1994-1995 Harry Singer Foundation National Essay Contest

Alternatives: Proposals For Local Governments Struggling With Limited Resources
Teacher: Mike Hubka

Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

1st Tim Marshall        2nd Amy Wampler       3rd Eric Scott Van Allen  

"In order to create a perfect community, one must know what the community wants, what the community does not want, and how it will accomplish the goals it has set."
Kevin Fowler, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"What is good for some is not always good for others. There are many ways to spend tax dollars in a small community. There are very few ways to spend them wisely. There are even fewer ways to ensure the approval of the public when spending these tax dollars."
Chris Masters, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"Many small communities are faced with a serious problem. This problem is the tax base is not large enough to support all of the [government] programs. To help find a solution, the Medicine Lodge senior government class polled and collected data on what should be done. The information received from the citizens set guidelines. With this information, we conceived a plan that will allow the city to do two things: the first will lower taxes and the second will allow the city to keep its community service."
Matthew Boyter, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"The city of Medicine Lodge, which is the county seat, could cut expense by having the Sheriff Department take over the inefficient Medicine Lodge Police Department. With a decrease in taxes from cutting these unnecessary expenses that have little or no return, Barber County could afford to advertise to more companies and businesses and they would be more eager to come to a county where they would not be paying for useless programs with the money that should be profit for them."
Matt Ricke, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"Medicine Lodge is the typical United States small town. To help us survive in the modern world, we must be willing to sacrifice some of our small town beliefs in order to attract new businesses to town. Helping our economy grow is the only way we are going to be able to keep the services we have in our town. With hard work and some thought on economic matters, we can accomplish this task without raising taxes."
Heather Poland, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"I believe the easiest workers to cut would be the county workers. Although there are a few times a year we need all of them, the rest of the year they are an unnecessary expense. If we could have part-time help instead of full-time help, or lay off one-fourth of the people who are currently working for the county, it would save Barber County thousands of dollars every year. The only difference would be instead of having one guy digging a hole and three people watching him, there would only be two watching. A problem with laying off county employees is again, the displaced worker problem. If people who are laid off have to move, it makes the tax burden greater on the people who are left in the county. Another problem would be finding enough people to help in emergencies, like snow and ice storms, when they have to clear the roads."
Matt Ricke, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"The size of our town would be a disincentive; we do not have much to offer. We would have to cut taxes greatly to attract new businesses; this means displaced workers. The new businesses may not create enough jobs for these workers. Without proper schooling, these workers may not be skilled for the new jobs that the businesses would bring in."
Sheryl Ott, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"The elected officials polled said that recreation is definitely something this town needs, but recreation programs were the first ones they said to cut if they did not get the needed tax money. They contradict themselves."
Keri Cline, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"As you can see, it takes more than just bringing in new businesses to our town to make things run smoothly. We must first solve the small problems that we already have, then we must choose which businesses our community would benefit from the most and if we want to [remain] a small, safe community, or if we would like to bring in newer, more exciting things."
Christy Summers, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"While formulating our class proposal, many problems were revealed that we did not consider initially."
Heather Poland, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"A new business such as a bowling alley, a skating rink, or a movie theater could possibly be a good business venture in this town. There is no other form of entertainment in Medicine Lodge. The closest town with something to do is at least 30 miles in any direction. There are some problems with attracting new businesses: there is not enough of a tax base, a housing [shortage] could raise [our] crime rate, and school facilities [are inadequate]. [New business] could also cause a tax increase. Medicine Lodge is a largely rural community. A business dealing with agriculture would be an option for someone wanting to start a living here. New businesses such as a recycling factory that would bring need for workers and other communities to our town would also be a good business to start. É Providing job training in conjunction with Pratt Community College would help solve problems with unskilled laborers."
Keri Cline, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas

"We have concluded from our research that we need to increase [our] tax base before we will be able to offer enough tax incentives to attract a new business. However, to do this we must be able to raise enough money. There are only two ways of doing this: to cut programs or to raise taxes. Although neither idea is very attractive, we must go through some discomfort before we will be able to enjoy a prosperous town."
Angela Ricke, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas
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