Letter to the Editor: Reader wonders if Sidney has grown to be too large

Dear Editor:

Just have to wonder, is Sidney getting too big for its britches? Seeing and hearing about all of the turmoil that Sidney has been through in the last six months makes me wonder.

First we find out that our “new” police chief is getting in trouble over something that happened almost right after he was hired. And the “good ol’ boys” who got him in trouble decide they don’t want to play the game anymore, so they leave their positions and throw him under the bus so that he has no choice other than to leave his position. This man was the man for this position, and it’s a shame that now we have to start looking for another police chief that will hopefully come close to B.J. Wilkinson.

Then the money we are spending on the walking trail south of Sidney, the new “Welcome to Sidney” sign and landscaping, which in my opinion was not necessary and all it’s going to do is form a big snowdrift on the streets south of it, and the millions we are spending on a new swimming pool that will be open maybe 11 weeks out of a year. We have neighbors, friends and family who have lost jobs here in Sidney. These people are forced to move because there are no other jobs around here for them.

I’m sure everyone noticed how their property evaluations went up this past year. If anyone owns farm ground, it really went up this past year, and we are being to that the new high school taxes haven’t really even hit the books yet. The school district wants us to vote in another new school? Good luck with that.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have new schools and a nice swimming pool for the children and community of Sidney, but can we afford it? I know of a lot of families who voted for the new high school who no longer live here, but those of us that do are now paying for it.

The citizens of Sidney are tired of being taxed to death. A lot wonder what else in this town has been pushed under the rug for others or files pulled from being prosecuted in the past years that haven’t been looked into or brought to our attention.

Don’t be doing things that you don’t want the citizens to find out about! And if you do, and if need be, you should be brought to justice just as any other citizen would be. It should not matter where or who you work for. People are stressed and anxious wondering if today will be their last day at work.

The citizens of Sidney are just wondering what the future holds for our little town with big city prices.

– Rita Hart

Sidney