Tax Increase for Sewage; It's not the Answer

23 February 2009

The one cent sales tax proponents’ approach to gain votes by education of the masses is a waste of time and effort. Everyone concedes that repair and modernization is required.

They let the system reach this stage of disrepair by not properly maintaining and modernizing through the years. Our argument is how to correct the problem, short of a 1 cent tax on everyone who shops in Batesville.

It is possible to do, but we have to go back in history so we don’t repeat it in the future; otherwise, the situation will recur in this or other departments of city government.

We have all known about the sewage problem for some while. The problem is obviously lack of management and attention to detail within city government, and the answer lies in this fact.

If fees were not sufficient to maintain and occasionally modernize the system, they should have been increased, or reallocation of funds from revenues returned from the state should have been affected. Reallocation of funds will result in lower priority funding to be reduced. In a depressed economy, it may also require that manpower be reduced, as is taking place with the majority of corporations at present.

I would recommend that the city cancel the upcoming vote to increase the taxes on the people, who are slated to face a significant increase in fees as well. Establish a comprehensive plan to overcome the problem, by setting minimally needed fees, reallocation of funds, and manpower reductions, if needed. Further, establish timelines and milestones. It could take five to ten years, but that is more reasonable than trying to force the total amount all at once.

Next, get to Little Rock, with Van Thomas in tow, if possible, and see Ms. Theresa Marks, Director of ADEQ. The Mayor should become an advocate and negotiator, showing her that the city is on top of the problem and making every effort to correct it. I am convinced that she will accept the proposal. If not, Sen. Mark Prior contacted EPA in Washington on a project for me in the past, and I believe the problem can be worked out.

Why irritate almost everyone in the city and surrounding area unless it is absolutely necessary? Perhaps someone sees an opportunity for personal gain in having such a large sum of money, in interest, issuing bonds, or underwriting them, as seen in the past.

Failing this approach, I recommend that the out of town people buy, as much as possible, outside of the city, and that the residents of Batesville vote “No” on the issue. The city gets sufficient funds to keep it
operating properly! How they spend it may be a problem. Check the Municipal League Journal, in the City Clerk’s office for the past several years, and you will see that, except for the past few months, while in recession, that the monthly tax revenue returns to Batesville have greatly exceeded inflation.


Don Bice
139 Rorie St.
Batesville, AR 72501
(870) 251 2714

Sewage Tax

I see no comparison in the recent analogy, about law enforcement cooperation and the proposed Batesville sewage tax! In one, we get law enforcement, and the other we get to help Batesville pay for the terrible condition that they allowed the sewage system to deteriorate to.

So a Fayetteville Consultant said there was no other option, other than the one cent tax increase? I have never seen one consultant say that there was only one option. I would not do business with any doing this! There are always more options!

Usually, the annual cost for upkeep of the system, while allowing for future modernization, is determined. Customer fees are established accordingly. I am not asking why this was not done over the years, but the concept can still be an option. You have previously stated that there would be an increase to the users, even with the new tax, and much more without it. Why not set the fees at a proper level now and incrementally repair/modernize as funds become available. For the long term, this would be a better permanent solution, short of taxing Ash Flat, if funds are not sidetracked to other perceived needs. This way, the city could be self sufficient, even if you had to set fees higher for a few months for seed money. It has been my experience that the EPA will accept any reasonable approach.

Why not submit the project to be a part of the stimulus package, going through state government. They have been looking for such projects.

They could apply for state and federal grants. These things were conceived in five minutes! How many could one come up with in a day?

What is the source of divisiveness now? Those in the local area have little choice but to shop in the city, and they are the main cause of Batesville being a city. Doesn’t the State Constitution say that taxes may not be levied without a vote of the people. The outlying areas represent a majority in this case.

Don’t you trust democracy and the people to make right decisions? If not, the proposal must be a flawed.

The people in the outlying areas could boycott to the extent that you lose on the deal, and I would not blame them. I will decrease spending in the city by at least 50%. If the city does not give the county area a chance to vote on this issue, you may have less cooperation. Maybe we can find an option or two ourselves. The outlying areas are growing, especially Southside, which will make it less dependent upon Batesville.

The usual routine here is to personally attack those who disagree. That has been done, and I know about it. Enough said!

(Signed)
Don L. Bice (Colonel USAF Ret., and Management Consultant)
139 Rorie St.
Batesville, AR 72501
(870) 251 2714

Hamas Introduces Nassur On Kiddie-TV to Instill Killing Jews

Radical Islam is not peaceful and to understand this one only has to look at what Hamas is producing. Hamas has used the media to reach their children with their warped venom and instill hatred in the hearts of their children. In their latest efforts Hamas has created a new puppet host to instill within the Arab children the desire to become Jihad fighters and kill Jews. Nassur, the fourth puppet is a bear that has declared war on the Zionists and encourages the children to follow him in his campaign.

