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To The Editor:
First of all I want to say I have no interest in returning to Obion County to work as the economic developer. I am perfectly happy where I am. That said, I do care deeply about what happens in Obion County because I was raised in Obion County and have many friends and relatives still living in Obion County.
I want to respond to comments I have recently read in The Messenger.
First, the form of government you have has absolutely nothing to do with economic development. Any professional economic developer will tell you that. If it did, every community would change their form of government. What you need is a community of business leaders and government officials working hand in hand to get new jobs. During my tenure in Obion County as president of the Obion County Industrial Development Corporation, we had a great working relationship with the City of Union City and Obion County.
Mayor Terry Hailey, the city manager and the council always supported our efforts 100 percent to bring new jobs to Obion County. They never once refused any request I had regarding incentives related to bringing jobs to our community. Having a full-time mayor who is making decisions based on getting re-elected every four years doesn’t seem to be the best government to me.
Regarding state Sen. Roy Herron’s comments, how soon we forget all the great things Goodyear and their associates have done for Obion County and Union City. It is very rare in today’s world economy for any company to stay in a community for 43 years. To make irrational statements like Sen. Herron made regarding Goodyear’s patriotism shows a lack of understanding of the world economy we live in today. Instead it sounds more like a politician trying to win back voters. I don’t like that Goodyear is closing the Union City plant, but taking potshots at Goodyear for making a business decision to improve their company seems irresponsible. I personally want to thank Goodyear and their associates for everything they have done during their 43 years in our community.
Finally, I would encourage the City of Union City to annex all of Goodyear’s property and use that money to hire a professional economic developer, fund an aggressive economic development program and use some of that money as an incentive to attract new industry.
In a good year (no pun intended), there are 250 industrial projects looking for new locations and there are 20,000 economic development organizations competing for those projects. In today’s economy, the number of projects is much fewer and the organizations competing for these projects are getting more creative and offering more incentives. State and local communities are giving more than they ever have to attract jobs to their communities.
I care deeply for Obion County and the friends and family I have there. I want to help wherever I can. I have confidence in the government and business leaders in Obion County that they will use their energy to bring needed jobs to Obion County and recognize the many contributions Goodyear has made in our community and region.
David Hamilton
Dickson
We’re taxed
enough as it is

To The Editor:
When will government learn to live within its means? Federal government, state government, county government and city government? All of these agencies think they have an open checkbook and can spend all the money in the bank and just keep on spending and dancing to the fiddler. Now, the fiddler wants his money and no one can pay.
It’s bad enough that the federal government is spending us into a nation that before long will have more debt than assets. We all know what they will do to get more money. They will tax us more and more and keep right on spending. Federal taxes will go up and we will all have to pay. I’m sure everyone’s paycheck will go up to cover the new tax, every place I have ever worked for, made up for a tax increase. Bull.
We, or most of us anyway, are what I call bottom feeders. We can’t raise the price on anything to recoup the money we are out. If you sell chickens, you can raise the price of your chickens; if you are in a business,  you can raise the price of your product. But all of us bottom feeders who work for a paycheck cannot do a thing except tighten up more and more and pay. It’s easy for elected officials to spend all the kitty and give it to whoever they please and slap each other on the back and say, “Look what we have done.” What they have done, is driven the working man into a corner. A corner where he is beginning to despise the power and arrogance of all of our government leaders, national, state, county and city.
Now, I read in The Messenger that the county commissioners have put up for vote (not by the people, mind you, but by them and them alone) to raise the “one-time” wheel tax that was put into effect decades ago by 10 more dollars. This was a one-time $10 tax for some project that we absolutely “had” to have. Now, that tax is $30 or is it $40 per vehicle? Another $10 raise to make it either $40 or $50. The people of the county have no voice in this. It is decided by the county commissioners, and what they vote on is then law. I don’t think the county should be spending $1.6 million they don’t have.
Now, they have plans to recover this shortfall of the budget by raising the wheel tax another $10 and raising the property tax by 12 cents and taking $500,000 from the rest home fund. The rest home is the “only” agency in this county, maybe even the state or nation, that maintains a positive balance in funds. Now, the fat cats are going to take half a million dollars to pay for items the budget committee says we must have.
When you do this with your own money you go belly up or bankrupt. You have enough sense to know how much you have and how much you need to spend. There are a lot of things we all want, but we do without because we can’t afford it. It’s time for the county and city to get their heads out of the sand and look at what they are doing to this county. People moving off by the truck loads, tax rate one of the highest in the nation. Property value down to nothing and being taxed more and more on it. Just wait until Goodyear fully closes and they will want more money. It’s time to cut budgets and get back to living within your means. Does the police department really need all the cars they have? Do they really need all the personnel they have now that robo cops are doing all the traffic control? Does the city really need a “turf” management crew? Do all the offices at the courthouse really need all the personnel they have? Does the highway department really need all the equipment and manpower they have?
People, it’s time for the citizens of this county to start questioning all of this tax money being spent by five or six people. I think every tax increase, no matter how big or small, should be put to vote by everyone effected by it. I’m tired of paying out the nose for all of the nonsense this county does.
As a bottom feeder, I am mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. I must live within my means and do without things I want and have been doing it for 63 years. It’s time for this crap to stop.
People of Obion County: You can stop this mad spending by voting these people out of office and put in people who understand how to run a checkbook. Not only on the county level, but on the state and federal level, also. We are taxed enough already and we (I) am fed up with it.
David F. Worley
Union City

Published in The Messenger 7.20.11

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