Dear editor:

As we face an election it might be good to think about what our candidates are promising.

1) Protect private property rights

The right to own property is the basis for our ability to have assets to hold and to leverage, thus supporting our financial goals. The problem with unlimited property rights is that while living within a community it is important to have limits on the ability to do whatever we want with our property. Neighbors need to consider if their plans negatively affect others or the larger community. Land use planning is a way  to keep a data center from going into an inappropriate area. The basis for land use planning is to preserve areas as the existing land owners want. Land ownership is really about stewardship of that resource.

2) Protect agriculture

Everyone wants to preserve agriculture. Do they realize that the things critical for agriculture to survive is farmable land and corresponding services to support agricultural operations in a community? When the push is for selling small lots for housing in ag areas it kills the ag in that larger area. It is not feasible to farm small fields and those parcels become marginal lands. The real estate people want to have land to sell and people need places to live. Is it possible to have both with planning? Every area may not be the best for rural housing. Zoning traditional ag areas to allow parcels as small as 1 acre does not preserve ag.

3) Lower taxes

Taxes are the mechanism to have funds to provide services to the community and its people. If lower taxes are really the goal then we need to decide which services are wanted and needed.

What is the cost of maintaining our needed five lane highway between Cody and Powell and hundreds of miles of other roads?What is the proper amount to spend on education and healthcare? How well do we want to fund the fire department? What about our system of laws and corresponding enforcement? It seems that the people who advocate the loudest for services and facilities do not look at the upfront and continuing costs.

Finally a comment on who we elect. When a person is willing to run for an office, when many refuse to be part of government of the people and for the people, they should be supported after the people elect them. The constant disagreement with our elected officials makes it very difficult for anyone to want to serve.

People holding office are privy to knowledge that the common public do not and sometimes make decisions that are not popular with all. We need to have the courtesy to respect that.

Kelly Spiering

Powell