were struggling to pave their highways, he began paving his county's rural feeder and primary roads. Not with asphalt but with concrete. A farmer himself, he believed that farmers should be able to get around the same as city folks and get their produce to market without having to endure inferior roads. He even had road markers installed at intervals, similar to K-99 markers, noting which county road one was on.
Of course there was some thought that the local county political machine boss received the contracts for all the cement used for the roadways--or received a kickback if his concrete was not used. But, almost the entire mileage of county roads was paved.
By the time I started driving, these roadways were still in excellent shape. I liked to drive on them because there was very little traffic, there were no speed limit signs posted, and there was no sheriff around. I could take several routes to Fort Osage on the Missouri River and not encounter a single road that was not paved. Most of these roadways, though, have since been covered with asphalt.
The county was Jackson County, Missouri, and the Judge's name was Harry S. Truman. His road improvements are essentially what propelled him from county to national politics almost overnight. He never held a state office.
Well, now. Thanks, very interesting.
I never knew that about Mr. Truman. I always thought he had a lot of common sense.
There ya go... PEP could be the next Harry S. Truman.
Actually, what propelled Truman to the U.S. Senate and ultimately to the White House was none other than Tom Pendergast who was known for his mob-level power and picking cronies for political jobs.
But Pendergast's best known project was paving Brush Creek in Kansas City, which ran through the Country Club Plaza where he sipped cocktails each day with his rich buddies. It mainly served as a payback to a friend who was in the concrete business and another who was a contractor.
But having said all that, the paving of the darn creek was one of the best investments he ever made and it still looks mighty nice today.
Sometimes the patronage system seems to work, and if anybody can figure out a good way to get our Elk County roads paved using the political pal system ... I'd be all for it.
;)
The Political Pal system...Is that something like Pay Pal? ;D
Pendergast was the political machine boss I referred to above. He did handpick and put his support behind Truman for the Democrat senate position, otherwise there was no other way Truman could have run. Pendergast would have blocked him.
But, Pendergast picked him because of the name he had made for himself with his accomplishments, the largest of which was the road system. Pendergast needed someone that could beat the Republicans statewide. Presumably, someone who was closer to the boss than Truman could not have won.
Pendergast also supported Truman in the elections as county judge.
However, Truman always said that he was his own man and Pendergast owed him nothing and he owed Pendergast nothing. (a lot of folks have differing thoughts on this subject).
Truman's opponent tried to unseat him in 1940 using the Pendergast connection but failed.
Truman won that election without Pendergast support; the political boss was in prison by this time.
Roosevelt needed Truman because of his countrywide reputation in the Senate to round out his ticket. Truman did not want the position but Roosevelt shamed Truman into consenting even though Roosevelt never spoke to Truman before the convention and saw him very little after the election--did not even tell him about the atomic bomb.
Even after Pendergast went to prison, there was a Democrat political machine ruled by the Pendergast successor that ran roughshod in Jackson County. It was finally beaten, at least in Independence and eastern Jackson County, in the 1962 elections. An organization called the Good Government League barely unseated every machine Democrat that ran. They won successive elections after that making Democrat a bad word. I do not know how it is now.
Do you suppose Wichita copied Kansas City when they concreted that creek (I think) that runs parallel to I-35 through the city on the east side? I have always wondered why they would not have wanted to concrete The Big Ditch that runs on the west side.
Here's some more on Harry Truman-
Early on, Harry Truman had business interests in Wilson County.
He attended meetings of the Confederate Veterans.
And, Harry Truman was a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
I remember back when Truman was running for office (I don't remember which one, but it was national), there was talk that he would be under Pendergrast thumb. I wasn't old enough to understand much of what the adults were saying, but it stuck in my mind that most people thought that he would be just another puppet. He proved different. He was never anybody's puppet.
Also, Roosevelt did not treat him right as vice-president. When Roosevelt died, Truman had no idea of what was going on. Roosevelt had never kept him in on matters. It was as if Roosevelt had no vice-president. Guess Truman proved he could do as good if not a better job of being president than most others. It wasn't easy taking on a job that he knew nothing about. For the little haberdasher from Missouri it was a big step and he did it.
I was not aware that Harry Truman had business interests in Wilson County.
However, whatever it was he must have flopped because he was supposed to have been a total business failure.
Truman had a lot more education than some early presidents but he was the only twentieth century president without a college degree. He did have a high school diploma though because he graduated from the same high school I did.
Besides Truman, nine other presidents did not have a college degree, including Washington and Lincoln.
Some folks might not be aware that Bess Truman hated Washington DC and stayed away most of the time. She and Harry wrote each other most of the time while he was in the Senate and the White House.
She played almost no official role as the first lady.
Maybe we should go to 3 days a week. 13.5 hours is about all the dry not raining time we have been having lately.
Road Crews already work 10 hour days, and that is plenty long enough
How is it that you can't build a pond with out the division of water resources all up in your business but you can channel the water down a non natural county road and blame it on not getting paid very well?
yeah, I'm sure they do that on purpose.
So if you quit trying to confront your bosses every time one says something you don't appreciate and do something that will get them to pat you on the back the better off both will be
maybe a little support from the public, instead of bitching about how the crews don't work, or what a crap job they are doing might encourage them to do better work.
A lot of the problem is the ignorance of us the general public. Maybe is the accepted norm that you are still getting donuts at 7:30. Why should I care if you road equipment every day? Just because my watch says it is 2:15 that doesn't mean that it takes two hours to get back to the yard.
