Dear Editor,

This letter is in response to Steve Martin&8217;s weak and arrogant column in the Feb. 27 paper, which attempted to lessen the blow to local citizens&8217; rights that was performed at the Shelby County BOE meeting Feb. 21.

I hesitate to respond in a public letter, but I am furious that this board, which includes one personal friend, could miss the boat so badly. It should be noted that I do not live in the Vincent district, and my wife is a teacher in the Shelby County system. With that being said, this outcome is of little to no consequence to me, except that it significantly affects the local citizenry, I hate to see their will overpowered by outsiders.

I am sure that neither the spirit of the town of Vincent nor its schools was killed Thursday night. Those people are too proud. They participate. They care.

What is infuriating is that in the end, the entire board and superintendent (regardless of the vote count), especially Martin forgot the most important thing.

It is your job, Mr. Martin, as a member of this board, as well as the jobs of Randy Fuller and the rest of the board, to serve the people of Shelby County, NOT the desires of the state superintendent. Obviously, that was forgotten Feb. 21 as you all publicly denied the citizens of the Vincent district the right to control one&8217;s own destiny. I do not intend to give the board a lesson in government, but this is another story of &8220;big brother&8221; government stomping on the wishes of local citizens.

It is unfortunate, and I am tired of it. In complete disagreement with your letter, I believe the outcome

can be changed, maybe not in the next school year, but certainly over the next few election cycles. New superintendents and board members can be elected. The citizens of this county cast the only votes that matter in those elections.

The tragedy Mr. Martin is that we cannot vote you all out of office in November. I, for one, am tired of seeing big government overruling local rule. It will be interesting to see if I am in the minority in the fall.

Bruce Fryer

Columbiana