School bond thoughts
A number of voters in Bigfork School District 38 have considered a different option to deal with the shortcomings of the existing Bigfork school facilities. School Bonds historically seem to have been expensive band aids that have not, and will not, resolve the problems of aging facilities that are geographically poorly located.
The aging facilities cannot economically be modified to meet current or future needs.
The difficult and unsafe geography of the campus includes: the higher elevation for the football/sports field with parking; the lower elevation for the school bus student drop-off/pick-up area; private transport ingress and egress areas; roads with blind areas that students must cross. These problems cannot be fixed by money.
A long-range New Building Site Plan for Bigfork District 38 schools should be considered now:
Look for available land away from Bigfork proper. This should be flat property with sufficient acreage for facility expansion.
Start a building fund from the district budget.
Introduce a School Bond to set aside funds now to be collected over time for this building plan.
Have all district land for sale, with the contingency that a new school campus must be finished and occupied before this property can be turned over to the buyer. The valuable Bigfork Bay view and the increasing land value could make this plan feasible.
This approach would give the Bigfork community a school system that serves long term needs.
The present Bigfork School Board bond plan has already failed. The taxpayers deserve to have another option to consider.
Charles Martin
Bigfork
Sheriff responses
The Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association is writing this letter in an effort to address a question we are often confronted with when responding to calls. "Why does it take so long to get a deputy when we need them?" This is a legitimate question, about a serious problem, and the public deserves a response. Often times it takes longer to respond than we would like, and we truly do understand how frustrating this is when you're the one waiting for us.
This is also frustrating for the deputies who respond to violent crimes by themselves, because their partner is already on a call over sixty miles away. If it wasn't for the 6,000+ hours put in by reserve officers the situation would be even more dire!
The problem is threefold:
1) We have a large patrol area. The State of Rhode Island is 1,545 square miles compared to over 1,650 square miles in Lake County!
2) We have a large call volume. In a 10 year period calls for service in Lake County almost doubled, jumping from 17,767 in 1998 to nearly 33,000 in 2007.
3) Rarely are there more than 2 Patrol Deputies on duty at any given time.
These factors aside, you, the people we serve, have expressed the need for better service than we are providing. We understand that in order to provide the level of service you want, we need your help! In this effort we want to know what is important to you! Please call or write The Lake County Deputy's Association with you questions, concerns, ideas and comments. Our mailing address is: P.O. Box 861 Polson, MT 59860. You can also email us at: lakecountydeputies@gmail.com.
We feel very fortunate to serve in such a great community! We strive to deliver quality law enforcement and protection for all the citizens of Lake County, and will continue to do so!
Sincerely,
Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association