LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Voter apathy
To the editor:
Regarding recent articles on Marion County Rural Water District No. 1, I have been wondering how these board members got there.
I am assuming they are elected like hospital board members are, but the county clerk does not know, as they are not part of the county election process.
The district is required by law to have an annual meeting, but I cannot find online the regulations for being on the board.
In 2021, the district had 356 “benefit units,” which I take to mean households using its water. I don’t know how many there are today but wonder how many attended the annual meeting and voted.
This seems to me to be another example of how most of us in our representative government today do not say anything until or unless we are unhappy.
We don’t bother to attend meetings, watch the news, or read the newspaper!
On another note, both my July 9 paper and my July 16 paper said Vol. 156, No. 40. Online it says that these dates were issues 43 and 44. Am I not looking at things correctly?
I am used to the old-fashioned way of citing volume, number, and page. I have noticed in some magazines that they seem to be doing away with the volume and issue numbers. Is this one of the new trends?
Thanks for continuing to publish your newspaper. I think Finn Hartnett is doing a good job. Can he be convinced to stay another year?
Martha Bair
Antelope
Editor’s note: Water district directors are indeed elected much as hospital directors are, typically in the first quarter of the year. See story this week. We erred with issues 43 and 44 and forgot to update the number in print. Finn promised us a year when he started. We definitely would welcome his staying longer, but New York is his home.
Last modified July 23, 2025