This is in response to a Letter to the Editor dated June 18, 2008 titled “Get our tax dollar priorities straight.”

Spending $25,000 to send the Fairhope Band to March in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is and was the right thing to. Support of our community educational programs and honoring our students is the right priority.

Our SWAT team was not forced to buy its own equipment. I am sure the good citizens of Fairhope and the surrounding communities would be willing to come with a few extra dollars more to buy guns, ammo and armor. Consider after all how dangerous it is to live here. The best way to ensure a safe, clean and well-maintained community is through programs like the trip to Chicago.

It’s trips like this that turns young boys and girls into men and women. Educational programs as such bring back into the community much more than it gave out. Exposure of the adventure, personal responsibility, a chance to show their stuff and plus putting Fairhope on the map. Chicago got a chance to see and meet the Fairhopians and in turn they got to see a great city at work, a bargain at twice the price.

Fairhope