Government intrusion tearing fabric of community

The old couple bowed their heads as they realized that they were not going to be able to do what they had planned for so many years.

The gift of their land to their three children would never become a reality unless they both died today. The latest program the county had adopted had necessitated another tax increase even higher than the last one only seven months ago. Now their property taxes would be too high for them to be able to pay on their limited retirement income. They would have to sell the land and their home and buy something much smaller so that they could afford to pay the ever-increasing taxes.

True, they could sell the land, live in an apartment and invest the small sum for their grandchildren's future but somehow a gift of land had seemed so much more meaningful. At least it used to.

Nine years before, they had planned to build a small guest home on their four-acre property so their wayward granddaughter would have a place to stay during her rehabilitation. However, the county would not allow them to have two residences on their land. So, Lilly couldn't stay close where they could help her. Who knew where she was now.

Every time they tried to do something with their land, they found some regulation or permit that effectively foiled their dreams. They had watched two grandchildren, unable to afford the cost of the permits and the wait to get them, move to the south where they could afford to build.

What had happened in the community they had lived in and loved for so long? It seemed that every year brought an increase in the size and scope of the local government. As the sphere of county government expanded to include more and more areas that used to be privately administered, costs rose and the bureaucracy grew.

Now there were so many government programs that if you were just poor, homeless and convicted of something, you could afford to live here. The ones who shouldered the cost were slowly finding out that "something for everyone" eventually takes so much more than "something" from everyone. The spirit of community and helping each other was all but gone since the government handled everything from garbage pickup to indigent care. True, the outlay to do so was about 30 percent higher than if it were done by private organizations or businesses, but most folks thought that was a fair exchange in order to help out the more unfortunate. Most folks weren't about to lose their land because of the costs.

Well, they would put off the final plans to sell until after Christmas. No use upsetting the family. None of them could help much anyway and the old couple had always paid their own way. Besides, apartment living might not be so bad.

CORNEL RASOR

Sandpoint