The first article

Here is my first "LaPlante's Rants" column for July 20, 2006. The newspaper has hit my mailbox, so I figure it may be in a lot of others.

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I have heard it said that opinions are just like armpits; everyone has a couple of them and they usually stink. Fortunately for those around me, I do use deodorant. My opinions, on the other hand have been found to be sweet smelling to some and malodorous to others. That having been stated, I welcome you to my first weekly opinion column here in "The Selma News".

By popular demand, I want to discuss a recent issue that I have written about already on the internet. I have already gotten a decent amount of feedback from some people on my commentary.

Right down the street from my humble abode is an old water tower that belongs to the town. In a recent edition of this newspaper, it was reported that the Selma officials would like to tear down the tower with the reasoning that it is unused and an eyesore.

I wish to applaud the efforts that the town has made in attempting to make Selma "a charming place to be", by cleaning up the town's signage, enforcing town ordinances, and the like. This particular instance, however, needs to be approached in a different manner, in my opinion.

The town is increasing taxes, laying off employees, and cutting expenses. The town is in "crisis mode" financially. Thus, I don't believe this to be the proper time to consider the expenditure of anywhere between $6500 and $12,000 just to tear down a water tower that has been standing harmlessly for years.

Instead, I would much rather see this tower contribute to the image of Selma being a railroad town, an "antique Mecca" (hey, I didn't come up with that slogan. It was here years ago), and a "charming place to be". Either that, or if we are indeed going to dispose of the tower, perhaps we could find a better way of getting rid of it than paying someone to tear it down.

Possible ideas are to search for collectors, theme parks (hey, Disney may want to save a few bucks), and scrap metal dealers willing to take the tower. I even joked on the internet about putting it for sale on ebay. We have the time to take for that process. If it is considered expensive to make the phone calls, then I will gladly donate my free long distance phone line for the purpose.

Other ideas are to make this tower available to cell phone companies looking for a tower location, much like the recent Alltel lease the town is entering with said company. An arrangement for painting and maintenance of the tower in exchange for a portion of the first year's rent will go far in enhancing the town's image and remove the eye sore part of the tower's existence.

Perhaps the county would like to have a high rise rescue training facility for emergency personnel practice. All that would be necessary to keep the tower would be to keep it painted.

I don't really care about the nostalgia of the tower. I really don't care if we tear it down instead of keep it. I do care about spending the taxpayers' money on something for which we may not need to spend it. I would much rather see some creative thinking and effort go into use of town resources.

I understand the concept that the town will seem hypocritical for demanding property owners keep their own properties up to code and looking good and the town not doing the same. However, the town has already been making honest efforts thus far, and have been spending resources and money on those efforts.

I live right down the street from the tower behind The Selma Cotton Mill property. I pass by it almost daily, and don't see it as the eye sore that the town apparently does. I see it as opportunity, instead. I can only hope that the town will approach all such items with this sort of thinking in the future.