Letter published Jan 24, 2005

Rutherford sinking under 'yoke of debt'

To the editor,

A Jeers and Cheers to letters to the editor printed Jan. 17. Jeers to the one titled "Rowland represents fight against taxes." It contains the passage "None of them ever even consider cutting taxes or cutting programs."

Does the letter writer not realize that in the past five years our county school system has slipped from 62nd in the state in local spending per student to 92nd? Ninety-one county and city schools systems are more wasteful in this state than ours is. To put it in perspective, Murfreesboro City schools ranked 28th in '97-'98 and 24th in '02-'03.

Cheers to the letter "County needs new revenue for growth." A well-thought out, well-written letter without the usual rhetoric or hyperbole some tend to write with. I hope to read more letters from that writer in the future!

Our county is rapidly sinking by the yoke of debt. And the real shame of it all? If some elected officials had acted over a decade ago on some of the same issues that still persist today, that yoke would be substantially smaller.

David Limbaugh

Warrior Drive