Editor,
Dear Commissioners:
As a Thurston County resident residing just east of Yelm, I am writing to express my dismay at the condition of our county roads after the recent snow event. It is unacceptable to me that our schools are closed because the road travel is deemed to be too hazardous for the school buses to operate safely. The failure to timely deploy the sanding and de-icing trucks keeping the roads safe and clear of ice is equally unacceptable. It used to be routine, but this season is terrible. Why?
Not only this issue, but weed mitigation along Cook Road where I resided this past summer, was absent. Tree roots are pushing up the asphalt along Cook Road, which is also becoming problematic by the airport hangars.
I could discuss a wide array of other issues as to how our tax money is being spent, but I won’t go there today. If you can’t or won’t take care of the basics such as road maintenance, then I suggest it might be time to look for something else to do. We, the taxpayers, deserve and expect much better!
In closing, our kids deserve and need to be in school, not the shopping malls or wherever they roam on these manageable winter-driving condition days. We deserve the safest roads that we can have. There are many states that do not self-paralyze when a relatively minor winter weather event happens.
If you can’t figure this out on your own, then perhaps, you can consult with those that can.
Sam McLean
Yelm