During the next few months, we will all be exposed to the ultimate bells and whistles of a presidential election campaign fromtwo leaders of our country. As it goes every four years in America, the candidates will travel from state to state, city by city, to extol the virtues of their vision for our great land and by Election Day we will be exhausted from their rhetoric and the ads that accompany such endeavors.

Unfortunately, so it will go in the community called Adams County School District 50. An attempt is underway by a group of citizens in our community to recall two volunteer school board members who were just overwhelmingly reelected last November on the same platform of progress they are now being criticized for, scarcely six months later.

So, over the next four and one-half months, I will work to inform you of the undesirable consequences our community will endure as a result of a successful recall. As a taxpayer, it is your right to know the facts before making such an important and potentially costly decision.

Let me briefly explain the central issue at hand. The apparent concern by those intending to recall Vicky Marshall and Kevin Massey, two fellow taxpayers in Adams 50, is their decisions about how the bond dollars should be spent; the very same bond dollars that taxpayers approved them to spend in the 2006 school bond election. I must initially explain to you that our board unanimously- meaning, a 5-0 vote - made key decisions regarding bond expenditures that have taken the district so far down the road toward construction, that it will cost several million dollars to turn back now. Yet this group of folks sees fit to select two board members to recall.

Below is the language on the ballot for the 2006 bond election. Among the issues highlighted by the recall committee are: the size of the signature high school and the amount of money being spent on extending the life of current classrooms, most notably, elementary schools in our district. After reading the ballot question, there should be no doubt left that Vicky and Kevin are allocating the bond dollars as promised.

SHALL ADAMS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 50 DEBT BE INCREASED $98,600,000, WITH A REPAYMENT COST OF $172,000,000 AND SHALL DISTRICT TAXES BE INCREASED $9,500,000 ANNUALLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) ACQUIRING, CONSTRUCTING OR PURCHASING BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS, (2) ENLARGING, IMPROVING, REMODELING, REPAIRING AND MAKING ADDITIONS TO SCHOOL BUILDINGS, (3) CONSTRUCTING OR ERECTING SCHOOL BUILDINGS; AND (4) EQUIPPING OR FURNISHING SCHOOL BUILDINGS WHICH MAY INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING:

CONSTRUCT A NEW SIGNATURE HIGH SCHOOL TO REPLACE, COMBINE AND ENHANCE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS;

CONSTRUCT A NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TO REPLACE BAKER AND BERKELEY GARDENS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS;

EXTEND THE LIFE OF CURRENT CLASSROOMS, SCHOOLS AND OTHER FACILITIES BY REPAIRING, MODERNIZING, RENOVATING, AND/OR REPLACING AGING, DETERIORATING OR OBSOLETE INFRASTRUCTURE INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS, HVAC SYSTEMS, PLUMBING AND SEWER SYSTEMS, INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR FINISHES, AND SUCH OTHER IMPROVEMENTS AS NECESSARY TO PROVIDE FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS;

In the coming weeks, my articles will explain our collective rationale, the people involved in the decisions, the fruits of our labor, and how our community well is being poisoned.