By golly, re-elect Mollie

Dear editor:

One headline in your Sept. 10 edition read "Whitney will run for the WECRD board to 'open the process'.''

She plans to run against Mollie Marsh for one of the three seats on the Western Elmore County Recreation Board. She explains her challenge to the incumbent by saying that "to make an omelet you have to crack a few eggs.'' Too trite and too late. This omelet has been seasoned and cooking for 10 YEARS, thanks to thousands and thousands of volunteer hours devoted to the final presentation, the foundation. What can she hope to contribute to the menu at this late date?

The Blue Ribbon Committee was created by then Mayor Don Etter in 1999 to examine the need for a recreation center in our community, to determine if and how such a center could be built, and to seek the public's vision regarding what that center should contain.

It is true that Ms. Whitney was tasked by the mayor to find people willing to serve and to get the meetings started. However, she did not participate in all of the door-to-door surveying, the scheduled town hall meetings, and the presentations delivered in person to the monthly meetings of dozens of organizations in our area -- all conducted from 1993 to 2000. In fact, after the election in 2000 resulted in a 60 percent approval from the voters to establish the WECRD, Ms. Whitney disappeared from the scene.

Further, surveys revealed that the most important component of the recreation center was indoor pools -- lap pool and therapy pool.

These are my concerns about this election:

1. Ms. Whitney was quoted as saying that she wanted to "increase the board's accountability." This implies that somehow the board has failed to be accountable for its use of public funds. Is she accusing the board of fraud or chicanery? (How typically political!) Surely she knows that the WECRD is audited annually by HCM Hollmstead.

2. Ms. Whitney is quoted as saying "WECRD should collaborate with the school district." WECRD purchased and paid for (hey, it's debt free) 20 acres on 18th East, chosen for its proximity to schools. Is Ms. Whitney suggesting that we wait for the school district to build indoor pools? I'm sure I don't need to remind readers that the recent school bond failed.

3. Ms. Whitney stated that she "thinks the community's needs have changed.'' She "thinks" this is true? A feeble justification to challenge the current leadership of the board and to ignore the progress that has been made.

4. Ms. Whitney stated that "if elected she'd move to hold town hall meetings and conduct a community survey." Hey, voters, do you really want to go through all of this again? Doesn't she trust your original decision? Town meetings and surveys cost money, which would be drawn from the $1 million WECRD account you've already paid into with your taxes, and effectively would delay planned groundbreaking next year.

Mollie Marsh was appointed to the WECRD board in 2001, immediately after it was created, by then Gov. Kempthorne in recognition of her selfless, unpaid service to the community. All along it's been Mollie, by golly, the driving and unpaid force behind this project.

Sandy Pitts