Editor, Times-Union: I would like to respond to the lady who objected to the Barbee Conservancy District paying $70,000 for the larger sewer pipe (that may or may not some day accommodate a Barbee Lakes sewer system.)
During the last meeting that I attended, we learned that if the Conservancy District is dissolved, all funds in the treasury revert back to the county and they are not reserved for projects that benefit the Barbee Lake area in any way. That money came from an increase in taxes to only people living within the Conservancy District and we are the people that should benefit from the money.
I have attended four meetings in all since the District was established. My very clear impression is that the two most vocal officers only ran for that office to prevent sewers around the Barbee Lakes. It is logical that the homeowners who live on larger lots with higher elevation don't care what happens past their own property lines. The same is true for people who have already invested in mound-style systems and those with lift stations. People who only visit their property on summer weekends will also fight a system.
We learned at the September meeting that if anyone on a septic system experiences failure of the leach field, it costs that homeowner approximately $8,000 just to replace the lateral system. We also learned that your neighbor can complain to the Board of Health that your system is not draining properly, resulting in your septic system being condemned.
If there was a sewer system around the lakes, we would see more investments into the crowded, unimproved housing areas near Big Barbee. There is a reason why the small lots and inadequate lateral systems are no longer legal for new construction. The day will come when a sewer system is mandated and it will cost more five or 10 years from now.
Supporting a system now makes more sense than paying higher costs in the future.
Diane Manley Irish Lake, via e-mail
Freedom Of Religion
Editor, Times-Union: This is the second part of my letter dealing with freedom of religion. There are a few more books/sources that I will add to the 19 that I listed in my Sept. 8 letter to the editor. I will then give a basic definition of freedom of religion that was developed from these books/sources.
Addition Books/Sources: 20. The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany.
24. Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity.
25. 2004 Libertarian Party Platform Section 1 Plank 11.
26. The State of the World Atlas.
27. America's Libertarian Heritage.
* Readers of the Times-Union may wish to add their own books/sources to the 27 listed if they are interested in doing their own research.
Freedom of religion is the inalienable right of each person whether alone or with others to peacefully, openly and freely practice a religion at all and to be free from religious persecution and the forced conversion to a universal state religion/state church or state-led atheism by any part of whole of any local, state, national, continental or world government.
The third part of my letter, which will follow at a later date, will be a further explanation of the definition of freedom of religion and how it applies to current controversies over church/state issues.
