STRONG CITY — Chase County residents got to speak their minds when Rep. Jerry Moran visited Strong City Tuesday morning for his annual Big First Listening Tour.
Strong City was Moran’s 58th stop in his district in 2007. The stops are set up town-hall style and give residents an opportunity to speak their minds about issues that are important to them.
Chase County residents had many issues weighing on their minds Tuesday morning. The first issue that residents raised was the proposed restructuring plan for area U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency offices. Under the proposed plan, the Chase County FSA office would be closed and consolidated with the Lyon County office. That would mean more driving time for farmers and, according to residents, by consolidating rural offices into city offices, goes against the idea of keeping rural America rural.
Moran said he is against the closure of any offices.
“One, they ought not to do this,” Moran said. “They should do it in a different way.”
Moran said the issue probably can’t be solved through national channels, rather residents nhaving to go through their state representatives to voice their concerns.
“The better opportunity is not me as a member of Congress to pass a law, it’s to try to convince the USDA that this is not the thing they should be doing,” Moran said. “If you’re waiting on Washington, D.C. to solve this problem, I’m not convinced that will happen.”
Moran said the closure of the offices in smaller communities has a broad impact on those communities. Younger residents wanting to come back to their home towns won’t have the opportunity to work through the FSA offices, Moran said. The closure of the offices also takes away the opportunity for local farmers to supplement their income.
“They’re losing that second opportunity for a second income,” Moran said.
Another resident complained about the BNSF Railway crossings at Bazaar. The only access into town is over two railroad crossings, the resident said. A couple of residents chimed in that they have to wait up to 45 minutes to get over the crossing to get out of or into town when a train is passing. Residents and county government have asked BNSF to break trains but to no avail, they said.
“I’ll be glad to talk to BNSF,” Moran said. “I serve on the railroad subcommittee. I’m happy to sit down with them.”
At this point in the meeting, Moran commented that in the smaller towns, the issues are personal. In the bigger towns, the issues are larger, more widespread.
“Out here it’s about personal things,” he said. “We believe government should still work.”
Moran also spoke with residents about the situation in Iraq.
“For Congress to say it’s wrong to be there doesn’t seem right to me,” Moran said.
A question was raised as to why soldiers aren’t properly equipped in Iraq. Moran was asked why Congress wasn’t screaming about this issue.
“I’ll scream a little more,” Moran said. “I think Congress has done a poor job following up.”
Moran said the United States can’t just up and walk away from Iraq right now.
“I have folks very interested in peace,” Moran said. “But I ask them, is it moral to just go home?”
Moran said another problem is the general public is not asked to sacrifice anything for the war in Iraq.
“Almost none of us are expected to sacrifice anything, just the soldiers and their families,” he said. “It’s somebody else’s war, not ours. Many of us are struggling to figure out what should be the answer.”
No Child Left Behind came up during the meeting too. No Child Left Behind states that 99 percent of students have to perform at a assessed level or that school is labeled a failure, Moran said.
“I think students learn in a classroom with a teacher who wants to teach and students who want to learn,” Moran said. “Not taking them out of the classroom to test. We’re not all the same. No Child Left Behind includes special education students ... and children who don’t speak English yet.”
Moran said he worries that No Child Left Behind is ruining the profession of teaching.
“If we make it all about testing and paperwork ... you lose the joy of teaching,” he said.
This is the year that No Child Left Behind is up for renewal. Moran said there is little chance that it will be eliminated.
Some of the meeting time was used to discuss energy. Residents voiced concern on the various ways to obtain energy.
“The reality is we’ve got to produce energy,” Moran said. “You can’t say no to everything. I support nuclear power, but I know that’s not PC.”
Moran said he supports moving the United States into energy independence.
“What a great day it would be in this country when we could tell Saudi Arabia that we no longer care about them,” Moran said.
Moran offered a three-pronged approach to the energy problem: additional exploration for oil and gas in the United States; renewable fuels; and conversion.
“It’s about how we live our lives,” Moran said. “We’ve got to figure out that we can change the way we do things.”
Moran didn’t squeak by without having to discuss immigration in the United States.
“The problem is that President Bush and the Democrats are trying to find this path to citizenship,” Moran said.
Moran said America needs foreign workers.
“I think there are jobs that we just don’t do anymore,” he said. He added that he worries about America’s work ethic.
“I don’t have the work ethic of my parents and my kids probably don’t have the work ethic of me.”