SPLOST vote- Your Vote is Critical.. Be Careful of the Name-Callers..

This is from Walker Chandler and I see no reason to alter it, since I agree with it, and he says it so much better than I do:




Dear Friends and Fellow Pike Countians,

As all of you know,  early voting on the SPLOST  begins on February 15th and closes March 15th.  I plan to vote for it and here are my reasons:

1.  As against taxes  and wasteful spending as I am,  I think Pike needs to have the money  a SPLOST will raise so as to be able to maintain its roads and restore its courthouse.   Those expenses will be borne by property owners completely if SPLOST  fails.
2.  I  seriously doubt if any Pike Countians  shop  in Pike to save 1%  or  if any non-countians shop in Pike  to save that same 1% they might otherwise have spent in neighboring counties.
3.  I think the problems with the courthouse's obsolescence must be dealt with  right away before we are prevented from using it  either by  the State Fire Marshall or the Judiciary.  Our local Superior Court  judges have been warning us for  years  that  a renovation must be  carried out.  Especially after the security horrors  the state experienced with the Fulton County shootings, we cannot think they won't decide to order trials to be held elsewhere. I was a firefighter in Zebulon for 15 years and none of us thought we could have stopped a fire there if it got going good.  It would be  an absolute disaster if there were people upstairs and a fire was working where the  only two stairways converge.
4.  Our  courthouse is the symbol of Pike County.  It combines pride in our history and hope for our future--not to mention respect for ourselves  and for those who appear before our courts and those--including  jurors--who serve in them.
5.  Similarly,  at long last the Courthouse Square has been  greatly upgraded due to the efforts of  the Downtown Development Authority and the landowners who have invested in their buildings on the Square.  We are developing and promoting a place ( and not just Zebulon but  all of Pike  County) where we  can work, play, conduct business, dine out, and otherwise permit families to stay in our home county once they "get home from work".
5.   Not to sound too much like  whining socialists in Washington, but  I think we owe it to  the children not to bequeath them either  public debt  or  crapped-out, used-up buildings.  SPLOST  is  pay-as-you-go,  but with a twist:  out of countians  help us pay.  In the modern parlance,  it's a no-brainer.

         I guess I could go on,  but I will say further only this:  honest men may differ on what courses are the wisest,  but they need not  be bitter or vicious about their differences  in public discussions of matters such as this, nor impute selfish or greedy motives to those who they oppose..

If you agree with me or if you are  undecided,  will you please forward this email to Pike residents?

  And will you please go advance vote  in favor of SPLOST?

Yours for Pike County,
Walker Chandler