Is proposed wastewater recycling system reliable?
Many thanks for your JR edition on Saturday, Aug. 9, and the quite lengthy article concerning the
wastewater recycling plant proposed for the city of Winfield. As stated in the
article, the loan for the system has been approved by the USDA for $690,000 to
be repaid over a period of 40 years at 3 1/2 percent interest. As the USDA does
not secure this type of loan, it will be routed to Wallstreet investment
bankers whose investors will never settle for 3 1/2 percent and our Federal
Reserve Chairman Bernake is now attempting to rally enough congressmen for an
immediate increase in interest rates.
At the current rate as proposed, the residents and homeowners on the sewage and
water system in Winfield must come up with a $4,000 payment to the Wallstreet
investors each month for 40 years. As the interest rates, late charges and sir charges increase each year, so will
our water bill.
My greatest concern over this proposed wastewater recycling system for Winfield,
is it a reliable system? The Jefferson County Commissioners were suckered into
approving such a system for Birmingham and when installed and turn on, the
system backed up and exploded sending raw sewage throughout Jefferson County as
reported by Birmingham News and ABC Channel 33/40.
I’m sure our city officials in Winfield are trying to prepare for the influx of
many current residents now living in the suburbs of Birmingham and many to be
employed at the new Toyota plant to be in operation soon and with the
completion of I-22, each will be within a one-hour drive from Winfield. Our
churches are already expanding to meet their needs in that area and our city
school system must be expanded to prevent a crisis in that area. One thing is
for sure, with most newcomers being high-tech, very well educated
professionals, when moving into their very expensive new homes within our city
limits, will expect pure drinking water for themselves and in many cases, their
swimming pools.
As this proposed human-waste recycling system will be open for bids shortly, may
our city officials demand from the contractors that no parts installed in the
system be manufactured in China, as the only items ever manufactured by the
Chinese to perfection were their chopsticks.
James A. Smith
USAF, Retired
174 Beech Avenue
Winfield, Alabama 35594
Touchdown Club offers thanks to supporters of Humphrey dinner
The Winfield Touchdown Club would like to thank the Winfield community and
surrounding area for all the support in the Silent Auction and the Bobby
Humphrey Dinner / Speech event on Aug. 19. With your help we met our goals for this event and it was very good for the team
and parents. We could never do all we do for the football teams if it were not
for you all.
To the businesses that contributed to the Silent Auction and Dinner, the
football parents and other adults know who you are and I appeal to everyone to
support those businesses and help them in return to what they have done for us
and will do in the future. When it comes time to purchase some item or service,
please give those business first consideration. We had support from local business and out of town as well.
The Winfield Touchdown Club exists solely for the good of the young men in WCHS
football both junior high and high school and also for the young ladies who
participate on the cheerleader squad. The Winfield Touchdown Club members work
hard to raise money to pay for team meals, drinks, buses, minor stadium repairs, new scoreboard and also to maintain the water cows
and golf cart used at games and practices. We also provide scholarship money to
a deserving football or cheerleader graduating senor each year and if
fundraisers go as planned, we intend to offer two scholarships in May 2009.
I personally would like to thank the Winfield Touchdown Club officers--Gregg
Miles, Chris Davis, Donny Stovall and Sabrena Handley for the hard work they do
all 12 months of the year to make the organization a success and especially
with the event on Aug. 19, they worked very hard.
There are also some great parents that work very hard, you know who you are and
so do we and we know that you contribute countless hours and money to the
Winfield Touchdown Club not for the recognition but for the good of the young
men and women of Winfield.
A sincere thanks to everyone!
Jerry Spann
Winfield Touchdown Club President
The opinions expressed in our “Letters to the editor” section and/or guest editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the Journal Record.
We welcome your opinions
We welcome you to use our letters to the editor column as a forum to comment on
our opinions, about the performance of public officials, about needed
improvements in the community, about pending or needed legislation, or to give
those who deserve it a pat on the back, or other similar topics.
We ask that you keep your letters as brief as possible (two typed pages,
double-spaced) and that you type or print very clearly. We reserve the right to
edit for length or clarity, but we will not change the meaning or tone of your
letter. We do not publish consumer complaints and also reserve the right to
edit letters for libelous content and for the most part, will not consider a
letter of this nature for publication if our editorial board believes it to be
libelous.
All letters must be signed. We also ask that you give us your complete address
and telephone number when you submit your letter. All letters, whether
published or not, become the property of this newspaper. We must be able to
verify all letters prior to publication; if a letter is submitted without a
telephone number, it will not be published since we cannot verify the source.
The Journal Record tries to report news fairly and accurately. If we fall short of that objective,
we welcome complaints from our readers. We do not knowingly make misstatements
of fact. If we find we have, we will gladly make a correction in the next
issue.
Our addresses are P.O. Drawer 1477, Hamilton, Alabama 35570 or P.O. Box 458, Winfield, Alabama 35594. Our e-mail address is jrpaper@centurytel.net
