The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1921-11-04


construction Of road No. /. This
charge is not well founded. No part
Of this sum was placed upon road No.
l. The present department has plac-
ed but three federal aid projects, one
in Nassau county, an outlet north
into the state, one in st. Lucie
county, on the East Coast, which sec
ton certainly deserves consideration,
and the other one in Alachua county
on road No. q The department SIM
ply took a large part of the federal
aid from Hamilton county, which was
not entitled to such an enormous
amount at this time, and placed
large part of the same on road No. 2
in Alachua county. Not one dollar
was placed by this board on road No.
1.
The department desires to further
state that of the convicts now work
ing totaling 420, that 260 of them
are now at work on road No and 100
on road No. l.
Now, let's examine the case of Co
lumbia county. Two or three individ-
uals from Columbia county, who es-
say to speak for the citizenship of this
county, but who the department does
not believe fairly represent the peo-
pie, have also stated that the depart
ment was taking their bonds and now
are diverting the money This is abb
solutely untrue. What are the facts?
Columbia county did issue bonds for
100000. They had many and serious
dlsagreements among themselves
about the issue. Finally they were
validated but the county did not, or
could not, sell them to advantage.
They then delivered the issue to the
road department We have them now
and have been unable to sell them.
They bear only 5 per cent interest,
and we cannot utilize any money
from them except at a great discount.
We have received in cash from Colum-
bia county the interest on these
bonds. This county, by reason of its
strategic position, (roads No. / and 2
crossing at Lake City,, has received
and will receive more road building
in the near future than probably any
other in the state Surely It cannot
be heard to complain, and we DO not
believe the fair minded citizenship
of Columbia county is doing so.
We want to issue a. word of eau
ton to the people on road No. down
through the central part of the state
not to permit themselves to be used
as cats paw by Hamilton county in
an effort to wiring from the depart
ment the enormous sums above re-
ferred to for use at this time on such
a short stretch of road.
Now, what is the result of this
change in type of construction made
on the road through Hamilton coun-
ty? We are building four bridges
on this road, and we are making the
road fit for travel as we 60. In
comparatively short time, the road
will be ready, while if we had been
tied up with the old schedule, there
is no telling when this road would
have been passable. We have given
our pledge to the bureau Of public
roads that we will maintain this road
in condition for travel and that as
soon as we can, we will complete it as
a hard surfaced road
It is mistake to say that this
change was made because of the
views Of any member of the board.
The chairman of the board had more
to do with this matter than any
other member, and he stands ready
to assume full responsibility in the
premises.
The department realizes that road
No. is one of the great roads Of
the state and we intend to see s,,at
it is built. We are not going to be
influenced or turned aside from the
performance of very plain duty by