Taxpayers and the Taxes They Pay

If you haven’t been following the conflict between four of the members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors and the Trustees at Samuels Public Library, you may not be aware of the relentless attempts by those supervisors to gain senseless control over one of our county’s oldest, best managed and dearly loved institutions.

It’s been like watching a horror film with a lunatic stalking an innocent victim and hiding in her home to do her harm.

But this is not a movie. It has been real life for the past two years in our community.

Most of us are rooting for the innocent person.

We are the ones writing letter after letter to publications, advocating on social media, and speaking loud and clear at public meetings.

Four voices, those of Butler, Cook, Jamieson and Stanmeyer have been cheering on the lunatic. They have been joined by very few supporters who simply repeat debunked accusations or Q-Anon like theories on social media. They have written or spoken publicly so infrequently as to be nearly invisible. They are a super-minority,

Yet, they are controlling every dime of money collected from us in taxes and using it, not in a way that the majority wants, but in the way their tiny minority wants.

It begs the question “Why?”

What good does withholding taxpayer funds from Samuels Public Library do for us?

The answer is it does nothing good. It is happening only to satisfy some need for control and revenge that Jamieson, in particular, can’t seem to overcome in himself even for the good of the rest of us.

Speaking of lunatics, just listen to his rant at the 7-1-25 board meeting(video marker 3:50 ish)  as he clicks off his personal demands and says that when those demands are met he will support the release of the taxpayers funds that were budgeted for library services. Who does he think he is?

He needs to remember that his agenda has already been judged by the voters. The voters in the Happy Creek and Fork primaries voted on June 17th for the opposite of his ideas. When they win in the November general election, the majority will shift and Jamieson’s agenda will be cooked. We can toss the trash out and start rebuilding. Together.

But, in the meantime, he is bent on causing as much damage as he possibly can to Samuels Public Library and the thousands of county taxpayers who benefit from the services provided there. He might be able to cause quite a bit of damage before he’s a lame duck. But let’s not let him be comfortable as he does it.

If you live in Warren County please send a message to your board member in support of funding Samuels Public Library. If you live in the North River District, let Jamieson know that you will remember his actions when it again comes time to vote for our member of the Board of Supervisors.

Better yet, if you are able to attend, come to the Board of Supervisors meeting on September 2nd and tell him to his face!

The last scene hasn’t played in this horror film. Help us give it a happy ending.

Kelli Hart
North River

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