In the city council election, there are only two contests. Bill Koos is challenging incumbment Wayne Tucker in Ward 3 while Matthew Fink is challenging Shelley Butler in Ward 1.

Shelley Butler and Bill Koos seem to feel that upgrading Minonk's infrastructure is important, especially the sewer system. Wayne Tucker and Matthew Fink feel that it is important to build up the downtown business district and to attract new businesses to Minonk. All of these objectives are worthwhile. In addition, each candidate indicated that they were against a landfill being located next to Minonk.

Minonk was first threatened with the possibility of a landfill in 1992. The CAL committee (Citzens Against Landfill), with the support of the Minonk community, successfully fought off the efforts of USA Waste to put in a landfill in Section Six north of Minonk. This was accomplished by getting the state to pass a law that stipulated that any landfill that would be situated on a city's border must be approved by the local city council. Therefore, since the power of locating a landfill in Minonk is in the hands of the city council it is important that you feel that the candidate you vote for reflects your feelings on the landfill issue.

Running for elective office in any town is definitely an act of volunteerism. It sometimes is a thankless job and councilpersons are always subjected to criticsm. That goes with the territory. My main concern with any candidate that runs for office is that their objectives are influenced by their desire to improve the community and that they are not influenced unduly by other interests or other people who may have motives that do not place the community first. I think that is an important consideration when you decide who to vote for.

I attended the school board "Meet the Candidates Night" last Tuesday. The theme that I picked up from that meeting was that the school board has to work as a team. I don't know if this meant that they were all going to agree on agreeing to everything that was presented to them by the school admininstration or whether working as a team meant that they needed to stick together to keep the community alliance going.

I suspect the latter based on the answers they gave when I submitted the question on what should be done with the Minonk and MDR high school trophies. None of them felt they belonged in the gymnasium and, incredibly, Tim McNamara even suggested that they be auctioned off for money. What I thought was significant was that the only candidate who seemed sympathetic to the trophy issue was Kris Klieber from Wenona, who happened to be the only candidate at the meeting who hasn't been on the school board.

Again, I have to give the candidates credit for their volunteerism. However, I just don't think they realize how their attitude can alienate Minonk residents. The school board must consider input from the public as well as from the school administrators. If the Fieldcrest school district is to become a truly tightly knit alliance of communities they must be sympathetic to the need for each community to also be able to recognize and remember its past. All indications I get from both the school board and the school administration is that we must forget the past and start over anew. I think that is a mistake. A school's past history is just as important as its future.

Get out and vote and pray that the best person wins. Remember, you can't complain if you don't vote.