This is in response to the article “Fail to vote and pay through the nose” (Oct. 10). Let me begin by saying that the right to vote is something that is often times taken for granted. A lot of the college students I know don’t exercise their right to vote for numerous reasons. I agree with Mr. Dale as far as the importance of voting goes. However, I, like many others, do not appreciate being preached to. College students get preached to every day. I refuse to be preached at for not voting in Tuesday’s special election. It doesn’t surprise me that there was a low student voter turnout. It’s Homecoming week and a lot of people have a lot of things going on. How dare Mr. Dale scold us because he’s upset the sales tax is going up. Why is he not pointing fingers at all the other Ames residents who didn’t vote? And as far as Mr. Dale stating that taxing the whole town is not the way to get money — what then exactly does he propose the town does? If he’s hiding some knack for fixing the budget maybe he should stop in and talk to the mayor. Better yet, maybe he should send President Bush a r‚sum‚. And maybe Ames doesn’t NEED a new middle school — not right now anyway. Living in the economy we do everyone knows that prices hardly ever drop when it comes to constructing things. So wouldn’t it be better to raise the money now so we don’t end up paying twice as much 10 years down the road?

Props to Mr. Dale for voting. I totally respect the fact that he found the time to vote. He should give himself a well-deserved pat on the back. However, his mightier-than-thou-because-I-voted act really isn’t very flattering.

Stephanie Hassebrock

Sophomore

Sports management