You're right, ignorance IS alot of the problem. Ignorant about just how much the crews have to do. Ignorant to the fact that they have to drop what they're doing because Joe Farmer called and complained about a pot hole. Ignorant that they spend 2-3 days fixing a feed road that maybe 2-3 people actually use. Ignorant that the lack of manpower is due in a large part to the low pay, district 1 has 3, count'em 3 employees.
You want to talk about ditches, ok, lets talk. Lets talk about FENCES being to close to the road for an adquate ditch to be made. Lets talk about the trees landowners allow to grow into those fences which make grading and mowing impossible sometimes, not to mention the fact that those same trees clog the ditches. So now the roadcrews having to go in and cut those trees (that are on private land) just so they can perform even minimum maintance on the roads.
Yes, they do drive the roads when it is raining, thats how they know where the washes are. They also take this time to fix broken signs and reflectors, that somehow always end up getting SHOT!
OH and just a little FYI, that "windrow of crap" is left so that they don't have to haul rock over an entire road everytime they grade. Oh, and God forbid if they leave it on the wrong side of the freakin road.
Maybe, just maybe those fields that back up behind that 3 foot culvert should have some drainage system build into them, BY THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE LAND, afterall, that is where the water is coming from.
Again with the one shop theory, it makes no sense for the crews that work in say longton to drive to howard in the morning just to drive back to howard in the evening, or for the grenola crew to drive to howard just to have to turn around and drive back to grenola to work then go back to howard.
OH, and the whole donut thing, come on...what does it hurt for these guys to take 5 minutes to grab a snack before they head out for the day?
Ernie went by the house at almost 9 o'clock the other night in a road grader. That's job devotion. You think a 10-hour day is long? Try having 2 small children and they only see their father a few hours in the evening because he works 12-hour days 6 days a week at the rock quarry.
You folks don't have roadway easements that include the drainage ditches? Not that the road crews should have to cut trees, but they should have access for maintenance. I was serious about prison labor.They should have crews out there cutting those ditch trees and working on those ditches.
Quote from: CDBL on May 15, 2009, 06:30:33 AM
Ernie went by the house at almost 9 o'clock the other night in a road grader. That's job devotion. You think a 10-hour day is long? Try having 2 small children and they only see their father a few hours in the evening because he works 12-hour days 6 days a week at the rock quarry.
Actually, I have 3 children, 2boys and a girl. If Ernie wants to work until 9 o'clock, thats his choice. Sorry, but I am not going to put my job before my family. I know about long days, I served in the army.
BillyakaVarmit; I agree with a lot of what you're saying. It always puzzled me why the landowners can't be responsible for the trees along the road... on THEIR side of the fence! Sometimes I feel like it's "farmers" against "county". Why can't we all work together to solve the problems? If people are complaining about water running across the road, why doesn't the county work with the landowner to help dam up part of it, and the county could put in a culvurt in the right location (rather than a 25-yard wide path of water running across the road)? It's a matter of everyone complaining about everyone else rather than just getting along and solving the problems. I also don't understand why some of the lesser-used roads get graded first (or at all)... squeaky wheel lives on that road? I have a culvert on the road at the end of our driveway that is slowly washing away on the sides, making the road more and more narrow. I'm sure that just 20-30 minutes of scraping the ditches would help solve that problem... before it completely washes the road away... but I'm too worried to ask! No, it's not a big problem now, but I'm afraid that if I wait too long, it will become one (and that road is pretty highly used... especially for big trucks). But I don't want to become one of the "squeaky wheels", either. I'm half tempted to just fix it myself with the ranch skid loader.
Question (hypothetical): Do the county workers work long hours because they need the money with the low pay they're getting, or would they prefer less hours and hiring another employee to help ease the workload?
Also, it seems to me that the county relys on people calling in and "complaining" (or maybe "reporting" is a more correct word), because it's impossible to know where all the bad spots and potholes are all the time?
Tobina, I agree that we need to work together. What really gets my dander up is when folks complain without understanding the issues the roadcrews face, short handed, weather, workload, etc. Funding is a major one. We just don't have the money for projects like new bridges or whatever.
As to your questions...1) I can't answer for the other employees, but, I work 10 days bcause the powers that be figure that 4 10's is cheaper than 5 8's. which is fine with me. I don't think it would do any good to hire more people only to cut work hours. We need more folks at the same rate of hours. We could put more people to work in different spots, getting more work done.
2) The road crews know their roads. we know that after a storm or whatever there is going to be washes, and bad spots. The problem, at least to me, is when people call in and want THEIR road fixed NOW. Well, when 10 people call in 10 different spots none of them seem to understand that they are going to have to wait in line like everybody else.
The crews know that there is ditch work to be done.But if they stop maintaining the roads in order to focus on ditches then the roads will be complete shambles thus inspiring more "reporting". Its a catch 22.
One of the reasons I work on the road crew is that although the pay is low there are perks that you won't find on other, better paying jobs. For example, I don't see Rubbermaid or Boeing letting you come in late or take a day to care for sick, lost, or runaway cattle. It seems to me that as long as you don't abuse that, the county is okay with it. I like the fact that I have a boss that is willing to get his hands dirty with the rest of the workers. I like not having to drive 50 miles one way to get to work. I have heard the job described as "the best worst paying job I've had" and I agree. There are some things that i would like to see changed, but that comes with any job. And barring me getting fired, I don't plan on leaving.
