(Following is a letter to the editor. The views expressed are not necessarily the views of the Kokomo Lantern.)
Dear Editor:
Wisdom is the combination of experience, knowledge, and careful judgment. We expect our elected officials to desire wisdom and to represent our views in their decisions. It is our responsibility to let our representatives know what we think about issues. That takes time researching, thinking, and discussing all sides of possible solutions to the problems we face. America was designed to maximize each citizen's freedom to live and work as each person saw fit. With that freedom comes responsibility to inform those who work for us at local and state and federal levels.
The genius of our founding was in limiting government. Checks and balances were put in place to try to keep government within its bounds. Unfortunately, our state legislators have created a monster called the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and our local officials are doing whatever the IEDC wants with our land and water and air. The IEDC is by definition a "quasi-private/government entity," and it is spending our money like crazy. It looks like this corporation has spent $11 million dollars purchasing land in Howard County for what unwise government entities call "green energy projects."
How much did it cost the electric vehicle battery plants to install the massive gas line running from Walton to Kokomo? Who paid for it? If water becomes scarce in our county, who is going to help keep water costs reasonable for citizens and small businesses? Now that the volume of wastewater is increasing, who is going to help keep our wastewater bills under control? And probably the most important question of all: Senator Jim Buck and Representative Mike Karickhoff, how many American citizen jobs has your government program created?
In July 2024, Representative Karickhoff proudly wrote that he authored a bill establishing the Electric Vehicle Product Commission. Is this what government was designed to do? Senator Buck says protests to this development should have been done earlier. Kokomo City Planner Greg Sheline says all the permitting for these projects has been done timely and appropriately. In this age of information, it's funny how hard it is to know what's going on around us. Mayor Tyler Moore says there is no remediation going on at the Superfund groundwater contamination site at Home Avenue and Defenbaugh Street. He is correct: the EPA has been waiting since 2009 for the source of the contamination to be identified before beginning remediation. All of these government officials and agencies need our help; ask them questions that will help them wisely govern our community.
We The People Kokomo is collecting questions and hopefully some answers. You can contact us at (765) 883-7681. A website is currently under construction to host the documents and information we have collected. For now you can see questions and some answers compiled at Criterion Water Labs Facebook page. Email address for now is questions@criterionwaterlabs.com.
Very sincerely,
David and Ann Ihms
Mike Amatuzzo
Joe Russeau
Dave and Melanie Vess
Donna Meyer
Clee Oliver
Jeremy and Hannah Stanley
Andy Rink