Keep Historical Archives Assistant Position

Ladies and Gentleman,

We have been forced into this position by our elected representatives in Albany, the likes of former Assemblyman Paul Tonko, who think that there is simply no bottom to our pocket books. There have placed such undue burdens upon the working class to support the non-working class in a life style that many of us could only dream of having that we are finally broke. Yes, the County has a financial crisis on its hands. With that said, the County Board is either once again oblivious of simple economics or they have been forced to pick between supporting the non-working class or else! Maybe they learned this from the current economic wizard in the White House. The Archives is one of the few, if not the only political entity in this county which in the end, ends up bringing some economic benefit out of the expenditures of tax dollars. Each hundreds of persons from out of county come to Fonda to research the American Revolution, the Erie Canal, or simply family connections. Trust me one this one: I used to come to the Mohawk Valley for at least three weeks every year from Kansas and Nebraska. These tourists spend dollars in our county. A lot of them!!! Shutting down the county archives would make almost as much economic sense as shutting down our State Park System. So if we have to pick and chose between government funded programs for those unwilling to work [yes, there is a small subset of these individuals who truly deserve our support: VERY FEW!!!], let us choose one which generates tourism and local spending, not a continuance of the same old Democratic Party plan of robbing from those of us willing to work, to enrich the lives of those with no desire to work. I would suggest that they cut at least a dollar and a half from the County Welfare Budget for every dollar they cut from programs that benefit the County’s working citizenry.

Fort Plank Historian
Ken D. Johnson