The first puppet Hamas introduced was Farfur the Mickey Mouse look-alike. Because Farfur resembled Mickey Mouse, Disney took them to court and won. Hamas used this to instill hatred of the Jews and Israel by having him killed in front on the children by a person dressed as an Israeli soldier on television on the Hamas program for kids. Hamas felt this had been effective enough that they continued to use cartoon characters to disseminate their venomous propaganda. Next came Nahoul the bee followed by Assoud the rabbit which all die on Kiddie TV.

Below is the full transcript of the video (by Palestinian Media Watch):
Nassur: "I will join the ranks of the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam [Hamas'] Brigades. I will be a Jihad fighter with them and I will carry a rifle. Do you know why, Saraa?"
Saraa: "Why?"
Nassur: "To defend the children of Palestine, the children who were killed, the children who were wounded, the orphaned children. That's why, from this moment, I declare war on the criminal Zionists. Not only me, me and you. You are ready, right, Saraa?"
Saraa: "We are all ready to sacrifice ourselves for our homeland!"
[Al-Aqsa TV, Feb. 13, 2009]

Reconnecting With Your Customers to Beat the Recession

As small business owners throughout Northeast and North Central Arkansas continue to deal with the ongoing recession, many are asking “Where did my customers go?” Plummeting 4th quarter sales will continue into 2009. Don’t expect to see any relief until possibly the 4th quarter of 2009. So what are small businesses to do? Sitting back is not an option, most of them don’t have enough cash to “turtle down” until the recession peters out so it means either go ahead and close the doors now or learn how to reconnect with your customers and keeps your business growing despite the economy.

The other day I received an excellent 4 page report entitled, “Cash-Strapped Customers Are Cutting Back on (Almost) Everything” by Susan Reda, Executive Editor for NFR’s Stores an on-line marketing news service. The study, conducted by BIGresearch and Stores is a must read for every small business owner shedding light on what your customers are thinking about. Great information about what consumers consider “must keep” and what “I can live without”. If your holiday sales were less than hoped for, this report will not only tell you why customers stayed away and why they will not be rushing back anytime soon. To read this article go to http://www.stores.org/. You will find it very informative about your customers and their attitudes toward spending in the present economic climate. But first, finish reading this.

Obviously there is a lot of powerful information in the report and I will be sharing it with my small business clients at the Small Business and Technology Development Center. But in addition to the nuts and bolts of what they are buying and what they are leaving on the shelf, the article brings out three very specific concepts I feel are just as important. These three “nuggets” go ay beyond the statistics in the report.

First: Consumer attitudes and spending behaviors are not static or chiseled on stone tablets. Goods and services that were considered “must have” two or three years ago when the economy was rocking along are suddenly on the chopping block.

Median income households then thought the only way to keep in shape was to buy membership at state-of-the art fitness centers. Middle income women thought nothing of adding upscale handbags to their accessory collections on a regular basis, and Eating out at nice restaurants with $30-50 entrees was given at least once a week.

So owners of fitness centers, boutiques and good restaurants built their business models around these consumer attitudes, and three years ago these were valid assumptions. But as this study points out, guess what consumers have decided isn’t as important anymore? You got it…they can save money by:
· not renewing their membership to the fitness center and just work out at home,
· while they still buy apparel they are hitting the local discount stores instead of the boutiques, and,
· Many consumers are renewing their love affair with the drive thru window at local fast food places instead of the full service restaurant.

Bottom line, what was a valid assumption three years ago is no longer correct in today’s economy. Consumer behavior is NOT static, it changes based on outside factors and the small business owner must be able to read these changes and adjust to meet these new realities.

Second: Because consumer behavior is not static, small business owners must learn to continually be scanning their environment for changes. Before launching your new venture you spent hours, days or even months studying the feasibility of your project to ensure the best probability of success. You studied consumer attitudes about your product or service, you analyzed the market and your competitors to learn all you could before launching that fitness center.

But then you stopped doing your homework, became complacent and your consumers have switched gears on you. The lesson here is that a small business owner can never stop getting updated information necessary to make changes to his business model as his environment changes. I received this Stores report the other day in my in box from my e-mail. It is just one of a dozen daily e-newsletters I receive electronically on a variety of topics that are important to my clients. I dedicate a minimum of one hour a day just reading these articles to find items that are relevant and then pass them on to my clients or filing away for a future article or seminar and to ensure I am up to date on latest trends.

