Dear Editor:

We moved to St. James in April of 1994.  I've been working and paying taxes in St. James since 1995.  All of the residents living in the Middle School Area have been forced to accept enough changes.  Not only the Middle School but with the Wal-Mart Distribution Center as well.  We have way to much traffic as it is.  The majority of the traffic cutting through our neighborhood for the quickest way in or out.  Now you want to put a High School here which is going to double or even triple the traffic we already have.  At the existing High School the students know there is an Elementary close by so they are careful.  Here there will be no control.  They will be coming from every direction as fast as they can go.  A perfect example of this was graduation this year.  Did you see all of the traffic on Parker Lane?  It was backed up for 20-25 minutes, people parking anywhere they could find and walking.  This is just the tip of the iceberg as to what it will be like if this bond passes.  What about the safety of our children who live and play here?  A source that is involved in the Kids Count Committee contacted me and said the School Board is talking about putting up a gate at Parker Lane and Tiger that will close Parker Lane an hour before school and an hour after school.  I want to know about before school activities, after school activities, nights and weekends.  The noise early in the mornings and late at night.  The 743 seat auditorium which they are going to rent to other communities.  Our neighborhood will never be the same.  The flyers that were passed out to the community stated that traffic will be forced to Tiger Drive then to Matlock and then to 68 after school. 
Again, what about before school, after school, nights and weekends?  I guess they are not worried about those times.  The person who contacted me from the Kids Count committee also said the gate will be a city issue.  In my opinion when you have one saying the other is responsible it is never resolved so there you are.  At one point I asked this person if they would like to live here with their kids outside playing with all of this traffic.  Their response was NO.  If the very people who are pushing for these issues to pass would not live in our neighborhood, then why should they expect us to?   The flyer also states that the bonding capacity is 10 million but all other reports say 9 million so which is it?  

I read a letter in the paper from R. Davis, that some students from the High School were caught paint balling cars and mailboxes in town and in the High School Parking Lot.  There was also a young man who showed up drunk and was still allowed to be bused to the football game. We don't need this behavior in our neighborhood.  Again, I am concerned about the Safety of our children who live and play here?  

Now, about the safety of our Elementary School children.  In my opinion if the School Board truly had the kid's safety at heart they would put the Elementary School issue on a separate ballot that I would vote for, and so would many other residents.  I feel that we are being railroaded into voting for all or nothing.  The Elementary School should be enclosed but not at the cost of 9 million dollars.  The school board is using the safety issue to scare parents to get what they want.  The new High School is the main objective, nothing else.  What a coincidence that Mr. Van Dick chose to do his experiment, taking pictures of kids, right before the Kids Count Night and right before the election.  Hmm!  

I read from a concerned parent, Amber Van Morman, how terrible the conditions are at the High school.  They why would we put younger children there?  The School Board has chosen not to repair the school.  There are thousands of buildings older than this High School and they are beautiful and why, because they were maintained on a regular basis!  What have they done with our tax dollars?  Obviously not repaired the schools.  When we moved to St. James we bought an older home and some of the ceilings were falling in, the floors were sagging, the roof leaked and there was no central heat or air.  We were able to repair all of these things so why hasn't this been done at the High School.  If the school district can't afford to repair all of these existing problems how are they going to maintain a brand new High School?  I will tell you how, more taxes.  All of our homes will be reassessed again.  If you are a renter, the owner will only eat the increase for a while and then he or she will pass it on to you the renter.   Another person wrote that a NO vote means NO.  It doesn't matter if it looses by 1 or 500 it is still NO.  I agree with him.  If the school board doesn't get what they want they will continue spending money foolishly, between the school board issue that was voted down and now the new one on August 5th.  The brochures that were passed out and probably will be sent out again.  Are the Kids Committee fundraisers paying for those brochures?  Are they paying to get it put back on the ballot?  Call the Phelps County Clerks Office at 573-458-6115 and find out.  It is public knowledge as to how much it will cost.  Between the money for the failed bond issue and the new one it is costing thousands of our tax dollars.  This money could have been used towards enclosing the Elementary School. One young man wrote he is so ashamed of St. James for not passing the Bond Issue.  A tax is a tax whether we pay it now or extend it over 7 years.  I just wonder when this young man starts a family will he buy a home in our neighborhood with the High School here, all of the traffic in and out, days, nights and weekends, I doubt it.  I also don't think that our community appreciates being called ignorant and stupid because of choices that the school board has made by not doing the repairs needed at the time it was needed.   I think this young man is upset with the wrong people.  He also commented that we “older folks” call the young drivers crazy drivers.  Well let me state a fact, the manager at the Conoco told me that ever since the Sonic opened the High School kids fly through her parking lot in between the pumps to get to the Sonic.  She is scared to death someone is going to get hit either coming out of the building or walking in between the pumps.  So what makes anyone think it's going to be any different in our neighborhood.  I'm thinking this young man still lives at home with his parents and doesn't quite know about the home owners being taxed to death.

Now you are probably saying to yourself that this person has no children in school and you are right but I did and my grandchildren went there before moving to Rolla.  My son graduated from the existing high school in 1996.   Before we moved here in 94 from California he attended a state of the art high school but the teachers did not care if he graduated or not.  He would have been the one who “fell through the cracks” as they say.  After moving to St. James he did great.  The counselors and the teachers all worked with him.  They did a great job.  My point is it doesn't matter if you have a brand new school; it is the dedication of the teachers and the staff that counts.  If this bond passes how long it will be before we are asked to approve a tax increase to draw more qualified teachers, not dedicated but qualified, there is a huge difference.  My son and I can testify to that.  I agree with one of the readers, Richard and Virginia Tucker, who wrote that this is not the time.  The economy is bad, people loosing their jobs, food cost soaring, along with electric, natural gas, sewer, water, trash, car insurance and health insurance not to mention fuel for our cars.  To the reader who wrote that the School Board is trying to wear us down where we will just give up, please Mr. Huebner, don't give up!  Get out there and vote and show them we are not going to give it to them that easily.  If you don't want this to happen in our community, please get out there and vote on Aug 5th.  If you are not a registered voter get registered and vote. If you are out of town vote absentee. If you need a ride, call a friend.  Because all of the yes voters will definitely be there, every vote counts so please VOTE NO.

Bonnie and Vern Armstrong