Conservation forum brings interesting viewpoints

Conservation Debate at Penn Central Mall

A community forum sponsored by The National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever, The Izak Walton League, and people in the community that are interested in conservation.

You have heard from most of the candidates already with their thoughts on most everything already, so I will stick to a single question that was asked during the forum last evening at the Penn Central Mall.

Reg Randau (I), Ken Rozenboom (R), and Greg Gordy (R) are the Mahaska County Supervisor Candidates, with Guy Vander Linden (R) and Eric Palmer (D) the Iowa House District 75 Candidates that were present. The District 72 candidates of Rich Arnold (R) and Deb Ballallatak (D) sent written responses and were not in attendance.

The question for the candidates, “Gentlemen, according to the study of 82 rural counties that have invested in outdoor recreation, have grown and prospered at a much greater rate than counties that haven’t. What do you see as the role of county government in that area.”

Ken Rozenboom was the first of the candidates to tackle this question. “I’m not familiar with this particular study, but I trust the conclusion is valid. I would agree, it makes sense that those communities have prospered somewhat as a result of development of outdoor recreation area’s. Again, I will mention that we have 14 or 15 of those already in the county, I think that’s great. I often go to Russel Wildlife and a couple of the other places. To me it’s a matter of how much do we need. I don’t want to sound negative on this, I think that we just have to use good judgment if any other opportunities show up and get imput from the public and see what the need is and the cost.”

Reg Randau stated his thoughts on it, “I did look at the study, and made sense cause people wanna live close to where there’s things to do in recreational activities. It goes back to a quality of life issue. That why we have so many people leaving the smaller counties and going to the more urban area’s because they have more opportunities. Having locations that offer recreation could also bring local tourism back into Mahaska County or people could stay closer to home for vacation instead of going so far away, and it would help keep some of our economy in Mahaska County. If it’s a fiscally responsible, common sense possibility, then it’s definitely something we should look at.”

Greg Gordy rounded up the candidates responses to the question. “I agree, I think it’s a quality of life issue. Pleased to hear Reg’s relatives came back from Alaska to be here, Reg came back so hopefully we are doing something that is attracting people and drawing to this area. We do have something to provide and has a lot of benefits. I agree you need some diversity in what you have, I think the acquisition of a lot of the properties, there is a lot of diverse properties that are in the conservation realm right now anyway, with the conservation properties, so it gives different varieties and different avenues of things to do more of a broad base group of people that want to participate. I agree, it’s a definite draw for outside activity to participate and support that.”

Next question was for the House Candidates Eric Palmer and Guy Vander Linden. “Are you going to support the Iowa Water and Land Legacy Amendment on the ballot, why or why not?”

Eric Palmer started off the answers by saying “I can simply answer that question as yes. That issue is going to be on your ballot and I would encourage you all to consider it. It is not going to raise your taxes, merely puts in place this constitution amendment  says if there is a future sales tax increase, if there is a future sales tax increase, 3/8’s of a cent will go towards this fund. For instance 20% of the fund for soil and water conservation. And that’s going to pump a tremendous amount of money to just those kind of efforts. It will have a big impact on this county, and yes I’m definitely in favor of it, if you drive by my house you will see a sign very similar to the one in back. Once again it is not a tax, but if there is a future sales tax increase, 3/8’s of a cent will go towards this fund.

Guy Vander Linden finished up the House Candidate’s comments on the question by stating “I would agree that it’s probably a good investment of tax money, but certainly there won’t be any money unless there’s a tax increase. The next tax increase, and there will be one just like the Sun will come up in the East tomorrow. 3/8’s of a cent will go to this, and I think that’s fine.

It was a good forum, not much debate but more of a Q and A session to that those interested in how candidates felt over conservation issue’s. Looking forward to more upcoming events before the November 2nd elections arrive. If you have questions or comments about this story or any others, feel free to send them to info@oskynews.org

Posted by on Oct 8 2010. Filed under News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

3 Comments for “Conservation forum brings interesting viewpoints”

  1. […] Rozenboom – Link HERE Reg Randau – Link HERE All Mahaska Supervisor Candidates – Link HERE – Link […]

  2. […] Rozenboom – Link HERE Reg Randau – Link HERE All Mahaska Supervisor Candidates – Link HERE – Link […]

  3. […] Conservation forum brings interesting viewpoints- October 8th […]

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