Gunnison news-champion., 1921-08-12

Continued from First PageD
kin. Ohio City. and even DoyleyiIle
f8.ks, who wanted better roads for
Quartz Creek
Mr Knowles took the position that
PI;kln already had better roads than
the rest Of his district and that he had
the legal right TO spend the entire ap-
preparation for his district where he
pleased He did not deny spendin;
most Of his 1921 tax fund on the
main road along the Tomichi valley,
but claimed TO have spent more than
was alleged on the Quartz creek side
and the general tone OF his replies in
dicated that he thot the Pitlin folks
had fairly good roads, and didn't need
any more road work now. and weren';
going TO get IL. ThereUpon, the COM
mittse told him Of movement q
invoke the recall, and got the answer,
Hop 10 IT," right of the bat
The committee then appealed l.
Nessrs. Sullivan and Whalen, commits
Sfuners from the first and third
districts, but were told that every
commissioner was supposed 10 look
after his own district and that custom
all over the state did not contemplate
their interfering with Mr.. Knowles.
Whether they thought him unfair or
not. II would be impossible 10 give
Pitkin people any relief unless they
appropriated the money from their
own districts.
The delegation left. very indignan.
%, Mr. Knowles and is carrying mat
tors 10 the governor and the State
highway Commission. The matter Of
90 recall, Is also being discussed, but
, appears that 25 per cent of the
votes at the last election or some 600
names would be required on such i
petition. and il would cost the county
many thousand dollars.
This controversy has been brewing
for some months. The Pitkin citizens
-'aim their good roads have been abso-
.utely neglected this spring and al
lowed 20 90 TO rack and ruin, with
mud holes and rlts that made them
well nigh impassible They accuse
Commissioner Knowles not alone OF
doing no construction work on their
sfde, but Of allowing excellent roads
built at great expense, 20 detcriorate
thru lack Of reasonable care, not even
ordinary grading and ditchinR out of
food water from parlin up. The same
complaint is heard from Waunita, and
ut White Pine, when News-Champion
CORE spondcnt three weeks ago de-
clared that SO worth Of attention
would have saved $500 loss TO the
county in roads.
Commissioner Knowles undoubtedly
has the legal right TO spend his en-
tire second district appropriation
where ne pleases. News-Champion is
unable TO discover as yet how much
he has actually spent on these roads
in controversy, and of course there
will always be difference of opinion
as to how badly q road needs atten-
ton rs compared with another piece
of road. Mr.. Knowles now has the
say-so in this regard.
We have, however, dug up some
figures in regard 10 tax money in the
districts, which will enable those in
tcrested to form their own conclusion.
The valuation OF the second district
on the assessors books last year was
1896, 1886. The county tax for road
purposes was % mills, which, If it
were all collected, would bring in
S8,l3l.95. The valuation of the Pit
kin school district is ss65,4I5; of Tin
Cup, SPAS, SOS: Of Ohio City, 1924, $50;
and of Parlin, S556.i2O. Assuming
that one third of the Parlin district
lies in the Quartz creek valley, this
makes total of approximately two
millions, or in exact figures, 81 ,923, ,933
for the territory that claims TO have
had no road work. This is better
than half of the entire district, and
its proportion of the districts road
tax of SS,I31.95 is s4,232.S5. In addi-
f;op CnT,,roi sinpnr Epau-lac ;,,bar;yaI 9,
couple of thousand from his share OF
the forest money, auto licenses, etc.
If the state road bonds are sold in
time, his district will also get about
$1,000 from that fund for 1921.
In this connection, one might con-
trast his plan Of handling the road
funds with that adopted by Commits
sioner Sullivan and Alex Thomas,
road superintendent in the first dis
trict. At the beginning of the year.
Mr.. Thomas figured the road levy on
the valuation of each school distric.
in his territory and allotted to that dis
trict fully the taxes paid. in repair
work and general up-keep, using the
state and special funds for new con-
struction work. For instance, the
Lake Fork region has received some
5000 in road work, whereas, they
never before received more than $500.
We have heard no complaint so far
from this end of the county, in spite
of the unexpected damage caused By
floods and washouts.
Mr.. and Mrs. S. G. Bottenfieid and
son Ernest. drove down from their
East River ranch Tuesday, looking up