What garbage
BOLIVAR - During two decades of grass-roots environmentalism, Club 3000 has closely monitored the garbage dumped at the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township. Now, just as the Bolivar-based group's persistence has begun to pay off with a massive cleanup plan in the works, Stark County's health commissioner, William Franks, appears as interested in digging into the club's finances as he is the underground fires and foul odors coming from the 258-acre landfill.
Franks is in the process of formulating a recommendation to the county health board on a 2007 operating permit for Countywide, not a renewal of Club 3000's status as a private, nonprofit organization. He has offered no public explanation for his outrageous demand for financial records, which, so far, the club has denied. Incredibly, the health department's legal counsel, Deborah Dawson, thinks Franks is not abusing his authority.
Franks is well aware of the nature of the group with which he has been dealing for years. Like most grass-roots environmental organizations, Club 3000 has struggled financially. It raises money in small donations and from selling hot dogs and soda pop at fund-raisers. It is in debt. Does Franks really want to know how many wieners Club 3000 has sold? What bearing does that have on landfill operations?
Unless Franks offers a public and extremely compelling reason for continuing his request, he should drop it. To do otherwise would suggest he is on a fishing expedition, looking for something to undercut a group that has made his life more difficult than he thinks it otherwise should be.
Club 3000 is neither a public agency nor a campaign committee that must report donations. It has performed a valuable watchdog function with no hint of impropriety. Franks should keep his focus on the job at hand, which is the operation of a smelly and possibly dangerous landfill. Let Club 3000 sell hot dogs in peace.
