LETTERS: DON'T EXTEND TAX

To the editor:

Anybody who supports renewal of the parks and soil and water conservation tax has either been deceived or is shortsighted.

Who in his right mind would vote to continue funding for an organization that volunteered to steal your private property with Gestapo-style enforcement of the Natural Streams Act if it had passed? Who in his right mind would vote to continue the unethical and, in some cases, illegal land-grabbing activities of the Department of Natural Resources, made possible by the tax?

The past and present track record of the DNR clearly shows that it is not to be trusted to be objective or act in the best general interests of the public. The DNR is continuing to grab parcels of land at an alarming rate and posting that land against hunting in Reynolds County.

Since the last time the tax was reinstated in 1988, the DNR has possessed and posted against hunting some 10,000 to 15,000 acres just around Lesterville. This has been in addition to thousands of acres already in its possession and under its control prior to 1988 around Lesterville.

It doesn't take a genius to recognize the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde character of the DNR. It is time for the voters and the Legislature to rid Missouri and our state park system of a nuisance.

ED STEWART

Middlebrook