To the Editor:    
    I would first like to thank Chip Bailey for all his information. It has inspired me to try to figure out the Morgan County property tax system. What I have figured out is the system is set up so it can be interpreted anyway the tax assessor wishes, fair or not. It is nothing but a numbers game to be used at the tax assessor’s whim. The entire system is flawed and the only way around it is either to know someone or to pay someone. Does not the tax assessor work for the people as a public servant to “help” us?    
    I have found that every excuse the tax assessor uses to raise my house and land value, I have been able to find comparable properties, which show just the opposite. There is no uniformity, which is required by state law. Even though the fair market value and an appraisal is shown it is ignored. How come the economy has caused many counties to take a 7 to 9 percent reduction in property taxes across the board and many people in Morgan County have had their land values doubled?     I have spoken to several people who have appealed because their square footage was wrong on their tax report. Their square footage was corrected but the assessor’s office decided to raise the value of their square footage. They get you coming and going.    
    I believe the assessors office knows people won’t want to hire an attorney to win a suit because they can’t afford the money it will cost. They have you where they want you. Do our commissioners do anything to help us? NO! I believe that is called taxation without representation. This is the same reason we fought the British to start this great country. Think about it.
Missy Brown
Madison
Hand-delivered

To the Editor:
    What tea has he been drinking?
    Republican Chairman Bob Rice's recent letter to the editor is overburdened with confusion and unencumbered by facts, which seems to be the current mode of the Republican National Misinformation Machine.
    The most blatant and bizarre of Mr. Rice's strange claims is his untruthful accusation that Celia Murray grossly insulted the Tea Bag people. He rails on for paragraphs at his outrage against her, we Democrats, and even Editor Patrick Yost for printing such vileness.
    Except that it didn't happen.
    I invite any and all to re-read Ms. Murray's thoughtful, accurate, and funny column, "Tea parties and tea leaves," (04/23/2009) on the Morgan County Citizen Web site.
    In the meantime, following his demeaning rant, I trust that Mr. Rice will follow his own advice and quickly and quietly resign:
    "If I were the chairman of a political party where my spokesperson used such vile language to describe hundreds of people of Madison, I'd have a new spokesperson in a hurry." (Chairman Bob Rice, 07/09/2009)
    Hope your retirement is a happy one, Bob.
Rick Crown
Madison
Via e-mail

To the Editor:
    I recieved the paper yesterday. On the front page was an article about Ronald Mastrogiovanni. The paper said he was being charged with child pornography. I have to give my opinion on this topic.  Mr. Ron is a dear friend of mine, along with most of the staff at O'Hara's in Madison. The man is a great genuine guy! There is no way that he has committed such an awful crime. If you or everyone else in Madison knew Ron like we do, then you would know these are false assumptions. He has done so much for this community and you people should be ashamed to even print such an assumption!! I, along with many people, am very upset about the whole situation! Thanks for your time.
Brittany Heusser
Madison
Via e-mail

To the Editor:
    Unfortunately, Morgan Country Citizen columnist Fred Johnson appears to be under the delusion that we can continue to power America's transportation system (cars, trucks, planes, trains and boats) on petroleum or its synthetic equivalent.
    In a column entitled "The Electric Car Folly," he contends that all those electric cars Congress is encouraging will require many new nuclear power plants. He concludes...
    Sadly, our Congress is showing that they not only don’t know how to run a car company; they don’t know how to solve our energy problem. We can eliminate our dependence on foreign oil by simply drilling for the oil that we have offshore and within our borders at no cost to taxpayers or consumers.
    I won't get into the silliness of the Congress running a car company polemic and as for drilling offshore and elsewhere in America, that's another argument for another day.
    For both geological and geopolitical/economic reasons our current paradigm isn't sustainable. We have to find alternatives and do so very, very quickly. At the current rate of oil consumption, America's oil import credit card bill will total $500 billion this year and once we begin to see a sustained economic recovery, this will soar to $700 billion annually. At that rate, within five years, the major oil producing nations of the world (largely OPEC and Russia) will have amassed the capital equivalent of all the companies currently listed the New York Stock Exchange.

To the Editor:
    Sorry, I still don’t get it. Even after last week’s explanation in your paper, I’m confused. Your lead article says that Mr. Jolley was let go because unless the Hospital Authority fired him the County Commission would withdraw financial support of the hospital. That part was pretty clear. But what makes much less sense is the reason the Commissioners gave for wanting Mr. Jolley out. Concern over his financial management skills because he had declared personal bankruptcy?
    Come on now, really?
    It seems to me that if we held that against everybody who has tried to open a small business in Madison especially right before the bottom fell out of this economy, there would be plenty of us judged to  have very poor “financial management skills” indeed! No, sorry, it just isn’t ringing true.  And to imply that the money problems now being experienced by the hospital Mr. Jolley left 2 1/2 years ago, somehow have “something” to do with “something” he did back then is downright irresponsible.
    I suggest your paper have some “investigative reporter” head up to Tennessee and get the facts. Innuendo just isn’t good enough when the reputation and possibly even the livelihood of a good man with a good family are at stake.       And another question: What about the mysterious piece entitled “To The Citizens Of Morgan County” printed in little bitty type and stuck down at the bottom of Page 3A between CJ Orchards and Madison Realty ads looking suspiciously like some kind of legal notice?

To the Editor:
    I just wanted to give special recognition to the Buckhead Volunteer Fire Department for GREAT job on the BBQ and Fireworks this 4th of July. Every year there are a lot of people who spend their holiday planning, cooking, serving and cleaning that go without any real appreciation.  Since moving back to Morgan County nearly 10 years ago my family has attended the BBQ and fireworks celebration just about every year and have attended every year for the last five and it just keeps getting better every year. I am very proud to call The REAL Buckhead my home and the small town that we are, we can compete with any big city with their celebrations. 
In the future if you attend our July 4th celebration, be sure and thank ALL the people who are working and make sure that they know the job is not going unnoticed and to keep up the good work. I cannot wait for next year’s celebration; I tell everybody that if they want to see a great town celebrating our nation, come to THE REAL BUCKHEAD and hang at the Town Park to enjoy great BBQ and a fantastic fireworks display.
Jennifer Baade
Town of Buckhead
Via e-mail