A small business owner needs to do the same. You don’t have to get dozens of reports daily like I do, but you need to find one or two that are relevant to your industry or your market, subscribe to them (most are free) and discipline yourself to read, think, and act on the information that will affect your business. This is one area that many of my small business clients do not do as good a job at as they should. They are so busy with the day-to-day operations that they don’t take the extra hour in the day to gather intelligence to help them plan for what will be happening next month or next year.

Of course thanks to the Internet (more on that further on) you can easily be completely overwhelmed by the volume of information that is available, so it is important to decide what sources you need to have and what you do not. If you are a small retailer or service business I would strongly suggest that you start with your trade publications or association e-newsletters. Another excellent source that we use at the ASU SBTDC comes from an on-line e-news service called SmartBrief. The service provides free, e-mail based news summaries and other content for industry associations, professional organizations, advocacy groups and their constituents. You can chose to subscribe to any of dozens of special e-newsletters in that impact your industry at no charge. To search for free subscriptions relevant to your business, go to http://www.smartbrief.com/ and sign up. But as with any information it is only valuable if you actually use it. That means subscribe, discipline yourself to read regularly, consider the information and then act on the data.

Finally something that may be a shock to many small businesses was that the vast majority of the consumers surveyed in the Stores study said that Their Internet service was an absolute necessity regardless of other cutting back on other expenses. 86% of the consumers (regardless of age) polled said that they would continue to pay to stay connected to the web. Of course if you are an internet service provider or sell computer hardware or software this is good news, but it has a much more far reaching implication to virtually every business owner who is reading this article regardless of the business you are in. Because the internet is where your customers live and it is the new medium that you must use to communicate with them.

It’s not just where your teenagers talk to their BFFs on MySpace, not just where grandma goes to do her genealogy. Or those sites dad surfs at night when he thinks everyone is in bed. Across the board in virtually all age categories the Internet is where they seek to do business with you.
Although some consumers prefer to make their actual purchase inside a store, a majority do their “window shopping” on-line first. Your customers were spending their time on-line searching for information about products or services that they want to buy, looking for the right features, prices and discounts. Once they found what they wanted, they then search on-line for the stores in their area that carried it before they set out to make the actual purchase. That means if you don’t have a website for your business, you were virtually invisible to these potential customers. It is no longer a question of “should I have a website? In the 21st Century marketplace it is an absolute necessity even if you don’t actually sell your product or service on-line.

Internet marketing can take on any number of unique opportunities for you to connect and build relationships with the consumers you want to attract by sending e-mail messages, using e-coupons, providing them with information, and more. At the ASU SBDTC we have virtually abandoned newspaper advertisement for workshops and drastically cut back on the number of training calendars we print and mail through the post office. Instead personalized messages are sent out to our clients by e-mail about specific workshops that we think would be of interest to them. Our training calendars are e-mailed on a quarterly basis with updates and the cost of e-mail postage is…zero.

In addition to expanded use of e-mail we are exploring internet marketing through social media networking. I write articles for blogs like this one that not only provide information of value to the reader but also markets our services and training because every article includes information about the ASBTDC and how to contact us electronically. I also maintain profiles on several social media networks such as FaceBook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Twitter as ways to connect and communicate with potential customers. These are just a few examples of internet marketing opportunities that more and more small businesses are learning to take advantage of to grow their businesses.

If words like viral marketing, twitter, search engine optimization, and social media networks sound like Greek to you, don’t despair there is plenty of help available to bring your business on-line in nice easy baby steps. But the most important concept here is that it is absolutely vital that your small business start to develop an effective web presence and to start to take advantage of the tremendous marketing opportunities available through the Internet. I guarantee your competitors are already there.

I try to keep my articles to a maximum of three topics to ensure they are easily digestible by readers so it is time to bring this to a close. The most important idea that I hope any small business owner takes away from this is that it is not enough just to unlock the front door of your store, flip on the “Open” sign, throw some advertisements at the local newspaper and then sit back for customers to beat a path to your door. To remain competitive in these difficult economic times small business owners must:

• Understand and adjust their business to the new economic realities of consumer pending. What worked last year is not going to work now.
• Commit to continual education and research of news affecting your business is vital to adjusting your business model and developing effective product or service mixes that will appeal to your customers
• Embrace the new realities of the electronic age where every business owner must not just accept the Internet but learn to take advantage of the tremendous marketing potential it provides to them to communicate with customers on a personal level never before possible.
  