This is somewhat off-thread, but I wanted to respond to Diane's questions about prison labor. Yes, the Kansas Department of Corrections does provide work crews to local governmental agencies. Inmates must be minimum-custody, and for the most part work for other state agencies such as Ks Dept of Transportation and Ks Dept of Wildlife and Parks, or for cities and/or counties. Work is generally confined to an area within an hour of one of the eight major correctional facilities, or around one of the various satellite facilities. Due to budget cuts, just about all the satellite facilities have had or are facing having their operations suspended and the inmates relocated into the main facilities. In recent years, inmate work crews have provided around 1 million man-hours of labor. For their efforts, the inmates earn either $.75 or $1.05 PER DAY. I've been an employee of KDOC for 23 years, and this level of "incentive pay" for the inmates has not changed during that time.
From reading the Wichita Eagle web this morning, the El Dorado correctional facility is closing down.
El Dorado and Butler County will lose all of their free labor.
One of those entities said it would cost them $125,000 per year to replace the free labor.
When did 40 hours a week become long hours?
W. Gray; yes, on TV they estimated $125,000 for the city losing the inmates work, but they estimated about $400,000 for the El Dorado lake losing the inmates work. And Diane, there isn't really any minimum security prison close enough to Elk County to send them to work here. El Dorado is about a 55 minute drive one-way (that's pushing the speed limit).
Billy; I really do appreciate a flexible job schedule; in some cases that's worth getting paid less. The roads really have improved over the last couple of years, even with all the heavy rains we've got. It can't be an easy job to answer to so many "bosses", and I hope you know that not everyone who calls in to report issues is complaining. And I've never called in so I don't know how callers are treated, but I would hope that it's with politeness and a "thank you" (even if they really are complaining).
I wish I had company provided tools, company provided equipment, company paid insurance, health care, time off, sick leave, retirement, and flexible scheduling...
The rest of the country is at 10% unemployment.
Since when does the road crew answer the phone? That is what we have voicemail for. People call and gripe if you grade the road or not. The public is very short sighted...Attention span of a gnat(nat was an employee of mine with a really short attention span).
What I want is a thirty year plan for the construction of roads that will be viable.
The road crews are the ones that maintain the roads and they know the roads the best.
There is only three for an entire district. They have every mile of every road memorized. Hundreds of miles given to memory. Every pothole named and baptised.
If the patron on the other end of the phone has a road problem it should be looked at but action should not be taken until you look at the big picture. Squeaky wheel gets the grease is not who is paying your salaries, buying the rock, or fueling the equipment. If it is feasible to schedule a fix then by all means drop everything saddle up and go fix it. But if the crew knows the road they would already know it needs fix and would have it completed.
The single family that rents a house in town doesn't pay a tenth of the taxes as the one or two people that are trying to get to their feed route of 2-3 thousand acres of taxable land. Look beyond every minimum maintenance sign and you will see sections of land that have little or no roads yet are taxed at the same rate as one next to a highway. We don't just prorate the paying of taxes at the county shop and stop at the county line. Federal and state money is paid for dead end one owner roads that are not accessible most of the time. Most of the crappier roads have been neglected for a long time. It is not a new problem is a consistent problem.
I called in a problem to the county 11 years ago because there was a pond built by a nice grader operator at the highway end of the road causing a traffic problem by closing a blind corner to one lane every time it rained. I asked that signs be built and put up to advertise the new lake. They didn't get the joke. Several different operators have tried to fix it several times but it is still there. I still pay taxes to drive though it every time it rains. When the grass is up the blind corner is quite thrilling. It keeps the car wash in shiny quarters. It saves gas going to a water park for the log ride.
I have a question what is the purpose of the gravel on the bridges? Does concrete wash out or need extra back dragging the next time the grader comes along to save hauling more from the quarry? Doesn't the blade go up and down? Then why is there either a hump or a nice hole next to the bridge?
I am trying to think of a piece of equipment that we could buy along with paying an operator for the county to use to fix the ditch to drain water downstream instead of down the road. It can't be a grader because we have those, they can't be used to crown a road because we just don't do it that way. It can't be a back hoe as we have those but the operators are busy hauling rock......How about an excavator, no got one of those... Tractor mounted bush hog. Ya that works. Just push it into the ditch and drag it along every once in a while pull up. Until you have to have the entire thing rebuilt with expanded metal to replace the cockpit bullet proof glass......
How about a pick and shovel? Use the shovel to open up the grader swath at the bottom of each hill as a method of relieving pressure on the water channel. Use the pick to dig the hole for the sign that the bullet destroyed that caused you to get off your grader, park your back hoe, reverse your dump truck, and escape from your excavator to climb aboard your keyboard to rant about my bitching about your job progress.
Teresa I think the tender feeling county guys are anti-gun.....they don't like bullets.... or target shooting sports.
Show me the road you are most proud of, I will go sit in awe of it, and stop complaining about all the rest.
I will be your biggest supporter.
Hey pepelect, seeing as how you have all the answers to fix the county roads, why don't you get a job with roadcrew? I mean afterall, you seem to have it all figured out.
Hey Pep, that's "gnat"...Oh look, is that Elvis? ;D ( short attention span)
I will continue to bitch about the price of health care but I refuse to sell insurance.
