TO THE EDITOR

My name is Mitchell Stopher, I’m a resident of Pleasant View Estates and a Lincoln County taxpayer. I would also like to say for the record I have been a Boy Scout, although it’s been a long time ago.

I support the ideals the Boy Scouts of America offer the young men of this country. They teach valuable life skills, many of which have to do with the freedoms and liberties of the United States of America.

I would however like to remind everyone the Georgia-Carolina Council Incorporated or Boy Scouts is a private organization.

I realize Fred R. Prater Parkway is not enjoyed by very many residents of Lincoln County, but there are those of us that do enjoy this county road. Like I stated in the last meeting, I walk this road every day with my dog. I enjoy seeing the wildlife that abounds there, many others enjoy the deep water ramp at the end of the road.

I sat in the public hearing on March 11 and listened to the Director of the Scouts give a long laundry list of why this road needed to be closed off from the public.

It consisted of littering, life safety issues, health safety issues, unauthorized use of dumpsters, alcohol bottles and cans in the ditches, arson, grand theft, and child abduction, etc. It seemed as if the list was never ending. I would like for him to tell me where in this great nation things like this don’t take place.

Note: child abductions have never taken place on this property, but the scout leader didn’t fail to play this card. That’s not a topic to be taken lightly or to be used for political gain. Shame on him!

In typical American fashion these days, our local politicians are going to turn over more freedoms in the name of safety and security by closing this county road off from the tax payers. The road I use to walk down as a free American I will no longer be able to do without permission from a private corporation. At some point we as Americans need to stand up and face our fears. What better place to start than with the Boy Scouts of America. Teach our young men of this nation with freedom comes a price and that price is, some people will not play by the rules, but that doesn’t mean you violate the rights and freedoms of every law abiding citizen.

If the camp leaders feel their safety and security is being violated I would like to suggest they start by fencing themselves in and not fencing the citizens out. Start with that, let the camp leaders lock and unlock gates at their venues on their property. They would soon teach the young Scouts by example that freedom is to be valued and not taken lightly. From the start of this nation many good men have lost their lives for simple freedoms such as walking down a public road without permission. Freedoms and liberties should not be done away with by fear mongering.

I would like to ask the commissioners of Lincoln County to reconsider the closing of this road to the public. If you feel the threat to the club members is greater than the freedoms of the county citizens, then I would like to ask at this time the commissioners consider a gate for my neighborhood. After all, when the arsonist, child abductors, thieves, trespassers and litterers drive all the way out to Fred R Prater Parkway to perpetrate these crimes and can’t get in, one left turn and they’re on the county road I live on.

The protection afforded by the Lincoln County Commissioners for this private club should be good for all private landowners of the county. And that is, if you don’t live or own property on a county road, you have no right to be on that road without the consent of the property owners on either side. We have children in this community too, I want a gate!!! ( I’m being sarcastic with that remark, of course.)

I also asked the question, why is there heavy military construction equipment on the clubs property? The chairman’s first response was it’s their property.

Well I beg to differ with that. As long as that property is deeded to the Corps of Engineers and there is camouflaged military equipment belonging to the National Guard on site, that stuff belongs to me and the taxpayers of this country and county. I don’t work for the Corps of Engineers or the National Guard, they work for me and the tax payers. So, I would also like to know what roll will the National Guard be playing in the future on this property. This June the National Guard will be on site building roads and out buildings for the Scouts, great idea. But will this be the extent of their role on site?

Will there be future use by the National Guard?

I guess my point in all this is, it’s just to easy these days for the few to take the freedoms and liberties of the many in the name of a perceived threat, and it needs to stop. What better place to start than our own back yard. For the record I have the utmost respect for the men and women of the National Guard, they are a treasure to this nation and the very back bone of the freedom I’m talking about. As far as the Boy Scouts of America, many of these young men will stand up for freedom and liberty some day, let’s start them out with the right mindset and by setting a good example, respect your neighbors and their freedom.

We as Americans need to start standing up to preserve even the smallest freedoms for ourselves and our neighbors. Please help yourselves by helping me stop the closing of Fred R Prater Parkway, keep your neighborhood and America free one small step at a time.

The final vote date has not yet been set, it should be published in the paper. I urge you to please attend the next meeting and support me in this matter.

Ben Franklin summed it up and think about this, I quote, “Those who desire to give up freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve either one.” This is the mindset our forefathers had when we were gaining our freedom and liberties as a young nation, lets keep this attitude to maintain our freedom and liberties.

MITCH STOPHER