"Where Olmsted County News Comes First"

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Do you think the use of all fireworks should be legal in the state of Minnesota for all consumers?

 Yes, everyone should be able to use them

 No, only those with permits to do so


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The city of Eyota has received a Grant of $344,000 from the Minn. Dept. of transportation to create safe routes to School for their students. The City will add sidewalks and Bike paths.

Having developed a major part of the city, I wondered about the need. Eyota has one of the best streets in the area for both auto and bike paths. When we were developing, we were required to put in paved roads for the use of the autos and bikes. Sidewalks are placed on one side of any heavily traveled streets. We did not place sidewalks in the strictly residential streets for a very good reason. The streets are always plowed first in the winter and sidewalks are the homeowner’s problem. Many older people find it impossible to shovel their walks, and in most families both parents have to go to work before they have a chance to shovel their sidewalks. If you have a sidewalk and don’t get it shoveled, you could be sued or penalized. As far as I know, there have been no accidents that would indicate that we have unsafe streets in Eyota.

But the article goes on to indicate that the grant is a federally-funded program for transportation enhancement. The article also points out that Winona got $600,000 to rehab owner-occupied homes and Lanesboro got $449,000 for housing and commercial buildings. The Federal government, which borrows over 40 percent of its money abroad, is giving Minnesota over $16,850,000 under this program. Minnesota has about two percent of the nation’s population, and if the rest of the nation gets the same proportion of free money, it becomes mind-boggling.

Let’s also remember there is no such thing as free money. Anyone selling a home after this year will have to pay 3.8 percent of the sale price to the Federal government. Your electricity has already gone up because the tax has already been applied. And you are going to have to pay taxes on your gas, autos, crutches, wheelchairs---everything is going to be taxed to pay for an edict from Washington that says that people should walk more and ride their bicycles to school. They can do it now without spending one dollar of our tax money.

One of the greatest problems that face any legislator is being able to say “No”…there are always people who want more from their government. My family grew up during the depression years when Mother said “No” quite often. We simply understood that if we wanted something, we had to work for it.

Grants are not free, someone has to pay. Should some faceless individual in far off Washington decide that the people of Eyota need to shovel their walks, or use the bicycle instead of the car to go to work? I should be free to choose what I want or need. Let the Federal Government take care of national defense, the interstate roads and other things that cross state lines. Let the states take care of their own people with needs, education etc. Let our local communities decide how many sidewalks we need. This thing is just an election ploy that will end when the election is over. I’m ashamed to think that some people will fall for it. It did not work in the ‘30s and it won’t work now.