You don't want my help. You can't even handle my causal third party observations. Just think of all the crap I could come up with if you could educate me on the ins and outs of everyday activity. I would have all day Friday to vent on the forum about how wonderful my job is.
If I am going to work on the road crew who is going grind the hamburger? What federal stimulus grant program are you going to tap into so that you can afford me? I don't work for cheetos. Sacking groceries isn't a skill you can learn from a heavy equipment vendor.
You Go, PEP.........What a grin maker you are --- you certainly add some humor, and make sense all at the same time.
Refreshing, that is what you are. So~~you misspelled a word...who gives a flip?!
Keep up the "happy posts" Welllllll, happy for me, anyway.
Maybe I'll slip back to Delaware and hide. :'(
Diane, don't even think about it. :police: :police: :police:
PEP, they couldn't handle you on the road crew.
Keep it up Varmint...Every time you or I have a "casual third party observation" we get OUR butts ripped and chewed so turn about's fair play around here... ;D
Quote from: pepelect on May 15, 2009, 07:30:01 PM
You don't want my help. You can't even handle my causal third party observations. Just think of all the crap I could come up with if you could educate me on the ins and outs of everyday activity. I would have all day Friday to vent on the forum about how wonderful my job is.
What federal stimulus grant program are you going to tap into so that you can afford me? I don't work for cheetos. Sacking groceries isn't a skill you can learn from a heavy equipment vendor.
Observations are one thing, bitching and moaning are another. Suggestions are always welcome, we get enough crap already. What difference does it make if the crews work 4 10 hour days or 5 8 hour days? Afford you? You would get paid the same as everybody else. All the other road crew members work for low pay, so it is okay for them and not you?
Oh, and by the way, road maintance isn't a skill you can learn form someone who grinds hamburger for a living.
Have a nice day.
Most employers have cut down on their employees getting any overtime in this economy. Everyone has to bust their butts to get all their work done in the time allotted. I don't gripe about the county boys at all. I wouldn't want to be out there working on the roads and gettin griped about all the time. I know how bad MY job can be and I don't want people griping about me either. Remember the old saying...If you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all...
We ALL need to remember that!
You guys are brilliant. Rhodes scholars.
(That is a joke about the road, intellectual consortium in Elk county, being replaced with Rhode, Fellowship program for the attendance of Oxford university, for those of you trying to undermine my emphasis on the obvious.)
Debate was obviously not a required course. If you are going to try you might follow some advise and know your opponent. I paid your salary last year and rest assured I will again pay it this year. It won't be late so don't worry. Sorry about the no overtime but you do still have your job. I majored in sarcasm and minored in wit at don't give a crap what you think my qualifications and abilities are university. I would bet my twice my annual ridiculous meat grinding + grocery sacking salary that I could make water flow up hill just as good as any observer with twice my credentials once behind the controls of any piece of equipment you choose.
As a middle aged college drop out pessimist I guarantee that you will never hear me say anything nice about anyone, and I will say anything that comes to mind.
Where you see roses I see soil they grow best in. As I have no conscience it can't tell me when to stop.
of the 105 counties elk must be the richest because we are the only one that still maintains bull market fiscal policy
Let's rewrite financial logic....Three shops are much more efficient than one. 3000 people can and need at least 10. If I am paying for it why not. Just because every other county in the state has seen the light lets not try that here. Those fools think that making sense efficiently and spending wisely actually will better their communities.
We have been hauling rock for the last 40 years that I have been watching and I don't see that we have 40 years of improved infrastructure. At what point do we try something else. By the way don't we haul rock from one place to all points of the county? Isn't that stupid for the overworked truck drivers to have to drive all the way to the rock quarry empty just to bring a load back to put on a road south of Longton. It is such a silly waste of diesel. Why don't we have satellite quarries? One next to each 6 mile of road so we can eliminate some travel time. Those three guys have a lot to do so the closer the pile the shorter the round trip. There used to be a school house every 6 miles. Too bad we didn't learn anything from that experience.
We have a health department with a central office. Why don't we have three offices in Grenola, Moline, Longton.....
The meals on wheels feeds people at all towns in the county so we need to build three separate kitchens to staff and feed the elderly instead of one.
Municipal court needs to be held at each of the cities in the county that way if someone in Longton or Grenola needs to go to court they won't have to drive so far. We can hire three more judges, build three more court houses, just so we don't spend so much of the hard earned money on the commute.
I don't like going out of town to go to the doctor so neither should anyone else so let's build three hospitals one in Grenola, one in Moline, and one in Longton. Staff it with every conceivable practice from oncology to dentistry. Because the more services we can provide locally the less we spend on commuting. That commuting is just a waste of good dollars spent on fossil fuels that is killing our planet.
While we are at it let's digitize the county courthouse records and abstracts so that along with the rest of the free world you can look up a comp at ten pm without dusting off a book the next morning. Then when we build the three other courthouses you can electronically transfer the data from one to the other so that we don't have to pay someone to drive to Howard do title searches. Because you know how many more transfurance of land titles are going to happen the the next trimester of this policy. More beer money that won't be wasted on commuting.
Why don't we have a jail in all the county towns also. It is just unfathumable to think that you could be arrested at Grenola and have to be transported all the way to the antique box in Howard. It is down right harsh, cruel, and unusual punishment. We need three more jails. Each with a jailer, support staff, housing, and besides the one in Moline would be closer to CQ county.
