Letters to the Editor for March 12

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Information from tax watch
organization
To The Editor:
This report is not an expression of approval, nor disapproval, of any political entity in Holmes County. This information came out of the recent Holmes County Commissioners budget hearings and out of public records.
We, in the Holmes County Tax Watch Association, believe that informed citizens are the key to good government. The Florida Legislature passed a law that required all counties to go to the rolled-back rate less 3 percent. The rolled-back rate is the millage rate that would generate the same property tax funds as the prior year.
The rolled-back rate for Holmes County would have been 9.2594 less 3 percent. This would have amounted to an 8.9816 millage rate for property owners in Holmes County. But - the Legislature also adopted a provision that allowed counties to levy a higher amount by a super-majority or unanimous vote by the county commissioners.
The local Board of Commissioners levied a millage rate of 9.5 which was 1/4 of a mill less than the prior year’s rate of 9.75.
The 1/4 mill reduction amounted to $107,477.00 which in turn means a reduction of $20.00 to $25.00 per Holmes County property owner.
Our present millage rate of 9.5 generates $4,084,126.00. The ambulance service budget of 2.5775 mills =$1,108,137.00; the Sheriffs’ budget of 5.9421 mills = $2,554,570.00. These two millage rates total 8.5916 = $3,662,707.00. $4,084,126.00 minus $3,662,707.00 leaves $421,419.00 of property taxes to be used by other departments.
The Commissioners approved all requests for increases, with the Sheriffs’ Department request of $250,000.00 being the largest. Three departments did not request increases: Circuit Judge, County Judge and the County Agent.
Last fiscal year, $93,555.00 was transferred to the general fund for boarding out-of-county prisoners in the jail. The payment on the jail was $282,415.00 on a 30-year mortgage.
In 1997-1998, the Sheriffs’ budget was $938,224.00. In 2007-2008, it is $2,554,570.00.
We hope you find this informative.
BENNIE J. LITTLE
Holmes County Tax Watch Association

Science
and Theology
To the Editor:
Christians should agree there is no inconsistency between God’s word and His creation. But tension between science (human interpretation of His creation) and theology (human interpretation of His word) has existed for thousands of years. Obviously, the problem is with human interpretations. As Christians, we need to be cautious of what we hear from behind the pulpit.
I believe pastors have the hardest job of anyone, and many times they have good intentions, but they are typically not scientifically grounded.
The church leaders excommunicated Gallileo because his discoveries disagreed with their interpretation of what Scripture teaches about geocentricity; the church now has the opposite point of view that it had then.
Even the crux of Christianity, the cross of Christ, resulted from religious leaders convincing their congregation the Messiah was a blasphemer; the ultimate human misinterpretation of scripture.
When it comes to theism and atheism, there are only two points of view. However, as a Christian and a scientist I find the phrase “evolution vs creation” as offensive as others might find reducing American politics to “republican vs communism”.
As there are many political points of view, there are also many legitimate scientific views agreeable with Scripture describing how God created Adam out of the dust of the ground. I agree with a recent writer who expressed evolution is just a process of change -- something obvious to most people.
Did God use evolution in creation? I think it is still too early to know for sure.
As Christians we should look for consistency, not controversy, between the word and creation. It should not surprise us when we find such consistency. (Authors Warning: If you are an atheist and want to keep your point of view, stop reading here). It should not surprise us that scientists are suggesting that “bang” there was matter and light, that physicist tell us photons of light then removed galactic dust so that particles collapsed, causing fluids (waters) to separate and eventually solid structures (dry ground) to emerge.
Later, biologists tell us, the land produced vegetation and then the waters produced life; first the fish and birds, then reptiles, then the beasts of the field and eventually humans, male and female.
It is not my point of view that this is the correct interpretation of Scripture; based on human track record at best it is yet another wrong interpretation. But it does illustrate what we might find if we look for consistency between His word and His creation.  God is good -- He continues to teach us about Him and His Love for us even though we continually get things wrong.
I believe He is using science to teach us to trust Him, not ourselves. As Christians, although our pastors may get things wrong sometimes, we should still encourage and support them; they have an awesome responsibility. And even though we as Christians may disagree with others on some of these sensitive issues, we should continue to attend and support our local church, as there are more important tenets of Christianity that we hold in common.
Geoffrey Brooks
Holmes County