Dear editor,

Maybe our representatives for the city of Vicksburg or the reporter for The Vicksburg Post (since he made no mention of it in his article) does not remember when the city of Vicksburg and the State of Mississippi spent all the money on the Vicksburg Tallulah Regional Airport. The substandard airport on Highway 61 South, according to the FAA, was supposed to be closed due to the fact that it did not meet FAA standards because of topographical impedances that kept it from meeting FAA glide slope standards and being a viable airport.

Vicksburg taxpayers were told at that time that the 61 South airport could not be expanded and it would receive no further federal funding. Yet it was kept open because LeTourneau, which was a large employer in Vicksburg and paid millions in tax dollars (and is now closed) and a very small handful of aircraft owners that did not want to drive across the Mississippi River bridge. They were able to persuade city officials to somehow keep the 61 South airport that was supposed to be closed according to all accounts open.

Maybe our city officials missed the memo.

Once again, the city of Vicksburg does not have the tax base to financially support two airports. We committed (voted) to financially support the Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport and the airport on 61 South was supposed to be closed.

I am sure I’m not the only one who is sick of seeing my tax bill increase year after year because of this tax and spend administration.

We need to replace the tax and spend representatives in Vicksburg. If the projects they were spending our tax dollars on were supporting themselves, our taxes would be going down not up.

Since we are unnecessarily supporting two airports, why doesn’t representative [South Ward Alderman Alex] Monsour and Mayor [George] Flaggs Jr. work on trying to get a second port built before we throw more money at a dead airport on Highway 61 South?

This reminds me of building the sports complex in the worst location they could have in Vicksburg instead of an area that was already populated with hotels and restaurants and had highway access and another prime example of throwing good money after bad.

To our elected officials, please stop throwing good money after bad and raising the taxes in Vicksburg because the projects you spend money on do not generate enough revenue to support themselves.

 

Kemper Ehrhardt

Vicksburg