Letters To The Editor
Dear Editor:
I had another discussion with the Roosevelt County commissioners at the 18th meeting. I am still trying to get a justifiable reason they took CARES money to pass out $1,000 to themselves and the rest of the county employees, excluding others that endured the same pandemic issues. There are two things I would like you to remember. First is that at some time, all county taxpayers are county employees because a portion of their salaries will have to be used to pay their county taxes. Second is that Webster defines discrimination as, a difference in treatment between persons. Again, we were told that some county employees had to arrange for daycare for their children because of school closures so county employees should get $1,000. How would it be if the commissioners asked that every taxpayer that had to arrange for daycare or had to take off work to take care of their children or worked during the pandemic filled out a questionnaire and send into them? But be sure to mark on the outside of the envelope if you are a county employee. Using the criteria that appears to be present, every response that didn’t indicate you are a county employee is ineligible. What an unjust and unequal use of CARES funds that taxpayers are being required to pay. In my opinion, that is outright discrimination, all taxpayers suffered as much or more than county employees. The commissioners have set themselves up as judge and jury on who should get these unrestricted tax dollars.
I was told by Commissioner Nygaard that some county employees had to use leave without pay. I asked how many and was told he didn’t know but there were some. How many were there and were they even COVID related? The LWOP could have been for any number of reasons not related to the pandemic. I don’t see how this has any bearing that justifies a $1,000 check to every county employee.
One should never assume anything! We were told at the beginning that the commissioners had checked with other agencies to see what they did with CARES funds. I assumed wrongly that this meant they had checked with other counties. Wrong. I asked if any other county had given all their employees $1,000 and was told, I don’t know. I then asked if they had checked with any other counties about stipends and was told no, they hadn’t.
Now to me the most disturbing revelation from Mr. Oelkers. After he had made a statement justifying the stipend, I was trying to get clarification on what he said. I stated, “So what you are saying is...” I was abruptly told by Mr. Oelkers that I was putting words in his mouth and if I didn’t quit, I would be removed from the meeting. As stated, I was trying to get the true meaning of what he said, not putting words in his mouth.
Evidently this commission has forgotten that on Dec. 15, 1791, the United States Congress passed 10 amendments to the Constitution called the Bill of Rights. The number one of these 10 is the right of free speech and expression.
So now with the stipend issue, in my opinion, the commissioners ignored the Montana Constitution, violated the guidelines of the CARES money and are now restricting free speech. A very sad time for the residents of Roosevelt County. Bill Juve P.S. Don’t forget to pay your county taxes by June 1, 2021. Christmas is coming and the county commission may need some extra cash even though they just gave themselves a $1,000 raise. Stipends?
