To the editor:

I agree with Jeremiah Lange (page 2, last week) 100 percent in what he said about companies offering a living wage to keep people in Marion.

The picture he paints is realistic. I once lived in Great Bend and had to make the move to Alaska due to family issues, but I would, and very much want, to move back into the Marion area someday soon.

The biggest questions on my mind are always regarding jobs and wages. I fully intend to be a 100 percent productive member of society. Here in Alaska I am an EMT firefighter, public information officer for the Alaska Fire Service, and a certified forensics photographer. But the chances of a living wage job within Marion County scare me.

Marion is a beautiful place, and its people have to come together and create a way to get those new businesses into the city.

It’s a matter of survival. I don’t want to read about Marion in one of Daniel Fitzgerald’s books about the ghost towns of Kansas. I plan on bringing a business to town (a small photography studio to start, and one or two other possibilities if the franchise licensing works out), but I have to know that Marion and Marion County want to grow to a point where my wife and I can become established and prosper.

I sure hope that day will come when I pack my bags and don’t look over my shoulder at Alaska, but look forward to my wide-open plains and God’s best people on Earth.

I look forward to someday being proud to support my future community and friends, it’s time for some honest growth to avoid Jeremiah’s word picture.

Dave LaForest
Soldotna, Alaska