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Dear Editor,

I read with interest your editorial admonishing city and county officials not to turn their back on grant funds. Since I am the party who made the suggestion for the city and county NOT to participate in the walking trail grant, I feel obliged to make my position clear. I never stated that McCook or Red Willow County turn their back on ALL state and federal funding, nor did I hear anyone else make that statement.

I served on the City Council for seven years and during that tenure, the council had numerous federal and state projects in which we participated. We used help from the federal (government) and state to build roads, to enlarge the airport, to build low-income housing, to build a new library and to bring industry to town -- in particular, Electric Hose and Rubber Co. We accomplished this with local money, grants and by using IDA bonds. But with each project, we were discriminate in the funds that we took from these funds that we took from the state and federal government.

We used the same discretion in accepting these funds that we did in spending our local tax dollars. If we had a definite need to address -- YES, we took it. If we could NOT see that it was a valid project that the citizens of McCook would be willing to fund on their own if they had to, we turned it down and let that money be used by some locality that could put it to better use.

I hope the philosophy that you are espousing is not that "we must use this money because if we don't, someone else will, and we should get all we can because this is free money." Such a philosophy is quite irresponsible. It is called "getting pork" when someone else does it.

I say to you that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of ALL tax dollars -- local , state and federal. We should not abuse the grant system, but rather we should examine each project on its own merit.

I am not opposed to walking trails. In the heavily populated areas of our state, they are probably a necessity and could be worth the $3.8 million.

But in McCook, a city that has a policy that mandates sidewalks in front of every residence along every street in town, a city that has a low volume of traffic, is it reasonable to spend that much money to establish these trails? Or, is it a valid project only because it is "free" money?

This debate was not about the system of grants (although it certainly bears examination.) The debate was about the judicious spending of government funds on a specific project.

This project comes at a time when most taxpayers, counties, cities, states and even Uncle Sam are having extreme difficulty with their budgets. We have a large number of issues concerning national, state and local infrastructure and this trail project seems frivolous, even ridiculous, when compared to these basic infrastructure needs.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard D. Drake,

McCook