Letter to the Editor

PILOT: Keep growing

Sunday, February 2, 2003

I'm writing today in support of the PILOT. I'm very pleased to see that some of our City Council - Sue Rogers, Jerry Pullen and Phil Boyer - can see down the road for Sikeston and its citizens for our growth and future.

As a past member of the Park Board for six years (chairman two years), I'm pleased to see the present Park Board supports the PILOT. While on the Park Board, I found BMU was always there to help us light up our Sports Complex, VFW Park and many other parks within our city, as well as community buildings used by citizens.

I have found by being on the Charter Commission that BMU has helped our Public Safety Department as well as our fine Fire Department. We also have a good Department of Economic Development that is working for our city and citizens. Being on the Charter Commission, I was exposed to some of the BMU information and realize our power is sold to Columbia as well as other cities. Some of these communities also resell our power. Some members of my family are bond holders and I find it has been a good investment for the bond holders as well as for the City of Sikeston.

Many times I find citizens in our community like to blame our department heads (Doug Friend, Drew Juden, Ed Throop and other supervisors) for things that happen at City Hall or BMU. Keep in mind, they all have boards to answer to.

I'm asking the citizens of Sikeston to go out and vote for the 3 percent rate increase for the PILOT. Let's keep Sikeston growing and moving in the right direction. We live in a great community.

Larry Tetley,

Past Park Board chairman

Past Charter Commission member