Public Health: the importance of sports for our youth

Thinking about recent articles in the Delta County Independent, I've becoming concerned about the priorities of the City of Delta and the School District regarding the youth in our community.

Playing tennis at Cleland Park in Delta, Colorado as a 

senior at Delta High School. 

Delta is proposing drastic reductions in hours of operations for Bill Heddles Recreation Center and the School District has been forced to cut a plethora of athletic activities and elective courses from the curriculum.

When I was a freshman, a health speaker said that the best way to lose weight and maintain a healthy life style is to get onto a regime in high school. Typically, the lowest a person will weigh is on their high school graduation. I was 215 lb. my freshman year and worked hard to be at a healthy 160 lb. by graduation. I've fluctuated by 15 lb. both directions, but in the decade since graduation, I've maintained.

Had it not been for programs in school and the rec center, I could not have achieved the level of fitness I have today. In high school I played golf, tennis, and baseball. I also learned about weight lifting, stretching, and running. Today, I use the knowledge I gained then and it has been a lifelong benefit.

By getting kids into a sport they like, it serves society well in the long run by creating healthy adults. Tackling the obesity problem in America and the endemic cardiovascular problems should be a simple, low cost goal to achieve. Instead, local policy makers are saving a nickel now, only to see a dollar's worth of cost later.

Boredom is a major reason for juvenile offences; such as 

vandalism to private property.

Sports teach kids teamwork, competition, and activities they can use beyond their formative years. Most importantly, healthy activities keeps kids off the streets and out of gangs. Boredom is the number one cause of Juvenal offences in Colorado.

With fewer jobs, especially seasonal or part-time jobs for youth, activities to keep youth away from boredom are more important than ever. I'd like to challenge local policy makers to take another look at planned cuts and see if there is a way to achieve both physical health and fiscal health in a prudent and balanced manner.

It's time to simplify the tax code & reduce governmental spending

With over 30,000 pages in the UK tax statutes it is time for parliament to tackle the ever burgeoning and convoluted mechanism for growing the governmental Leviathan and redistributing wealth. What modern social states like Britain and France and even the United States fail to grasp is that one must create wealth before you can re-distribute it.

Some argue that since paying taxes, by sheer definition, is inherently unfair, then the net should be cast wide to speed the pain equally. In other words, taxing or creating fees, surcharges, tariffs or levies for everything from income to interest earned from a bank account or building society; from tobacco and alcohol to bread and cheese; and from corporation tax to inheritance (death) tax.

The UK saw its highest tax rate in 1966, when the Labour government of Harold Wilson ushered in a 134.25% tax rate. This outraged George Harrison of The Beatles, who was affected the 95% super-income tax bracket, that he composed the music and lyrics for the ‘Taxman’, as a form of revolt. The Beatles band recorded the song in April and it was released in the album, ‘Revolver’ in August 1966.

 Tolly's UK Yellow Tax Handbook 2010 being burnt in protest

Many criticise the Thatcher-Major era as being ‘soft’ on taxing the rich and giving away government assets to private industry. The critics fail to acknowledge the quantitative data. The highest income tax bracket was 98%. Stated differently, for every £1 a person earned, 98p was going to the government. Today, the highest income tax bracket is 50%, which took effect in assessment year 2010 and catches individuals earning over £150,000 per annum. Under the New Labour government of Tony Blair, much of the neoliberalist economic policies of the Thatcher-Major governments were continued. This led Labour MP, Peter Mandelson to coin the term “Neo-Thatcherism” to describe the economic policies of New Labour.

Neoliberalism is a school of modern political theory which stresses market-driven approaches to economic and social policy, based on neoclassical theories of economics, which advocates efficiency of private enterprise, liberalization of free trade and open markets, and encouraging consumer free choice, individual thinking, and private enterprise. The tenets have frequently been a topic of conversation at Bohemian Grove. The ‘Washington Consensus’ is considered the theory’s definitive statement. International organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and World Trade Organization, along with regional trade associations such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), and the European Union (EU) have endorsed the general principles of the theory.

National tax policy should encourage innovation and efficiency. Jobs must be created, at the core is build and maintain a strong and vibrant middle class, which broadens the tax base and brings stability to volatile global markets. The UK tax statutes are so complicated that while everyone in society gets caught by the tax ‘net’ burden, the lofty weight of a growing public sector places high demands to grow the public coffers. Government must learn to do more with less. A focus should be on prioritization of national policy objectives and efficiency placed at the heart of society’s vision and mission. An athlete performs best when he/she is in lean and well trained. Likewise, a government who learns to operate on less is able to understand the benefit of competition and getting quality.

One of the most efficient governmental organizations is the EU, which operates on a relatively small budget and meagre staff, yet the data they produce is unprecedented when comparing to national governments. An example is a student who is living on a shoe string budget is able to do far more than a professional paid a monthly salary. Why? The student understands the value of every pound-sterling and looks for the cheapest option (eg- riding the bus as opposed to the train, sleeping in a hostel compared to a 5-star hotel, et cetera et cetera). If governments operated in the same manner, more money would be in the hands of the private sector to grow the economy and allow citizens more options with how to live their lives.

