Supporting kids now ensures a healthy future | Letters to the Editor

Several years ago a school bond issue, similar to the one being proposed here in Enumclaw, was coming up for a vote in Castle Rock. Like the one here, it was bond that would make new improvements for the school without increasing taxes. My parents, both retired, told me that they were not voting for it.

Several years ago a school bond issue, similar to the one being proposed here in Enumclaw, was coming up for a vote in Castle Rock. Like the one here, it was bond that would make new improvements for the school without increasing taxes. My parents, both retired, told me that they were not voting for it.  When I inquired why, they informed me that they no longer had children in school; hence they wanted to reduce their tax burden. At that point I asked them who supported their four boys’ K-12 education for all those years. It certainly wasn’t the amount of property taxes our small dairy farm had generated.

They finally admitted that they needed to pay it forward, just as others had done for their family.  This is the way our educational system has worked for over a hundred years. Each generation has to plant seeds and nurture them even though they may never see them grow to maturity.

If this plea does not appeal to you as a retiree or future retiree, then think of it in another way. These children today are the ones that you will expect to support your Social Security check and your pension. We best give them every tool we can, so they can succeed in an increasingly competitive world market.

Our two grandchildren go to school in the Snoqualmie Valley District. We cannot vote for bond issues or levies there, even though we wish we could. Instead, we always vote “yes” and will continue to do so in the Enumclaw District. You cannot produce productive workers for the 21st century by giving them a 19th century education based on a desk, pencil, chalk and a blackboard.

As a small aside, after reading the voters pamphlet that came in the mail, my wife and I were appalled at the distortions and outright lies that we found posing as truths from the opposition. This opposition does not even know that a levy is a maintenance issue that occurs very frequently, while a bond issue is for long-term investment in progress and positive changes. As Sen. Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not their own truths.”

Eugene Clegg

Morning Sun Farm

Enumclaw