STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM

Reader is skeptical of benefits

In regards to the announcement that Grant County will opt in to the Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP), concerned citizens should know that John Koster, the immediate past president of Washington State Association of Counties, is strongly opposed to the VSP. He claims that the program is loaded with potential problems and further cautions that "Counties should exercise extreme caution and consider their participation carefully."

At a time that Washington state has a serious budget deficit, what business does Department of Ecology have in more rule making? Ecology, themselves, have admitted to me that they have virtually no funding to pursue the most menial enforcement actions, yet they continue to create more and more rules for us "common folk" to live and abide by, all the while surrendering our property rights.

Are these government bureaucrats only trying to justify their existence?

Do we need more laws that effectively compound the idea that we are merely renting our properties from the government or should society reverse the trend and move back toward honoring and respecting private property?

I don't doubt for a minute that the VSP will add additional stress to our overburdened court system. Knowing that Grant County loves rules and regulations that they can selectively enforce, especially against individuals that resist behaving as if they were a serf bowing in front of their master, the VSP will probably become very costly for the county.

It is looking like the only reason that your property is still in your name is so that they can continue to tax it at an ever increasing rate.

"Nothing is ours which another may deprive us of" - Thomas Jefferson

Ken McLeod

Ephrata