BLEEDING-HEART CONSERVATIVE: LET'S VOTE YES FOR OUR SCHOOLS

Two years ago (3/31/91) this past week, I opened a column on a proposed Seniors Citizens tax proposal with the following comments:

"This is one bleeding-heart conservative with a well-honed aversion to tax hikes who'll be voting FOR the Senior Citizens tax proposal on the ballot this Tuesday (4/2/91). For less than $10 a year to the average homeowner with a car, we can fund a program that will allow our less fortunate elderly neighbors to remain in their own homes far longer than would otherwise be the case.

"How do you place a value on the resulting independence and self-esteem that that means?

".... I was on the fence, and not that well-informed, until I took the trouble to study the issue this past week. You should do likewise, and then vote YES on a small tax levy that can do so much for our elderly neighbors.

"Another footnote. This is local people helping local people in the finest American tradition. No federal or state boondoggles here, with a vast bureaucracy to support ..."

On that Tuesday in April, 1991, Cape voters narrowly approved the Senior Citizens tax proposal. It has generated funds that are providing an array of sound programs to seniors in our community.

It's a program that's working. And we overcame attempts by some to incite generational conflict to pit young against old and vice-versa. Such attempts, like those designed to inspire racial, religious or ethnic conflict, are just plain wrong, no matter their source.

Now our community faces a new and significantly more expensive challenge, and, unquestionably for that reason, a tougher one.

* * * * *

This one will draw me some hate mail. This one will get me some brickbats. But we have a problem in this town, one we need to face.

In at least three cases, our school district's physical plant is obsolete I mean utterly and completely obsolete for a well-run school district in a first-class city heading into the 21st century. It's badly deteriorated and has outlived any reasonable expectation of a useful life. We have two school buildings (Washington and Schultz) built in 1914, the year World War I broke out, and one (May Greene) built in 1919, the year after that great conflict ended.

Have you toured these buildings? I have. I don't want the young people of our community to continue attending school nor teachers continue to teach in such surroundings. Issues of safety and sheer physical workability are involved. There are earthquakes to think about.

I respect the arguments advanced by opponents, just as I respect those individuals themselves. Many are leaders with great contributions to make to our community.

One has to assume, though, that back in 1914 there were critics who opposed constructing the buildings whose obsolescence now stares us full in the face. Just as naysayers are never hard to find, so it is never difficult to torpedo an ambitious issue like this one. I would be surprised if every argument advanced against these propositions the last two months were not made back then. In those days, though, public-spirited citizens looked to the future and did the right thing, and we've had eight decades' use of the properties in which they were willing to invest.

Have you followed this newspaper's series on the issues, listened to KZIM's talk radio programming and discussed pros and cons with friends, neighbors, coworkers?

If you have, and if you examine your conscience, I think you'll come to the conclusion that we must do the right thing. It's time to move ahead and dig deep and do the investing in our childrens' educational facilities that we know we need to do.

Looming state and federal tax hikes? Here's my commitment to you: I promise to continue the fight for your right to vote on state tax increases, the very commitment I declared last year during my campaign. And I further commit to keeping up an uninterrupted drumfire of opposition to government's rapacious demands to confiscate more of your income. But remember this: No one else is going to meet our plain facility needs here in Cape Girardeau.

Conventional wisdom, and some savvy politicos whose advice I seek out and usually follow, have urged me not to write this column. "You've got to be crazy. A sure loser," they said. "You'll lose lots of support, especially with older folks opposed to higher property taxes. There's nothing to be gained for you by coming out publicly; there's everything to be gained by heading for the tall grass on this one. Keep your powder dry, Kinder."

I'll answer: What's to be gained? How about a future worth having, and looking forward to? We can do no less.

In the darkest days our country ever knew, when brother was killing brother in a nation torn asunder by civil war, President Abraham Lincoln had some timeless advice for his countrymen. In a turn of phrase so marvelous it had to be Biblically inspired (as indeed it was) Lincoln urged all Americans to turn away from the empty sandhill of hatred and bitter conflict and "listen to the better angels of our nature." I guess that's sort of what my appeal is today.

Let's turn aside all the negativism and "listen to the better angels of our nature."

I urge a "YES" vote on Tuesday.