Letters to the Editor 10-26-2005
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Our Time - Barbee Sewer Accountability - Barbee Sewers
Our Time
Editor, Times-Union:You and I are living souls. From the moment of our births here, we are moving according to a plan. God, who gave life, has a plan for us. The devil has a plan also. You and I have the choice of following either plan. Each plan has eternal consequences. The average span of life years is now from 70 to 80, some of us beyond that number.
The first l5 years of life are spent in childhood and early adolescence. These are formative years. Direction is given by influences apart from ourselves: parents, teachers, coaches, church and Sunday School, peer pressures, etc.
Twenty years of our lives are spent in sleep. Our final years of life, five to 15, have physical limitations and weakness which limit activity. Beyond those years, you and I, as living eternal souls, approach life's departure time from the plan choice we have pursued.
Therefore,we have 30-35 years to live as adults. Then there is time for eating, recreation, television, reading and personal care. Perhaps we have seven to10 years left. Time is short! Time which we have to invest for God, in creative service efforts for others, or for selfish endeavors as the devil leads us.
There is no escape for us if we squander our long life opportunity to prepare to meet God. What is ahead for me, for you, in my and your eternal life?
Matthew 7:13-l4.
Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the multitude who chose its easy way. But the gateway to life is small; and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.
In the midst of my and your remaining years, let us choose God's plan for eternity, and pursue it.
C.L. Hendrix
Winona Lake, via e-mail
Barbee Sewer Accountability
Editor, Times-Union:Sanitary sewers have again come to the forefront of controversy in the Barbee Lakes Conservancy District and the district's very existence will be determined in the next few months. A special board meeting has been called for Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005, to review a petition to dissolve the conservancy district. It is public knowledge that three board members have been openly opposed to implementing a plan for sanitary sewers and have actively impeded measures to fulfill the conservancy district's purpose. Some board members have actively participated in the petition to dissolve the conservancy and have personally visited property owner's homes to obtain signatures.
The board's October vote to approve $72,000 for an 8-inch sewer line for possible future hook up to North Webster should not be taken as a vote to move the district forward. After this vote, some board members opposed to the sewers continued to proceed with plans to dissolve the conservancy. In addition, why did these board members approve $10,000 for personal laptop computers when they wanted to dissolve the conservancy district? One must question the motive of some board members.
Whether one is for or against sewers should be set aside for the moment. There is a much larger and serious question that deals with fiduciary duty of the board of directors. Have board members acted in good faith to fulfill their duty as public officials or have they violated their oath? Each board member swears to the following oath per Indiana law: "I solemnly swear that I shall, to the best of my ability, strive to accomplish the purposes for which the district is established and properly to operate and maintain its works of improvement." (IC 14-33-5-23)
If board members could not in good faith fulfill this oath, then they should have resigned. Some of the board members' actions should be cause for opening an investigation to determine if they have violated the law. In 1994, the Circuit Court issued an order establishing the Barbee Lakes Conservancy District and the initial board performed to the law by "striving to accomplish the purposes for which the district was established." Whether one agreed or disagreed with the sewer plan that this board proposed is another issue, but one can not disagree that according to Indiana law these board members fulfilled their oath. The same can not be said about the subsequent and present board.
The question now arises, will present board members be held accountable for their actions, or lack thereof? The blame for this current situation is twofold. First, not all board members have taken their oath seriously and have not served the property owners in good faith. Second, the property owners need to hold themselves accountable for their lack of action and involvement. It is now or never, for those who favor even the chance of having a future sewer system. They must get active by calling friends and exposing the middle-of-the-night, off-season action, and raise a crowd to hold this board accountable.
Dave Doctor
Warsaw, via e-mail
Barbee Sewers
Editor, Times-Union:This in in addition to the two letteres to the Times-Union concerning the sewers in the Barbee Lake area.
I do favor the sewers to a point. However, it is the method which is being used to force the issue forward and that will most certainly come back to haunt us. The installation of sewers was voted on twice and soundly defeated both times.
And now, we have a relatively small number of individuals attempting to force the sewers on the property owners. There are at least 600 to 800 or more property owners who are summer residents and are absolutely unaware any of this is going on.
If we do not get some positive lobbying to sell this issue to all the property owners (and there is a husband and wife team attempting to do this), an enormous backlash will create a firestorm that we will be unable to exinguish.
This is not some foreboding premonition or prediction but absolute fact. The shameful thing about this is that in the end the BLCD will end up taking the blame for the installation of sewers when indeed they were only doing just what the majority of the property owners in Barbee voted on unanimously twice and that was/is no sewers.
