The commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Alexander is on a mission to get the Alexander School District to reconsider implementing a tax exemption for Cold War veterans.
Eric Radder spoke at Wednesday's school board meeting.
"I notice we’ve got all four service flags up here, so obviously Alexander supports its veterans," Radder said. "I’m here to discuss and implement it and bring it back as a point of discussion."
Several tax jurisdictions in the county have adopted the exemption, including the Town of Alexander and the Village of Alexander.
Qualified veterans who apply can get an exemption on a small portion of the assessed value of their property. The typical exemption is 10 percent off the accessed value with a maximum of $6,000 exempt from the jurisdiction's property tax. In Alexander, both the town and village adopted the higher tier exemption, which is 15 percent off the accessed value with a maximum exemption of $12,000.
More than two years ago, the school district held two public forums on the proposed exemption. The first forum, said Board President Reed Pettys, was lightly attended because of a snowstorm. The next forum had 30 to 40 people attend, Pettys said, and the public was evenly divided between support and opposition.
While the perception is that the Alexander School Board voted against the exemption, Pettys said since the community was divided on the topic, the board just never took the issue up again.
Pettys agreed Wednesday night to go with another board member to the VFW's board meeting Thursday to publicly discuss the proposal again.
He said a lot has changed since the board last considered the idea -- there are two or three new board members, including one -- John Slenker -- who is a veteran and more jurisdictions, including other school districts, have passed it.
"I think we’ll discuss it at the next meeting and see if we can get a public forum," Pettys said.
The exemption, Radder said, would help keep veterans in the community.
"You could retain the veterans who bring a set of values that they learned in their military training experience and then in return benefit the community at large," Radder said.
Not just for veterans. How
Not just for veterans. How about a tax exemption from school tax, for people that have no school age children, or no children at all. Your taxing people that have NO children to pay for the schooling of people that have MANY children. Last i checked, they call that "Taxation without representation" and we had a war over it.
Christopher, start looking
Christopher, start looking for like minded people to run for the School Board.
We all benefit from an
We all benefit from an educated populace -- children become voters, workers, taxpayers, business owners, friends, neighbors.
Those who benefit should contribute.
There's a lot to discuss about the public school system but the idea that people who don't have kids shouldn't pay something for the education of society's children when we all reap enormous benefits from educating children is nonsensical.
I have to agree with Howard,
I have to agree with Howard, the quality of the school system has a lot to do with the value of your property.
Ok, here we are pumping the
Ok, here we are pumping the hero worship again. And again, no disrespect to veterans in general, but to those tooting their own horn I do lose respect. The wars we wage are worse than needless, they are criminal! We have consistently shown an unwillingness to thwart the war pigs at the top who feed us (U.S.) disinformation & stroke our collective ego in order to keep the war machine rolling. The military is a necessary evil due to the fact that the same warpigs can, will, and have gerrymandered the minds of the populations of other countries as they have ours, to do evil upon us. We must stop the genocidal "democratization" of other countries, please! The hypocrites who profess to be doing good by bombing the lives of millions of people in order to "liberate" them is the same insane recipe repeated and repeated and repeated. If the "democratized" nation dejour votes in a candidate not to the warpigs liking then "we " interject to install who "we" like. See Egypt, Ukraine, etc etc etc.
My Grandad joined the navy at 14 years old in 1914 as a stoker on a USN steamer seeing plenty of action during WW1. He retired after WW2 as a Commodore (equivalent of the Rear Admiral) after becoming a diesel engineer. My dad joined the navy at at 17 in 1942 and had two Liberty ships shot out from under him. He also operated an LST making repeated landings on D day. Oldest brother joined the Marines at 18 in 1965 I think, after spending a year at University of Notre Dame and volunteered to go to Nam. They told him he was "too big a target.'" Another brother joined the Navy in 72' fresh out of HS. He spent time on a ship off the coast of Nam as a Navy Corpsman dressing wound of our casualties. I was gung ho to go to fight too but realized that we were treading water there and really accomplishing nothing while destroying many lives. I was more concerned about American lives then but all of the lives destroyed is just plain head shaking. I know a few who died, and a kid I used to run with had his legs blown off. Others came back and would never be the same.
