We urge a YES vote on each of these questions for the following reasons:
For CASC
There is no question about it - Sallisaw is on a roll. In recent years the city has seen strong gains in population, business activity, employment opportunities and general growth. Everywhere you look, there is a growing sense of pride in our community, and there is a sense of optimism about our future.
A few years ago, Sallisaw residents passed a sales tax similar to the one we will vote on Tuesday to build a larger building for CASC. Up went the building, and here came the students. The most solid evidence that we have made the right decisions to expand CASC has come with the fact that every time we make an improvement or set a new goal for the college, we see immediate progress.
College regent Jerry Hetherington is right when he said that he thinks a lot of our community growth has come in the time since we made our first big commitments to CASC.
A series of advertisements promoting passage of the sales tax have been published in Your TIMES over the past several weeks. Every one of them spoke the truth about what has happened at our college and what it means to our community.
The people making these endorsements aren't just blowing hot air. They know what they are talking about because they have followed the progress of CASC and our city from the start.
The educations that CASC students receive serve all of us well. These students, over time, are moving into positions of leadership and responsibility in our community and county. Their higher education started right here at CASC.
It is important to note that the people who run CASC have been outstanding custodians of your tax dollars. We get high value for our money. They bring their projects in on time and on budget. In the most recent situation, a few years ago we voted a half-cent to build the latest addition to the college. The building went up right on schedule, and the tax paid it off well ahead of deadline. After the building was paid for, the tax expired and was no longer collected.
Remember, the Tuesday vote over is a similar temporary sales tax. It only lasts until the proposed new building is paid off, and then it will no longer be collected.
Another reason this is the time to make this investment is because the state will have money to match the city's contribution, so we locals will not have to pay all the costs of the new building, only part of them.
Approving the CASC temporary tax next Tuesday is the smartest thing we could do to help keep our momentum going.
We urge a YES vote for CASC and for progress in our city.
For Cell Phone 9-1-1
Voters across the county will cast ballots on a proposition to add a 50-cent charge to cell telephone bills to expand 9-1-1 emergency service to cell phones.
When 9-1-1 dispatchers get emergency calls from people using "land line telephones," they know immediately where the person calling is located. The address pops up on a computer screen, and the dispatcher came send help immediately. Not so with a cell phone. Because cell phones can be moved from place to place, a different kind of equipment must be used to determine a phone's location. Sequoyah County does not have that equipment.
As a result, much valuable time is lost while the dispatcher tries to learn from the caller exactly where the caller is. Often, the caller is in a state of panic and cannot adequately describe where he or she is located.
Getting emergency workers to a dangerous situation in the quickest way possible is the whole idea behind 9-1-1. That's the only reason we have the system. In an emergency, every second counts. Not having the ability to determine the exact location of a caller using a cell phone defeats the very purpose behind 9-1-1.
In recent years, cell phones usage has grown tremendously. As much as half of 9-1-1 calls in some jurisdictions now come from cell phones.
The writer of a recent letter to the editor pointed out that the 50-cent fee is about what a cup of coffee costs. Just think, for the price of one cup of coffee a month, you will save lives - one of which may be your own.
This is a no-brainer.
We urge a YES vote on the 9-1-1 cell phone in Tuesday's election.