So as you can see with this multi-tiered three step plan we can and will make a better tomorrow.
Quote from: pepelect on May 18, 2009, 09:22:08 PM
Debate was obviously not a required course. If you are going to try you might follow some advise and know your opponent. I paid your salary last year and rest assured I will again pay it this year.
By the way don't we haul rock from one place to all points of the county? Isn't that stupid for the overworked truck drivers to have to drive all the way to the rock quarry empty just to bring a load back to put on a road south of Longton.
You might try following your own advise. We actually haul from different quarries, not just molines. But, if more are needed just where would you locate these quarries?
Also, I am pretty sure you aren't the only person in this county to pay taxes. Money which went to fund road maintance including road crew salaries.
You missed the point about driving empty but good to know my money is spent out of county.
I know this is new territory but I would probably build the quarry where the rock is buried.
As long as one penny of my tax dollars are spent I have to right and privilege to "bitch and moan" as much as I want about how and where it is wasted. The rest of the tax base must like way their money is spent or they would "bitch and moan" as well.
I am not the only one, I am the not the one that pays the most, I am not the one that pays the least, I am just one tax paying citizen that has watched water run down the center of two fences for decades and I don't want to pay for that anymore.
Are you up to a challenge? I will continue to pay and shut up if you keep the water out of the road.
I didn't miss the point about driving empty. It is going to happen no matter what. If you fill a truck with rock, then dump that rock, you now have to drive empty to get more rock.
The problem with building quarries within the county is that the land where said rock is buried is private land. I don't think the idea of eminent domain would go over to well with a lot of landowners, and I bet that very few if any would be willing to sell.
I don't mind trying to keep water out of the road. If we drop road maintance throughout the county to focus solely on ditching, the roads would become impassable. For the most part our roads are decent. Yes, they all need work, no doubt there. But the crews are doing the best they can with what they have.
Why can't you back haul the ditch while you are rocking the road?
As far as I know, we are trying to get the bad washes rocked in before the next rain. I'll ask the boss and see what he says. Provided we have a place for the dirt, that actually seems like a good idea.
I know that it isn't terribly helpful but I would accept one semi load of dirt should you need a place to drop it.
Ok, so I asked my boss this morning why we weren't ditching. He said that we were behind on grading and with the recent rains it was just too wet. And before you start in on how they have never been maintained, I can not answer for that. Only been working for the county since October.
Pepelectric...unfortunately not all of us were born with a silver fork in our mouth. Some of us had to actually work for a living. We don't have a "has been" electric company, a grocery store that I hear quite a few people are boycotting and people are pulling their presriptions from the drug store because of your mouth. You have no conscience, maybe your wife does. Maybe your wife likes her business. Maybe she likes to serve the community. You obviously do not. You bitch about everything going on in the county. You pay taxes. As far as I know everyone in the county pays taxes. Let's figure this up: just at $9 an hour to 16 road crew employees means that your taxes that you pay out to support us you'd be paying over $40,000 in taxes. That's a helluva lot of taxes. Either you didn't give it much thought or they are damn sure overtaxing you. That doesn't include courthouse employees or sheriff department employees. I for one will find that my groceries will be bought just as well at any other grocery store other than yours. My medications will come cheaper from any WalMart or Walgreens that there is nearby. These are my words that coincide with many other residents of Howard and surrounding towns. I sir would like you to go snipe hunting with me. I for one do lots of business at Howard. I used to buy groceries there. I used to get prescriptions there. But I can get my groceries in Longton. They have a very nice grocery store. And I find that Walgreens is exceptional for $4 prescriptions. Every d*mn one of us in the road department busts our ass and to come home and get on the forum and see the junk you spew is degrading and detrimental to us. I'm a college dropout but I'm not running around putting down my county or degrading the employees. I do try to buy in the county but it's nice to know now who I have been buying from and I assure you that will change. ----Mr. Kshillbillys
Well said Hillbilly, damn well said.
Pepelect, keep doing what you are doing. It took me a while to catch on to your humor, sarcasm. I never questioned your commitment to your community. You can't please everyone, as you well know. Maybe you can take the silver spoon out of your mouth long enough to bag my groceries. Does that last sentence make sense? Anyway, keep it up Howard and Elk County are lucky to have you. I see no one else on here that is working harder to make Howard a better place. It has sure declined since the time I spent there. Of course I know you don't need me to defend you.
David
I don't know Patrick and wouldn't recognize him if he were standing next to me, but I can see the humor and sarcasm in his posts. While he is poking fun he is also pointing out the reasons this county doesn't progress like it should. Too many people are wearing blinders. They can't see that going down the same old road is going to get them to exactly the same place they started. But maybe that is where they want to go. Same old road, same old barn, same old stall like a trained mule. You don't have to think about it, just plod along. If more people would think like PEP and Liz, maybe we could get something done.
My prescriptions and most of my groceries will be bought at Family Market and Batson's Drugs. I am just sorry that there aren't more resources in Elk County. But then, at my age, I don't require much.
Wow, this post has gotten hateful. I'm disappointed that people can't just turn the other cheek or learn to shut up.
KS, Mr. KS, and Billy. PEP has a very dry sense of humor in which sarcasm and satire are a big part. Please don't make it personal. You 3 sound very angry and that's not part of a good debate. Everybody has gripes about their own job and everyone else's too. I have no doubt the road crews do the best they can with what they have. I'm not sure how buying somewhere else will get even with anybody. Spiting your nose comes to mind. Can we make some useful comments that aren't personal and hurtful? or move on? PEP does have good ideas and I enjoy hearing them. Can you 3 add some? You surely know the road problems better than any of us.
