Needed: a fair taxing method, not an equally unfair one

The numbers are in, and Adams County taxpayers are about to pony up an additional $2 for every $1,000 in the assessed value of their real estate. The new rate brings the county’s real estate levy to 14.65 mills, including a half-mill dedicated to the county library system.
Meanwhile, a group of citizens whose attorney identifies [...]

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Bring water, and they will drink

Soon, it appears, the Susquehanna River will have a branch running down Route 30. There’s water in that-there creek, and there’s folks arriving in Straban and several townships west of Gettysburg who are going to be mighty thirsty.
More than 80 percent of the water Adams Countians drink comes out of the ground. The problem is, [...]

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Obesity and bulldozed apple trees

I have a picture in my collection of a map depicting the layout of the housing development in which the map is posted. It’s one of those maps one can drive up to and, from the comfort of the family chariot, see the geometric patterns in which the streets are laid out, sweeping curves among [...]

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President George W. Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in an early morning Election Day press conference, announced the nation’s polling places would be moved hourly in order to keep terrorists off balance as they seek crowds of patriotic Americans exercising their rights to choose their governmental leadership.
Bush acknowledged some voters might become discouraged [...]

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The “thirteen percent” factor

Tuesday is Election Day 2007, the day politicians learn whether they will be allowed to apply their personal philosophies to the problems facing their municipalities, counties or courts.
Adams County Elections Director Monica Dutko said last week she expected turnout to top off at about 25 percent.
“There are no major issues,” she said.
What she meant was [...]

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