 To Whom It May Concern;
I'm not sure who to contact, so I found this
address on the internet and hope it can be forwarded to
Officer Gray's widow as an offer of assistance for the eventual passage of her sales tax initiative that was recently defeated.
I'm just offering my opinion, and for what it's
worth, I think that she might be more successful if the effort were
not limited to just the city of Merced, but rather to Merced County.
I currently reside in Le Grand, having just moved in Aug. '04 after
growing up in the city of Merced and living there most of my adult
life. We left the city for the exact reasons our police officers are
struggling to control the gang activities and escalating violence...we
were broken into FOUR times within a period of 10 months. However, as
wonderful as it is to live a little way out of town, this past
weekend's combined city, county, and state officers who rounded up
approx. 100 gang-related offenders and the fact that the rural areas
of Merced County comprise the most number of meth labs, etc., tells me
that we need an increased force within
our county, not just the city of Merced. I, personally, feel that a sales tax is in effect a USE tax, rather than another property tax increase for property owners only. If this fact could be communicated to county residents, the tax increse might be able to pass.
A sales tax increase would be paid by ANY person
that purchases good within the proposed zone, let's say Merced County
in this case, and effectively, even the gang members would finally
contribute to the cost of law enforcement whenever they purchase goods
within Merced County, such as their gang-indicating clothing, etc.
Why not levy the tax to aid all Merced County citizens and place some
of the
tax onto those who cause the need for additional law enforcement personnel????
Thank you for letting me rant and offer my
opinion. I wish you and your family well, but understand that "well"
will never exist after the tragic death of your husband.
Sincerely, Vickie Scoggins
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