I had thoughts along that line, too. Spiting your nose. My thought was that the store, pharmacy and Pepelect all collect sales tax. Part of that tax stays in Elk County. When you spend your money somewhere outside Elk County that sales tax goes to another county. If enough sales tax is lost, there might have to be cuts made in employees. Be careful that the hand you bite is not your own.
I have known PEP for most of his years. He is an honest, hard working, kind son, husband and Father. He is an Elk Countain, and like some many others has chosen to remain here and work hard for all of the community, as has his lovely wife, Julie.
Their business is a true God send to this county, and his sense of humor is probably no different that many others, he just has the "gumption" to express it. Yes, sometimes, he gets a little to close to the edge, but believe he, he is a good man!!!
We need Patrick and Julie Perkins, their daughters and their loyalty to Elk County.
Jo
Sorry.
I just reread every post I have ever posted about this subject and I didn't find any thing stated that county employees don't do their job. I haven't degraded anyone. If anyone took it that way I apologize. How can anything I say have any detrimental consequences to you? If you don't like me fine. I don't need any friends. I have not tried to belittle anyone. I am sarcastic and if you don't get it fine. Again I am sorry.
I will bring the gunny sack if you aren't a full service snipe outfitting service.
The silver fork crack is another story. No one has ever given me anything. We didn't have jack when we started out. We had good jobs in a larger more prosperous area of the state and liked it. I could have stayed and been just as sarcastic somewhere else. I don't know how your gravy train comments are supposed to make sense. We started the store from nothing. All the money from it goes back in to it. We have been expanding is since its conception when we were driving to Wichita weekly to provide necessities to the citizens of the area. There is no profit motive.
The "has been" happens to know how to twist a wire nut. I can change light bulbs too.
I wish you the best in your out of town experiences.
No silver spoon, that's okay 'cause you got cones. ;) :) :)
sugar or waffle? ;D
Both, Diane!
I'm out of town more than once a week and do pick up a few things in El Dorado as I need them. I do buy groceries in Eureka more often than I do in Howard. However, Julie Perkins is the only pharmacist I trust with my children's prescriptions. In my opinion, the customer service at Batson's & Family Market is the warmest I've ever had. Even when PEP is bagging my groceries, he has some sarcastic comment to make me laugh.
Can't we all just get along?
We need more people like PEP to keep us laughing and thinking. Ideas are always good even if "you" don't like them. They make more people THINK. Thinking though problems solves problems. G-o-o-o-o-o PEP!
I was in a meeting at Sedan yesterday where they discussed the good things that are going on in Elk County. Since they now read a newspaper that covers both counties, they actually have DISCOVERED their neighbors to the north.
Of all things that impressed them when a group of them visited Moline and Howard last week was Batson's Drugstore, the Family Market and PEP's expansion to the north of Julie's store. See? They don't know better --- they actually think Patrick Perkins is one sharp guy. So, I encouraged their perception by throwing in some good points about the ol' boy.
And, for my part, my hometown of Caney went an entire year without a grocery store until Roger Floyd expanded his Sedan store to include one in Caney. Appreciate what you've got in Howard with Julie's store, even if you have to put up with the bag boy and hamburger grinder. I'm am so impressed with that store and the way the Perkins family has invested their time, money and lives to earn a living while making a vast improvement in Howard.
If I were younger, I'd move to Howard, build a new house and grow old with you.
Thanks for those kind words about "our Howard", Rudy. Growing old in Howard is our plan, of course we have a jump start on that project already. ;D ;D
Fred and I are soooooooo very happy to be back home. We wouldn't trade the years that we spent RVing for anything, but truly there is NO place like home.
A small town, like Howard, with the great stores that are here, is truly a blessing.
Jo and Fred
I have tried to stay out of this one but I can't resist any longer. The difficult part is that I agree with Billy and Kshillbilly on so many things, political, the future of our nation, Obama and lots more, but I am really disappointed to see personal attacks on individuals and the comments about Pep being born with a silver spoon was really inappropriate. I grew up with Pep's family and they were some of the hardest working people in Elk County and Pep's Grandfather, Father and Uncle were all very civic minded individual, they were very much involved with the youth organizations, 4-H, Schools, Church, the Fair, etc. From what I have been told and from what I have seen Pep and his wife are both very hard workers, have taken a lot of personal risk investing in businesses in Elk County are very much involved in promoting Howard and the area. My first personal experience with PEP was on a memorial day 3-4 years ago, every year my wife and I came from Midland Texas to help my brother Dwight and the American Legion with the Avenue of Flags at the cemtery and also making and putting the poppy wreaths on the Veterans Graves. My brother told me that one of his big worries that year was that the rope on the Flagpole at Cresco Cemetery was broken and he didn't know how he was going to get it replaced, when we went up Main Street that day he saw Peps truck and he stopped and told Pep about his problem and Pep immediately said, have you got the new rope, Dwight had it with him and Pep said let's go put it up, he drove to Cresco with his bucket truck and put the rope on the pole, Dwight thanked him, Peps response was do you need any others replaced while we are it. Howard is very fortunate to have Patrick and Julie, the Store, Pharmacy, the Electrical Business and young people working hard and trying to improve the way of life in Howard.