In protest of the UK’s and US's confusing and convoluted tax policy, I took part in a tax act protest, where students burned their tax statutes in protest. Please join me in supporting a simplification of the tax statutes - the first step towards creating a more just British or American society.

Good stewardship starts at home, not in Washington

Good stewardship starts at home, not in Washington. The citizens of Delta approved a bond ballot issue, in November 2009, to raise the city’s indebtedness ceiling to $30 million, with repayment of that debt maxing out at nearly $69 million. These new indebtednesses will be generated from “the issuance of revenue bonds from the city-wide capital improvement fund.” A bond is an indebtedness and an indebtedness has to be re-paid.

Proponents of Delta’s Main Street bypass suggest the constructing of a multi-million dollar, 1.6-mile long road and bridge, will provide an alternative route for semi-trucks, allow emergency and police an entrance to North Delta during times of train delay, and provide faster access for consumers wishing to take their dollars from Main Street to Montrose or Grand Junction. The drive for urgency from the bypass supporters is a November State-wide ballot initiative that if passed, would prohibit municipalities from bonding beyond a 10-year period. The revenue bonds carry a 20-year payback time.

The voice of good stewardship, fiscal responsibility, and respect for the economic times we live must be supported. Liberal spending and overzealous borrowing, coupled with a downturn in the economy is what has gotten this county in the mess it currently faces. For example, last week’s Delta County Independent reported, Delta’s unemployment is once again on the rise (now above 8%), foreclose rates continue to go up (1 every 2 days), and actual real estate values are going down (mean value down over $25,000 per home). The Delta School District has been very fiscally responsible approach by trimming their fat and eliminating 17 FTE teacher positions. The North Fork coal mines, have about a 20-year max load left, are struggling to survive governmental bureaucratic regulations.

The economic signs indicate Delta’s municipal sales tax revenue will go down significantly, thus rendering the debt servicing schedule dubious at best. One of the provisions included in the voter approved bond ballot issue was that, “no increase in city taxes to pay such debt.” As tax revenue deceases, Delta’s debt service remains a constant, thus requiring the city to decrease services, increase fees, or privatize such tax draining entities as the golf course. None of these alternatives appears to be a viable solution, thus a future ballot issue should be expected.

Realistically, Delta is looking at $27 million in capital construction costs and a debt service to tax payers of at least $30 million over a period of 20-years. Proponents say some of this cost can be alleviated through DOLA grants, city reserves, and cuts in government spending. This argument is defeated by the mere fact that State grand funding has been denied, city reserves are low due to “progressive” spending, and current council has shown little inclination to practice fiscal responsibility.

The bond ballot issue specifically states the new debt is “for the purpose of enhancing safety conditions for those persons parking and shopping downtown”. The proponents of the Main Street bypass fanatically use the analogy of a semi-truck carrying oil, wrecking in downtown Delta, while a train is crossing Main Street, and causing a catastrophic fire. The analogy is rooted in such scare tactics that those perpetrating it should be ashamed. The reality couldn’t be closer to the truth. Since Delta’s founding in 1882, there have been no major trucking accidents of the scope and calibre which proponent fear. Semi-truck drivers are some of the safest on the road, as high industrial safety require drivers to maintain a clean CDL. A simple solution to the problem surrounding semi-trucks and Main Street would be to pass an ordinance requiring all vehicles over a certain weight to remain in the left-hand land between a certain set of mile-markers. A few signs and the force of law would keep trucks away from store fronts and cars parked on Main Street; maintain a constant, safe and efficient flow of traffic, along with costing the tax payers a few thousand dollars, instead of several million dollars.

A few years back a home burned to the ground while a fire truck was caught waiting for a train. An event like this, while unfortunate, is a fact of life. Governments seek to eliminate all risks to create a perfectly safe world – the concept of “too big to fail” is a perfect example of a government program deemed to eliminate risk a horrific consequences. Bad things happen to good people and that is life, however mitigation of risk through safety measures should be within our public means. A less costly alternative to the ones the proponents advocate is a fire and ambulance sub-station in North Delta. Another idea advanced is to partner with the hospital to offer medic-vac services which would be able to responder faster than an ambulance, with an annual cost equivalent to the controlled maintenance of a bridge and debt service. Safety concerns are a very real issue and should not be ignored. Conversely, economic considerations of rising unemployment, lay-offs, and businesses hardly making a profit, along with predicted declines in tax base revenue should be acknowledged.

We cannot continue to spend more than we make (this is especially true for governments). The modified Main Street bypass plan includes 2-lanes, instead of 4-lanes; 4 stop lights, a bridge over the railroad tracks and is 1.6-miles in length. No data exists on how much “safer” Delta citizens will be with a multimillion dollar debt. Tough economic times call for out-of-the-box thinking to produce creative solutions. This letter has attempted to demonstrate how good stewardship can start right here in Delta and be as a beacon on a hill to show Denver and Washington how problems can be tackled and solved without placing future generations under the burden of an indebtedness which must be repaid.

See: Delta County Independent