John Routh
North Webster
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- Our Time - Barbee Sewer Accountability - Barbee Sewers
Our Time
Editor, Times-Union:You and I are living souls. From the moment of our births here, we are moving according to a plan. God, who gave life, has a plan for us. The devil has a plan also. You and I have the choice of following either plan. Each plan has eternal consequences. The average span of life years is now from 70 to 80, some of us beyond that number.
The first l5 years of life are spent in childhood and early adolescence. These are formative years. Direction is given by influences apart from ourselves: parents, teachers, coaches, church and Sunday School, peer pressures, etc.
Twenty years of our lives are spent in sleep. Our final years of life, five to 15, have physical limitations and weakness which limit activity. Beyond those years, you and I, as living eternal souls, approach life's departure time from the plan choice we have pursued.
Therefore,we have 30-35 years to live as adults. Then there is time for eating, recreation, television, reading and personal care. Perhaps we have seven to10 years left. Time is short! Time which we have to invest for God, in creative service efforts for others, or for selfish endeavors as the devil leads us.
There is no escape for us if we squander our long life opportunity to prepare to meet God. What is ahead for me, for you, in my and your eternal life?
Matthew 7:13-l4.
Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the multitude who chose its easy way. But the gateway to life is small; and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.
In the midst of my and your remaining years, let us choose God's plan for eternity, and pursue it.
C.L. Hendrix
Winona Lake, via e-mail
Barbee Sewer Accountability
Editor, Times-Union:Sanitary sewers have again come to the forefront of controversy in the Barbee Lakes Conservancy District and the district's very existence will be determined in the next few months. A special board meeting has been called for Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005, to review a petition to dissolve the conservancy district. It is public knowledge that three board members have been openly opposed to implementing a plan for sanitary sewers and have actively impeded measures to fulfill the conservancy district's purpose. Some board members have actively participated in the petition to dissolve the conservancy and have personally visited property owner's homes to obtain signatures.
The board's October vote to approve $72,000 for an 8-inch sewer line for possible future hook up to North Webster should not be taken as a vote to move the district forward. After this vote, some board members opposed to the sewers continued to proceed with plans to dissolve the conservancy. In addition, why did these board members approve $10,000 for personal laptop computers when they wanted to dissolve the conservancy district? One must question the motive of some board members.
Whether one is for or against sewers should be set aside for the moment. There is a much larger and serious question that deals with fiduciary duty of the board of directors. Have board members acted in good faith to fulfill their duty as public officials or have they violated their oath? Each board member swears to the following oath per Indiana law: "I solemnly swear that I shall, to the best of my ability, strive to accomplish the purposes for which the district is established and properly to operate and maintain its works of improvement." (IC 14-33-5-23)
If board members could not in good faith fulfill this oath, then they should have resigned. Some of the board members' actions should be cause for opening an investigation to determine if they have violated the law. In 1994, the Circuit Court issued an order establishing the Barbee Lakes Conservancy District and the initial board performed to the law by "striving to accomplish the purposes for which the district was established." Whether one agreed or disagreed with the sewer plan that this board proposed is another issue, but one can not disagree that according to Indiana law these board members fulfilled their oath. The same can not be said about the subsequent and present board.
The question now arises, will present board members be held accountable for their actions, or lack thereof? The blame for this current situation is twofold. First, not all board members have taken their oath seriously and have not served the property owners in good faith. Second, the property owners need to hold themselves accountable for their lack of action and involvement. It is now or never, for those who favor even the chance of having a future sewer system. They must get active by calling friends and exposing the middle-of-the-night, off-season action, and raise a crowd to hold this board accountable.
Dave Doctor
Warsaw, via e-mail
Barbee Sewers
Editor, Times-Union:This in in addition to the two letteres to the Times-Union concerning the sewers in the Barbee Lake area.
I do favor the sewers to a point. However, it is the method which is being used to force the issue forward and that will most certainly come back to haunt us. The installation of sewers was voted on twice and soundly defeated both times.
And now, we have a relatively small number of individuals attempting to force the sewers on the property owners. There are at least 600 to 800 or more property owners who are summer residents and are absolutely unaware any of this is going on.
If we do not get some positive lobbying to sell this issue to all the property owners (and there is a husband and wife team attempting to do this), an enormous backlash will create a firestorm that we will be unable to exinguish.
This is not some foreboding premonition or prediction but absolute fact. The shameful thing about this is that in the end the BLCD will end up taking the blame for the installation of sewers when indeed they were only doing just what the majority of the property owners in Barbee voted on unanimously twice and that was/is no sewers.
John Routh
North Webster
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