The County employees discussion was a good one to start with but it got to personal on all sides.
I had to endure some of the personal trashing and trashy remarks from one of the Obama supporters during the election and it was disappointing to me that anyone would stoop that low on the forum. The forum has been a good thing for Elk County and the participants, hopefully it will continue to be and everyone can discuss any topic without getting offensive or rude.
I think Peps humor is misunderstood. The guy has a huge heart. Patrick and Julie didn't know me from Adam when I came to town and have treated me like family. Patrick has helped at the senior center and at the donut shop free of charge, because that is the kind of guy he is. Every since I came here Patrick has teased me that he was going to put in a Krispy Kream donut shop... I took it just as he meant it... A Joke.
This is just a misunderstanding. Patrick has apologized and admitted he was joking. I can bet Patrick will be there for anyone in need.
As someone that only comes to Howard once in a Blue Moon. I am so glad Julie and Patrick have the store. Both of the previous owners did just what they had to do for Howard. Julie and Patrick have tried to give back. I am also glad that Poplar Pizza, Cookson Hardware,Tooties, P&Js, Lannings Gas Station & Penny's Pub are still in Howard. Sorry for any one I missed as I am just going off an old memory.
The sad part is, I just read the Praire Star and I see all the things that are going on the other areas for Memorial week end but nothing but two things about Howard. Is there not someone that could get the news about Howard and send it in to the paper? There are a lot of retired people in Howard that could take the time to do this. Wish I lived closer I have time to get out and get it done.
Maude
Well, well, well. I haven't been on here for a long, long time and it seems as if I have missed out. I usually keep my mouth shut about things, but I don't believe that I will sit still for this one. No, sir, I will not.
Having known PEP and his wife for a long, long time, I was very offended by kshillbilly's personal attack on this fine family. As for thinking that PEP was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, that is so far from wrong as one can get. You only need to know the family to know that. Obviously, some people don't. Oh well. Continue to enjoy your state of mind. As for taking your business out of town, I say go ahead. You won't find a better pharmacy than Batson's Drug and as for the prices, I have bought my prescriptions at Walmart and Walgreens and I will take Batson's Drug any day. The prices are comparable and I don't have to travel. I also don't have to stand three deep in line like at Walmart to get my prescription. I can usually get it within 10 minutes and get that personal service on top of that. Grocery prices are very comparable to going out of town and I know that if I buy something at Family Market and I find out it isn't good or there is something wrong, I can get it replaced or my money back. Now, I don't know about kshillbilly, but I don't make enough money to keep driving out of town to buy everything. Maybe kshillbilly does. It sounds like he/she works for the county road department, though, so now I wonder how he/she affords to drive out of town to buy things such as groceries and prescriptions. At $2.58 a gallon, gas still is not a cheap commodity. I, too, have worked for the county and I know about the low wages, the so called benefits, etc. I worked there for 25 years. I also have first hand experience about complaints from the citizens. Those haven't changed in the last 50 years let alone in the last four. Commissioners do the best they can with what they have. However; if you want to spend your money out of town and see your sales tax money, (just like my mamma said), go to another county, then go ahead. (How do you think Montgomery County got the nice judicial center they have? Sales tax monely). Soon or later the county will start shutting off services to the citizens because there isn't enough money coming back into the county because everyone decides to get personal about an OPINION FORUM and spend their money out of town. Then the schools will start shutting down because the money is not there. Then we have no schools. What will you do then if you have children? Oh, well, keep complaining. That gets alot done now doesn't it?
That's my girl. Jo is proud of her daughters and rightly so. I am proud of mine, too.
If I were to read all of these posts and not know anyone in Howard, I would think you were a town full of people that did not like each other. That all you wanted to do was gripe,goat and complain. Just thought I would let you know. Me personaly think you need to get rid of the threads about being on the Soap Box and the opinion threads. It seems they cause the most proplems.
Maude and Maxine. :-\
Let me make sure I got this right...it is ok for Pep to speak his mind, but not Kshillbilly? When did Kshillbilly attack Peps family? I didn't see any silver spoon comment in any of Kshillbillys posts. I did however see a silver fork reference. I think that maybe Kshillbilly was referring to Peps speaking ability, which I admit is good. However, Pep did use this ability to take a jab at the road crew, "You guys are brilliant. Debate was obviously not a required course." Why is it okay for Pep to not "say anything nice about anyone, and I will say anything that comes to mind." But Kshillbilly is critized when he does it?
Also, Kshillbilly is critized for taking his sales tax dollars out of the county. My question is why should he spend it in county if it will be used to support a county adminstration and road crew that, according to Pep, don't know what they are doing?
Frankly, I don't blame or critize Kshillbilly for going out of the county to buy grocerys or get his prescriptions filled. I wouldn't want to do either from somone who admittedly has no conscience.
Silver fork in one place, silver spoon by someone else later on. Billy, you can certainly say whatever you want, but I had hoped we had buried this one for good. And isn't KS a female? We all got a bit ruder than we might have and I thought we all were past that. May we move on?
Yep...For the most part any posting done on this forum under this name is ME, Jennifer Walker. Yes, a female. But, the comment Billy is referring to was made by my husband!
Janet, yes Mr. Hillbilly does work for the county road department. I on the other hand, drive 27 miles one way (and back) every day to INDEPENDENCE. I don't HAVE to drive out of town to get my groceries or prescriptions. I'M ALREADY THERE!
