The 'newcomers' pay more than their share


To the editor:


First off I would just like to say that I moved here to Washington County going on 12 years ago. I grew up on a farm and have slowly seen firsthand what development does to the country/rural areas.


This was my reason to move to where I am now. Recently there has been a series of anonymous comments to Mail Call that have labeled us as interlopers, city slickers, urban fanatics and several other names that I can't recall just now.


The big picture is that, instead of loading up the dump with recyclables, there has been a push to get our recycle bins back in Boonsboro.


Mr. (or Mrs.) Anonymous seems to be more concerned about taxes going up and not really thinking about the future. If it is taxes that you are so concerned about, maybe someone should let you in on the fact that you are living in Maryland.


It is known as one of the highest-taxed states in America. The blame does not solely lie upon us nonlocals. Just exactly where do you think these developments came from? Do you think maybe some of your local neighbors might have wanted to make a few dollars?


Certainly all of the town businesses have benefited from us. I personally have always bought whatever I've needed in town here, when at all possible. Look at all of the youth leagues - they have benefited from all of our fees and donations. I donate every year to the fire and rescue squads. I have made many friends in this town and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.


So maybe before you blame everything on us transplants (or whatever you might feel like calling us), how about sitting down and pouring yourself a glass of nitrogen and manure (oops, sorry I forgot our taxes are paying for the water filtration plant also) and looking at the whole picture instead of just your tax bill.


Barry L. Martin
Boonsboro


Bravo!

Why do people read Mail Call? Does anyone think that even half the calls they publish are legit?

Having lived here most of my life, I've rarely doubted the veracity of the callers. The calls just seem too much like the crap I hear in real life everyday.

Amen, Barry Martin!

As for Mail Call, I read it purely for the comedic value (and sometimes the perverse desire to irritate myself). I'm guessing that there are a number of regular, repeat callers (most with sub-three-digit IQ's). Every so often there will be a comment containing a glimmer of lucidity, but those are few and far between.

"glimmer of lucidity" -- hee hee, well put!

wildblue, we read it strictly for the laughs as well. we call it "the funny pages". kind of sad, how much space it takes up in the paper some days. you'd think they could either fill that space with news items, or just make the paper shorter. the fact that it takes up so much of the paper, well, somebody must be taking it seriously.

i do wonder how many of the calls are from the same old grumpy people who feel that they have legitimate gripes, and how many are "fake" calls, meant to stir the pot.

I always figured most if not all of the Mail Call messages were from someone working at the paper. If they were real people, why don't they take the calls and put them on an Antpod podcast? It would be the most popular podcast they have. Then again, the gig would be up when each "caller" sounded remarkably the same.

Samyo,
I didn`t have anything to do with that artical.

Transplant, humm that word sure gets around.

How does he figure he pays more than his share?

All Hail the transplants.

Speaking with webbie at one point in time, the H-M was considering the possibility of putting the calls on antpod, or some other area in the paper.

I'm sure mailcall/you said it, is a lot like here, and on the front page poll question. You have the same dozen or so people always posting.

1) People read mail call for laughs. Where else can I see and read what Rowdy is up to?

2) This is a letter to the editor NOT mail call

3) If you read the letters to the editor its just about the same as mailcall. Same grumpy people harping on the same topic week after week.

I am just glad someone had the chutzpah to say the 'transplants' have done alot of economic good in this area.

Believe me, we pay our share and then some. How about the light bulbs from Allegheny & the high taxes in this NANNY STATE???

While I find the whining over the "transplant" issue tired and childish, I can't seem to figure out how this guy figures he pays more than his fair share. Aren't the locals also paying for the bulbs and taxes?

because he probably earns more than the 'average salary' for Wash Cty and has a bigger house and so pays more..

I know, I know, if you play, you pay...

Yes, I get tired of the us vs. them ideas. sort of like the why should I pay for schools if my kids are grown? Just the cost of life, deal with it..

Assuming that his salary is more and his house is worth more just because he's a "transplant", is rather insulting to those of us "locals" who have landed one of the decent paying Wash Co jobs.

okay-I'll go back to my cave..

But you have to admit it was a valid assumption. For example, who lives in the Hamptons & Black Rock? Most of those homes have been bought by people who moved here from Mont. Cty. or Frederick and found housing cheaper out here.

The letters to the editor are heavily edited. Not for spelling or grammar mistakes, but for content. They change things making them vastly different. For instance, in my last and final letter to the H-M, they edited my letter so that I called Jerry Falwell a "fool". I don't call people that word. Even Jerry Falwell.

That wasn't the first time they changed what I actually wrote. It will be the last.

Thats why I don't believe anything the paper prints as gospel unless I can find another source that verifies it. You are not the first to say that the H/M does some creative editing when it comes to editorials. Personally I think this paper tries to make news instead of just reporting it

I don't know whether it's the "transplants", or the "locals", but has anyone noticed the excessive amounts of home forclosures in the paper recently? While some of the properties are in the established neighborhoods, there are a lot of properties in the newer "more expensive" subdivisions.

I'm wondering if the "transplants" that pay more than their fair share didn't bite off a bit more than they could chew.

Like SMan, I find the us vs. them thing a bit old and tired. Perhaps the growth would have been easier to stomach had it been served with a bit of planning from the local politicos.

Unscientifically, I know a local and a transplant that may have bit off more than they could chew. They (hopefully) aren't foreclosure candidates, but both bought at the top of the insane real estate market of two years ago and now get to watch their neighbors try to sell the same houses in the neighborhood for 100K less than my friends paid for theirs. That has to suck knowing you owe more than it's currently worth.

<--------This here lucky yokel bought his most recent house before the market got out of control.

hope they don't need to refinance anytime soon.