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The Battle Lines are Drawn on VET

By John Riley - Member of Stop the VET

(In response to Courier Journal article "10 Kentucky counties exceed new ozone limit U.S. could require VET to continue" and editorial "Louisville's toxic air" dated July 16th, 2003)

It was predictable that the Courier Journal would advocate the return of VET testing. There are other means to accomplish clean air in our communities that have not been explored and major air polluters who have not been held accountable. However, the battle lines are now drawn between the citizens of Jefferson County and the local, state and federal un-elected bureaucrats who are aided and abetted by the Courier Journal and our elected officials that are unwilling to stand up for average citizens.

We, the People in Jefferson County, won only one small battle in this war when we were successful in passing legislation in Frankfort that will bring an end to VET testing later this year. The citizens of Kenton, Campbell and Boone Counties in Northern Kentucky are currently engaged in a battle to bring the VET to an end, and they will ultimately be holding their ELECTED officials accountable.

It should be clear to all citizens of Kentucky who live outside of Jefferson and the Northern Kentucky Counties that it is time for all citizens to stand together in this battle. The citizens of Bullitt, Oldham, Warren, Christian, Bell and Boyd Counties are currently in the crosshairs. The citizens of Spencer, Henry, Shelby and others will soon be next, and this nonsense will continue unless we all make a solid stand and simply say No MORE!

The citizens have no control over the un-elected bureaucrats (who spend untold millions of our hard earned money), because they are not accountable to the citizens at the ballot box on election day. However, the citizens do still have control over their local, state and federal elected officials, and we can control which newspapers we choose to support. The citizens do still have control over the money we earn after the elected officials are through picking our pockets with their ever increasing taxes, fees and VET testing programs among many others.

We can still choose to buy or not buy the Courier Journal’s propaganda, and we can still choose to support or not support those businesses that continue to support the Courier Journal with their advertising dollars.

As long as we continue to support the Courier Journal , its advertisers and elected officials with no backbone, then we can expect more of the same until ultimately we, in fact, no longer have any control. We must not allow the Courier Journal or any elected officials to simply shrug their shoulders and say "Well, it’s out of my hands and there’s nothing I can do because the EPA says...." or "The federal government will withhold money from Kentucky unless ...".

If the citizens can win on this issue, we can begin the process of taking back our local communities, our State, and even our ever powerful federal government.  This is not a time for you to decide to sit back and do nothing. It is time to take a stand!

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