Not that it is anyone's business as to how much money I make, if you read the profile on here you will find I work for the UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE. So, yeah, I do just fine in the money making.
AND just how long has the COUNTY YARD looked the way it looks? To hear your mamma talk, Janet, most of those cars were there when YOU were sheriff. If she didn't like the looks of it, why move in across the street from it? Possibly just to
Quote from: Maude on May 31, 2009, 03:05:50 PM
gripe,goat and complain
Personally I know of a few other places that look as bad if not worse that people should be concerned with on Howard looks. And it damn sure aint the county department. Do you notice the old ice house on Hwy 99? The welded together junk on the highway someone calls "art"? And right across from the courthouse junk piled up for everyone to see but let's call it a mechanic's shop. All of these places are in plain view of anyone driving downtown to go to the courthouse or driving on Highway 99.
No one is griping about Harrod's either. People just want to gripe about the COUNTY! How many people, out of town visitors, drive all over Howard looking for the COUNTY SHOP to see just how HORRIBLE it is? My guess, ZERO!
AND just so no one is unsure of who wrote this we collaborated together...so let the bitching begin. Robert and Jennifer Walker
Jeepers !!! If Teresa and Kjell don't close down this forum -- I'll be surprised.
What screamin' meemies this has brought out of the cracks in the woodwork !!!
Jo
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Whew! My oh my....Yo Mama? ;D ;D ;D If Janet comes on I'm leaving town for awhile.
Sorry about that Diane. Didn't proofread very good. I didn't mean to forget the ur in your. Janet did call Wilma her mamma tho, so that's where that came from. But I meant no disrespect with the "yo" part. Just a typo and I changed it. Sorry. No I will go back to being logged out and deciding on whether or not to completely stop posting and delete my forum content now.
I just reviewed this thread from the beginning and I invite everyone else to do so, too. I do not find one word of complaint about the road department in it that I wrote. On the other hand, I started it with a post of sympathy for the employees of the road department in particular for the low wages they work for. There are no complaints about the condition of the road yard either, although on another thread which is titled "Wishes That Will NEVER Come True" I expressed a wish that the road department would plant flowers across the street from me so that I could have something pretty to look at from my kitchen window, since I couldn't see my own pretty flowers. This was immediately taken as a complaint. In no way did I intend for the road department to take the time to do anything, but they did. They cleaned up some piles of trash and you wouldn't believe the difference it made in the way the whole yard looked. Then the next morning there were some wild flowers blooming in the yard. That was enough for me. They didn't bloom for long and a couple of days later, a couple of the workers sprayed the entire yard, which took care of the weeds going to seed and spreading.
I believe that I said on this other thread that some of the old cars in the yard were there when I moved here. Janet hasn't been sheriff here since the beginning of 2005. I moved here June 29, 2005. Some of the old cars were here when I moved here and more have been added. Even if Janet left some, the current sheriff has had more than 4 years to do something about them. This is just an example of how something that someone says is jumped on and changed and ragged on until it becomes something entirely different. For the people that feel they are being criticized because they are expressing their opinion, if they wish to desist, fine. But it isn't fair to take someone's remark and make something else out of it. This isn't being done with only my remarks, but with almost everybody else's. Just review some of the threads, especially in the Politics section.
That is true, that this thread was started with empathy. Then it all went downhill. The other "wish" thread is a dead thread so I just combined some of your thoughts from it into my last post on this thread. I don't believe I was the only person that ended up combining the thoughts from both posts. I will NOT be leaving this forum. I've had several pm's from members asking me not to go as well as a few on certain threads asking me to stay. I will take Kjell's advice in learning to agree to disagree. I know that I will never change people's minds, but I certainly will never back down from my thoughts and opinions either. I'm sorry if I have upset you Wilma. Many people on here have upset me too.
KS...now you're cookin' I didn't mean anything about the Yo Momma other than it was very funny. I don't usually bother with common typos, but the funny ones.... Well, I just can't help myself sometimes. It's a disease!
Good for you, KS. We don't want anyone to leave, but things do get hot sometimes. I think we all need to take the time and really think about what we are writing instead of just putting our thoughts into print. I will try to do better if everybody else will, too.
Quote from: kshillbillys on May 31, 2009, 04:45:26 PM
Yep...For the most part any posting done on this forum under this name is ME, Jennifer Walker. Yes, a female. But, the comment Billy is referring to was made by my husband!
Janet, yes Mr. Hillbilly does work for the county road department. I on the other hand, drive 27 miles one way (and back) every day to INDEPENDENCE. I don't HAVE to drive out of town to get my groceries or prescriptions. I'M ALREADY THERE!
Not that it is anyone's business as to how much money I make, if you read the profile on here you will find I work for the UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE. So, yeah, I do just fine in the money making.
Well, isn't this interesting? You tell me who you are, but I still don't know you. Apparently, you know me though or at least you think you do. Hummmm. Very interesting.
Quote from: kshillbillys on May 31, 2009, 05:00:38 PM
Janet, most of those cars were there when YOU were sheriff.
[/quote]
Nope. None of those cars were put there by me. Everything that is there was put there by the current sheriff. And, all he has to do is have an auction and Waa Laa, cars are gone. (Now that's a fine thought. A sheriff having an auction.)
New people work cheaper?