Not an earmark

Dear Editor,

I wish to correct an item from Sen. Nelson's letter, that was referenced as well in Todd Cappel's letter to the editor this week. The federal funding that was received for the construction of the Keystone Business Center was not the result of an earmark. It was awarded by the Economic Development Administration, a branch of the Department of Commerce through a very competitive scoring process backed up by extensive documentation of economic stresses in Southwest Nebraska at that time as well as estimates of potential job creation, economic impact and intangible benefits from downtown improvement and historic preservation. While Sen. Nelson and his staff offered their support, it was not a politically driven process.

Respectfully,

Rex Nelson,

McCook, Nebraska