For many small business owners these may seem daunting tasks but survival in this new economic landscape will not come from “business as usual”. Your Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the ASU Small Business and Technology Development Center to provide its membership with free and confidential consulting assistance from marketing, market research, cash flow planning to e-commerce.

The Chamber and the ASU SBTDC are offering a variety of short 3 hour seminars in the Batesville area over the next three months covering topics vital to your business success such as Simple Market Research Tools, Recession Proofing Your Business, E-Commerce and Web Design, Guerrilla Marketing and much more. Thanks to a partnership with Citizens Bank, First Community Bank, First National Banking Company (FNBC), First Southern Bank, Liberty Bank of Arkansas and the Main Street Batesville program your chamber is able to offer these invaluable seminars at significantly reduced rates and even better discounts for its membership. For more information about the Chamber-ASU SBTDC consulting services and workshops call the Batesville Chamber or the ASU SBTDC at (870) 972-3517 or e-mail Jonah.Shumate@mybatesville.org or hlawrenc@astate.edu to give your business the edge it needs.

Coming Recession Proofing Your Business Seminars:
Mountain Home – Tuesday, February 17th 6-9 pm Baxter County Library 424 West 7th Avenue
Batesville – Thursday, February 19th 6-9 pm UACCB Independence Hall Room 104

Call the ASU SBTDC (870) 972-3517 or e-mail sglasgow@astate.edu to register for any of these. Batesville and Mountain Home attendees ask about Chamber membership discounts.

God's Law; The Only Political Solution

by Charlie Fuqua

I'm working on getting my book published God's Law; The Only Political Solution. In the meantime I'd like to share it with The Voice of Batesville readers.

Forward

As I have discussed the contents of this book with others and even shared chapters of the book with others, I have been amazed by how often the response has been something like, "you know, you cannot achieve salvation by keeping the law". I want to make clear that this book does not have a religious purpose. It has a secular purpose. The fact that no one can earn salvation through the keeping of the Ten Commandments does not mean that there is not great value to an individual, and a nation, in the keeping and enforcing of God's Law.

I acknowledge that I am a believer in the Christian faith. Notice that I did not say that I am a knower in the Christian truth. Religious faith is based on belief, not on absolute knowledge. That does not mean that faith is irrational or without evidence. There are many things that we cannot know for certain. However the accumulation of evidence can lead one to a belief in things that cannot be absolutely proved. It is not the intention of this work to offer all the evidence that supports a rational belief in the Christian faith. However the fact that the principles given in the Bible to govern society have been successful, is evidence of the truth of the Christian religion. The fact that the founding fathers of the United States were totally immersed in biblical teachings and principles, and that they employed them in the construction of their governmental and economic system, is evidence that the principles work. In reaching this conclusion I acknowledge that I accept the premise that the united States has been the most successful experiment in all of known history of these principles. I acknowledge the possibility that there may be no god and that the principles stated in the Bible are not divinely inspired. However history demonstrates that the principles work to promote the greatest justice, prosperity, and happiness for the majority of people in society.

The propose of this work is not to suggest that government should force anyone to accept any particular religion, or to accept religion at all. Although it is true that force has been used to require people to accept the Christian religion, the true practice of Christianity requires that people be given the free choice to accept or reject Christianity. To fully appreciate this truth we must understand the nature of God. God is love. Why did God create man and give him a free will? He did so because he wants man to love him by choice. Since a man is more powerful than a woman a man could force a woman to love him. At least he could force her to act like she loves him. If she refused to act like she loved him he could beat her into submission. Think of what a perverted relationship this would be. Could anyone in his right mind derive happiness from such a relationship? God is in his right mind, and he desires that we love him. He does not want us to love him for fear of punishment. He wants us to love him because we understand that he loves us. Keeping the law does not bring salvation. Law keeping is a means we can use to demonstrate our love of God, because keeping God's law always results in showing love for others, and God wants us to love each other. The Bible says that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. That is true, because God has the power to do whatever he chooses to us. However the completion of wisdom is to love God in response to the love he has shown us.

