you are still a tool for issuing this letter without getting any facts. Sorry, I prefer those who do their homework and don't get in front of the march to get their picture in the Maryland Incumbent. No vote from me![/quote]
Thanks for getting us back on track.
WOW, pretty quick to judge, aren't we? Didn't know, did you, that at the meeting of the candidates where we drafted this letter, that we had the issues briefed by the woman who is in charge of the Nanjemoy testing program?
Her comment is that the sample collectors will soon be wearing rubber gloves and respirators to collect the water samples due the the staggeringly high bacteria counts.
I have more facts about this than any Commissioner you know. Ask me some questions, if you like. I know, for example, that the sum total spent by the Commissioners in the last 4 years for this problem is $500, allocated (not even spent yet) two weeks ago. The scene was this.. The citizens who monitor this situation had asked the health department to expanid its testing. They only test five sites. Since the sites were showing massive amounts of fecal bacteria (recently 28 times the safe standard 0f 61 MPN), they wanted to expand so they could try to geographically isolate the sources. When the Charles Co Health Dept said NO, we will not under any circumstances expand our program, the citizens took matters into their own hands. They had Md. Department of environment come out and train 11 volunteers in collecting the water samples, and they set up their own program. Then they went to the Commissioners (through Mr. Cooper) and asked if they would at least defray some of the costs of testing. The result was the incredibly insulting figure of $500 as a donation from the Commissioners.
Recently, the Commissioners approved of the County paying the stunning fee of $50,000 to a consulting firm for their new slogan: "Charles County - Where Eagles Fly"(yes, that's $10,000 per word). I am hoping we fix this problem before we must change the slogan to " Charles County - Where Eagles Used to Fly Until We Killed Them All With Fish Contaminated By Our Own Fecal Bacteria".
Wouldn't it have been better to have a contest for the schoolchildren to come up with the slogan, and allocate the $50,000 to water testing? Their common sense and priorities are in need of a bit of a tune-up.
Test my knowledge before you say I do not have the facts. Want to know what MPN is? I know. Want to know that the EPA is adandoning this standard in favor of another? I know that, too. Want to know that the current standard is based upon 19 peole getting sick for evey 1,000 who get in the water? I've dome my homework on that, too. I have read the EPA and USGS protocols for taking these samples, and consulted with experts in the field. So I hope you can see that I have my facts.
Do you think the Commissioners had enough facts when they voted 5 to 0 to dump radioactive waste into the Potomac? Is there some circumstance, any circumstance, in which the citizens of Charles County would have wanted them to vote that way? If not, then why did they do it?
Ask me a question, folks - anyone, not just Lenny, to test whether I had my facts.
Thanks for your interest, Lenny. By the way, I really would prefer to stay at home with my wife, and not be out doing this campaigning crap. Not interested in self-aggrandisement, as you seem to suggest. I want to make a difference in this and many other issues where the County has gone seriously astray. If I can get the media to help me do this, you bet I will. Sorry if it gives you the impression that I like being in the paper. I do not. I also do not need a $40K a year job where people question your motives all day long. I am an honest guy trying my best to make a difference, before I just give up on this County, like so many good people have already done.
Kurt Wolfgang
wolfgangcommissioner.com