There is a reason they don't allow reporters in our "theaters of war" and that alone is a usurping of our 1st amendment. We don't even get a cursory feel for what murder and mayhem is being perpetrated in our names and with our coin (taxes).
My dad had nightmares for years after the war. My mom told me a number of different very scary scenarios of such. None of my people wanted to talk about the things they lived in war. Not until they got old did any of them really open up. War is ugly. I have been lucky to have known all mentioned as well as some not. RELUCTANT HERO'S all. SALUTE!!!
Ahh, thumbs down! As with
Ahh, thumbs down! As with Jesus, the blessed peace maker. No refutation? Let's hope you both are studying in an attempt to make intelligent commentary. Ignorance will leave blood on your hands. Those before us had little to no opportunity to learn the truth as their media and books were under control as ours have been up to the recent past. The internet has given us a path to hidden knowledge and previously forbidden discourse. Choosing to ignore those avenues is not only complacency but complicity.
Even the corrupted polls show that Americans know they are in the slimy hands of "swamp whatevers, (Deep state). They know both of our law making bodies are corrupted. They know most of our media is corrupted. Politicians as a profession are some of, if not the, most distrusted people in the country according to the polls. Yet we send our young impressionable children to do the deeds of war at their behest? Insane! Our Politicians are bought and paid for thanks in no small part to our corrupted Supreme court. Deciding that corporations are people? Insane! Look at the mess our justice dept. is. The FBI, NSA, CIA. Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. The info is out there with plenty of works cited material and plenty of cross reference material. Our duty as citizens isn't to go to war. Our duty is to defend our country and our Constitution. Both of which are under attack from above and abroad, but not from those we are told to think. Your only true duty in a Democratic Republic is to scrutinize our leaders, and to antagonize and/or ostracize those who are deserving, support and elevate those who are deserving. This takes work and time, both of which are in short supply in the American lifestyle, which is dictated by corporations. Please forego a bit of the lifestyle and dedicate some time, effort, or resources to live up to your duty to be informed.
I agree with some of what you
I agree with some of what you say but regarding this:
"They know most of our media is corrupted."
No, they don't know that. You cannot "know" what is false.
You cannot, for example, "know" that the earth is flat or that the moon is made of cheese.
The media is corrupted Howard
The media is corrupted Howard, most of it anyway. The omission of information that the public should be aware of in this country is shameful and can only be attributed to corruption. The fact that only "embedded journalists" are given any type of access in war zones is insidious. You and your media brethren should shoulder your responsibility inherent to your 1st amendment protection and constantly hammer to change that. Since the original article is effectively buried I'm sure few will be able to see this writing so I won't at this point go on and on as I easily could. Happy to see that you agree with some of what has become so glaringly obvious to those who care to be aware. Were those your thumbs down? LOL.
Daniel,
Daniel,
The U.S. media is doing some of its best work ever these days. The U.S. press corps is filled with heroes for the First Amendment. I've never been prouder to be a journalist to see all the great work reporters are doing these days. To say they're corrupt is nonsense.
The country only survives with a free and independent press. If we lose that, all other freedoms will follow. The consistent, uninformed, partisan attacks on the press are unconscionable, or should be, to patriotic Americans.
Im not saying we should not
Im not saying we should not fund an education system. Im saying that we should apply the school tax fairly. People with 4 children pay 4 TIMES AS MUCH as someone with 0 children. The same way that people with MORE property pay more than someone living modestly. My grandparents have been paying school tax for 50 YEARS since they had a school aged child. Thats utter bullshit.
So, people with children
So, people with children shouldn't buy houses in your system.
Or poor people shouldn't send their children to school.
