Letter to the Editor

Jonesboro, LA
October 5, 2012

Dear Editor:

Please allow me to respond publicly to a half-page letter to the Jonesboro citizens that appeared in The Jackson Independent on September 27, 2012.

To Sam Lamkin, District A Alderman, I would like to extend my gratitude for your epistle about Ms. Renee Stringer, my councilwoman. Nobody else could have possibly given her such positive compliments about her service than you did.

Thank heavens she has been “crying about” the asinine actions of the Town Council from the get-go. She cried out for me and many others who would have much preferred to have money from any source pay for much-needed repairs to streets, water systems, or anything else that would have benefited all of us citizens rather than funding for rodeo ground repairs.

“Didn’t get her way”? How could she, since she stands alone when our interests are concerned? “Lose the tax money from the rodeo”? Surely you jest. Nothing at all insures the people would ever see any tax money; it would go wherever all the other tax money has gone. Do you know where that is? “Losing tax money” IS the concern.

As for the property tax renewals… How much worse could the streets get than impassable? Our fire insurance has already gone up for a less qualified fire department. Ms. Stringer did not need to tell us the things we already know. My question is the same as hers: where have the taxes gone?

You really spoke up for Ms. Stringer on the street repairs. She would never brag about poor streets “all over Jonesboro” as you seem to do. To compare the grass around the walking trail to our streets is laughable. How many people use that trail to get to work, to school, to the hospital in an emergency, or even to buy necessities (like bottled water}?

I suppose there is no need for me to even comment on the problems inherited from the previous administration since Mr. Essmeier did that so ably. Besides, Ms. Stringer did not have backbiting co-council members like you to contend with. Checking your facts before you present something is always a good idea.

The bold print in the “going backward” quote (you didn’t quote) merely reminded me of how far backward we’ve gone already. Ms. Stringer could cry about that since she never “gets her way.” She refuses to go backward in the first place.

The prayer seemed quite hypocritical at the end of such mud-slinging. Ms. Stringer and all those who support her would truly like to have a better Jonesboro. That is why we cry. We have not seen a better Jonesboro in many “a moon.” If I did not have faith in Ms. Stringer before, your diatribe would have cemented my support for her. Thank you,

Betty Roberts Jeffress

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