Religions, other than Christianity, teach that the way to please God, or to gain god's forgiveness for our wrongs, is to sacrifice to him or, for him. Many religions have taught that you can please god by sacrificing the lives of our animals, children, neighbors, or enemies. Christianity teaches that you please God by showing love to others, including your enemies. God showed us the ultimate act of love and sacrifice by taking on human form, as Jesus Christ, and ding as a sacrifice for our sins. The central doctrine of the Christian religion is that every member of the human race is born with a sin nature. We are all born self centered, selfish, demanding, and believing that everyone around use has the obligation of satisfying our every desire. The reason this is the central doctrine of the Christian religion is that if we do not have a sin nature, then there is good in us that can redeem us from our sinful actions. If this is the case, then the death of Jesus on the cross was unnecessary. Political conservatives accept this central premise of the Christian faith and liberals reject it. In fact the difference between a conservative and a liberal is that a conservative is inherently wicked and totally depraved, and knows it. A liberal on the other hand is inherently wicked and totally depraved, but does not know it. People who do not believe that all people have this sin nature accept the premise that man is basically good. That is why liberals believe that government is the solution for everything. They believe that since man is basically good, that mankind working together, i.e. government can solve every problem. Any person who rejects this central premise of the Christian faith is not a Christian. Those who accept the doctrine of the sin nature of man fear the power of government because they know that men working together through the power of government, can, and have, done more harm than any other human institution. The central doctrine of the Christian faith is that since each one of us has this sin nature, none of us is capable of pleasing God by our behavior. However if we accept God's greatest act of love, his death for us on the cross, God accepts us. If we accept God's love for us by acknowledging that we do not deserve his love, our gratitude for what he has done for us will be seen in the way we treat others.

Liberals believe that it is the purpose of government to protect us from our own bad choices. Conservatives believe in freedom of choice, but believe that if we make poor choices that natural consequences will help correct us and prevent us from making more bad choices. It is natural that working hard brings prosperity and being lazy brings poverty. Government cannot change this. Freedom is the ability to do whatever we choose, as long as we choose to act responsibly. If government gives all of us security in our social status (social security) it takes away our ability to excel or fail. As more of us get economic security from our government, rather than our productivity, we become more insecure as a society. This is because more and more of us loose the motivation to work to avoid poverty.

The reason that a free competitive market works better then a government controlled market is that a free market system is based on the basic premise that man is greedy and always wants more. As long as no one is granted a monopoly by government, a free competitive market always provides more of what the people need then does a government controlled market. This is because filling a need produces a profit. The greatest disruption of the free market is caused by labor unions. Men, because of their sinful greedy nature, ban together and remove the ability of employer and employee to freely bargain and reward productivity. When human labor is not a commodity freely traded just like every other commodity, endless inequities result. Mandatory union membership is incompatible with freedom, and will result in the destruction of any nation that tolerates it.

Well intentioned government action that limits the free market often harms the very people it was intended to help. Just to give an example of this, I served on a board of a nonprofit organization that helped people with saver mental disabilities. Generous people in the community would offer jobs at low wages to some of our clients. These jobs gave them a little spending money and a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment. Then the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed. Never again would any of our clients get a job. Now the employers know that if they hire a person with a sever disability, they will be stuck with a liability that they cannot afford. The greatest harm was done to the very people government was trying to help. The free market provided greater opportunity then a government mandate.

Another example of how government involvement has disastrous effects on a free market is Fanny May and Freddy Mack. These government lending institutions made money available to people that otherwise could not afford to buy a home. This artificially inflated the prices of homes nationwide, which actually made homes harder to afford. Then when the borrowers could not repay the money borrowed the entire home market came crashing down and brought the entire stock market and economy with it. this would never have happened if the free market was allowed to function.

Perhaps the most damaging of all government involvement in the economy is the graduated income tax. Take from the rich and give to the poor. This destroys the motivation and productivity of both groups. When the government takes form one group and gives to another, government becomes and instrument of theft. For several years I have served as an attorney in child maltreatment and neglect cases. In almost every case no one in the household works. The household usually has income in excess of that of many working families, in the form of free food, housing, healthcare, and government checks, but they have nothing to show for it. The reason is that most of what they get goes to buy illegal drugs. The result is that the government programs designed to help families with children actually harm the children because the parents are provided with a means to buy illegal drugs, and under the influence of those drugs they abuse and neglect the children more than if they were sober. The government welfare programs also destroy the parents because it takes away their pride as productive members of society, and robs them of the satisfaction of providing for their families. Robed of this they can only turn to drugs to escape reality.

Government programs that take away from those who are productive and give to those who are not productive do not result in economic growth. Allowing those who are productive to keep what they have earned, not only promotes honesty, it also leads to economic growth. When government steals by taking form the producer and giving to the non-producer, it plants in the non-producer the notion that he is entitled to the property of the more productive members of society and therefore plants the seeds of theft at all levels as a legitimate means of getting what is desired. The central purpose of this book is to show that the honesty in the laws of the Bible will bring the greatest prosperity to any nation that follows them.