Not only did local vendors and speakers make their way to the annual Go Green Self-Reliance Festival in Thayer last weekend, so did hundreds of people in attendance who wanted to learn more about natural pain relief, the ins and outs of using organic products and more. I have attended this event before, and I always enjoy looking at the newest trends and ideas in the self-reliance, living green industry.
Speakers like Christina Shaw spoke about natural pain relief, foods that heal and more natural ways of caring for yourself. There were insightful talks about HAM Radio and how it is once again being thought of as a way of communicating regularly. Tim Starks discussed self-defense and gave those in attendance some great tips for taking care of themselves.
Along with many others, I was able to sample all-natural smoothies while gathering information from groups and vendors. Local history books were readily available along with locally grown honey, goat soap, hemp jewelry, organic vegetables and more. There were new products, ideas and publications that I found to be quite insightful. As society is making an overall push to being more self-reliant, I am quite proud to see so many local people creating and crafting ideas that I am sure will one day soon be common.
Oregon County
As a follow-up to last week's column about the possible purchase of 2,500 acres in Oregon County by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), I want to reiterate why this possible sale makes me so unhappy.
First, I am not opposed to the sale of private lands to whomever the land-owner wishes to sell. I am however, opposed to the state or federal government being secretive about their intentions to purchase large parcels of land, particularly when such purchase has far-reaching property tax implications for an entire community or county. In this area taking any substantial amount of private land and making it public, thus leaving the county unable to collect taxes, is detrimental. The bottom line is that the citizens should be involved and at the very least they should be told of the plans by the government to purchase lands. Our schools need all the revenue they can get. The loss of the tax revenue for the 2,500 acres at Frederick Creek Ranch will be devastating to Oregon County Schools. As a community working hard to advance our schools, we cannot allow the government to come in and blindside us with this covert purchase of land. They are not just purchasing land, they are essentially punishing our children when and if they take this land off the tax rolls.
There is currently a $400 million backlog in repairs that are needed on property already owned by the DNR. This past session DNR was allocated $40 million through a bonding bill to help maintain and repair our current state park system, which the citizens will be footing the bill for the next twenty years. Now, DNR wants to purchase more land, when they can’t keep up with the maintenance of our current state park system.
Finally, DNR settled with lead mining companies to restore lands damaged by the practice. Oregon County never was involved in lead mining. Yet, both the state and federal government want to use settlement funds to buy Fredrick Creek Ranch in Oregon County. I stand firm in my belief that when funds are designated to repair land, they should be used for that. As our land is our greatest natural resource, we must be good stewards and as such, we have an obligation to leave the land in the same or better condition than when we found it.
Stay tuned for more from me on the developments of the DNR’s attempts to purchase land in Oregon County.
As always, I appreciate it when groups from around Missouri and from our community back home come to visit me at the Capitol. If you would like to arrange a time to come and visit me in Jefferson City, or if you ever have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact my Capitol office at (573) 751-1882. |