Well I read a lot of
Well I read a lot of different news sources Howard and I am having trouble remembering many journalists or reporters being killed. I know it happens but considering the vast numbers of reporters and the violence being perpetrated in our country and by our country you would think the numbers would be mentioned often in the media and tallied like police or unarmed blacks. Please cite some examples of the heroics you claim. And again you cite zero facts to back your claims refuting my facts. By the way why are our media not standing up for Julian Arrange? Edward Snowden? Chelsea Manning? Why did they not beat the he'll out of the NSA head who was caught flat out lying in congressional hearings? They have no problem hammering Trump with absolutely no proof. The Manafort judge just castigated Mueller for basically fabricating prosecutions in order to continue a Trump witch hunt so the heroics I do recall were either not American or not journalists but did more to inform Americans than any of our media beaters. Gimme some facts Mr well informed. Lol...pretty weak Howard
Daniel,
Daniel,
"Please cite some examples of the heroics you claim."
Just read the major newspapers every day. It's right there for you to see.
"you cite zero facts to back your claims refuting my facts" What facts? Your unsubstantiated opinion is not what any rational person would consider facts.
Everything you cite above isn't some "intellectual dark web" collection of secrets. It's all been openly reported.
The Judge/Muller info you cite has been heavily reported by every major news outlet so your statement is factually incorrect.
If you're talking about James Clapper -- reported.
"By the way why are our media not standing up for Julian Arrange? Edward Snowden? Chelsea Manning?"
Not sure what you mean. In straight news reporting, it's the "the media's job" to stand up for anybody. In opinion pieces, opinion writers are as divided over what to think of these individuals as anybody else.
What's weak is making claims that are easily refuted.
The only people who should be
The only people who should be exempt are those who home school,or those a school district screw out of an education. I think I should be exempt,my kid was not given a FAPE,
(free appropriate public education),and NYSED,confirmed my claim and had the middle school sanctioned.
Thanks for the spirited
Thanks for the spirited interaction Howard. I certainly don't think there are no heroics in American journalism. Those who control the media, to my minds eye, are the larger part of the problem. The CIA has been shown to be corrupting media avenues for decades with no repercussions. An unweeded garden quickly burys the fruits. Look up operation mockingbird. Carl Bernstein has one prominent article regarding their use of many many media operatives, including Pulitzer prize-winners. He seems to be an apologist for the whole seedy game when such shenanigans endager every honest reporter, and by extrapolation queers our news. The government will never give up a powerful weapon without diligent oversight. No matter how wrong it is.
Bernstein goes on to cite CIA people to assure his audience that it isn't really being used for evil. That's like relying on the murderer's word that he didn't do it. His bashing of Trump makes him very suspect.
The reason freedom of the press is guaranteed is as a counter balance of government and the founding fathers were diligent in relating to their countrymen/women how government needs counterweight. The simple reporting of government wrong doing is not enough. When abuse of power occurs, especially when circumventing the constitution, media members need to follow up to be sure there is a price to pay and change occurs.
Obama either ok'd the murderer of an American citizen or blessed the deed afterwards, I can't remember which. The American media was jubilant. No due process? Hypocritical to expect the people to fight for the amendment that covers your butt while ignoring an egregious abuse of a fellow Americans rights. Wrong is wrong, allowing shades of wrong becomes a very shady business.
The murder of Osama bin Laden is another example. No due process? I understand that he has no right to such but Americans deserve to have him brought to justice in order to properly dissect the whole mess a find truth. Enough for now.
There have been isolated
There have been isolated incidents of government agents posing as reporters and when discovered its been called out (at least the ones we know about).
That isn't "the media's" fault.
I think everybody has a right to due process. The rights in the Bill of Rights are fundamental human rights and a country that lives up to its ideals extends those rights the world over. However, we know the circumstances and means of these people's deaths because a free and independent press reported them. It's up to the public to decide, not the press that reports it, to decide whether the government acted rightly or wrongly.
The so-called "liberal media"
The so-called "liberal media" just used its independent investigative powers report on accusations New York's attorney general, a darling of the New York Democrats and Trump resisters, and in less than four hours after a story about his physical abuse of women appeared, he resigned. From hero to zero in less than four hours because of a free and non-partisan press.
Yeah, Howard.. that danged
You nailed it, Howard.. that danged partisan liberal media!
I mean - they reported pretty damning things about a person who was not only a darling of the NY Dems, but also an Attorney General who was aggressively going after some conservative darlings/actions. They guy probably could have been Gov. of NY in a few years.