from The Lebanon Democrat::Feb. 24, 2009
The press and ‘attack, attack, attack’
In Our Opinion - Editorial

Thank you, former Lebanon Mayor Don Fox, for reminding us that free speech and the ability to question decisions of elected officials – specifically that of the mayor (current or past) – have no place in your playground.

Throughout your years in office, you accused anyone who dared to question you about any of your decisions as guilty of “attack, attack, attack” – your own words, not ours.

However, as you demonstrated on the Coleman Walker radio show Monday morning, you expect individuals to follow, without question, wherever you lead.

Sorry, Mr. Fox, but we just can’t do that.

Yes, we urged the County Commission Friday to delay voting on the Bible Park until the following is done:

Approve a resolution asking that the Lebanon City Council join them in instructing the Industrial Development Board to commission a true, independent third-party impact study.

The following are the reasons we asked for this study.

In an article dated Dec. 13, 2008 in the Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., the home of the $400 million bankrupt Hard Rock Park, reporter Lisa Fleisher, reported that the Hard Rock Park contributed almost $560,000 in admissions tax from June through August, as well as $475,000  in state sales tax from June through its closing. However, the article continues to read:

“Still, with the park’s unpaid depts. – assuming that some of the park’s visitors would have spent money at other amusements – the park probably did not contribute much to the economy in its short run, said Don Schunk, an economist with Coastal Carolina University. It might have hurt the economy more than it helped, he said.

“Indeed, given the detrimental impact on other local businesses – due to Hard Rock’s inability to attract new visitors and new spending in the area and a resulting loss of revenue for other attractions, and due to its unpaid bills to local creditors – it is very likely that Hard Rock Park turned out to be a net drain on the local economy in 2008,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Take these statements, along with those made by Rob Wyatt of California-based Entertainment Development Group at the Oct. 9, 2008 IDB meeting, we have every right to be cautious.

Lebanon resident Derek Dodson asked who the investors in the limited-liability corporation behind the park were.

“There’s EDG, SafeHarbor Holdings. We don’t know exactly who the other partners will be,” Wyatt said.

Oct. 10, 2008 issue of The Lebanon Democrat.

Please tell us Mr. Fox, why we should not be cautious about a company, SafeHarbor Holdings, that took a tourist-based area like Myrtle Beach for a wild ride that resulted in bankruptcy?

You are correct that no one did such studies on Bridgestone or Del, but then they were companies that had established records of accomplishment in conducting profitable businesses.

In addition to these concerns is the answer IDB attorney Bob Rochelle gave at the same meeting to Lebanon’s Tom Walsh’s question whether or not the IDB would ask for an “independent economic sturdy.”

Rochelle said the city or county could request a third-party impact study, but that the IDB would likely not do so.

“Normally, the advocate for the project has the burden. These people place their academic standings on the results,” he said.

Oct. 10, 2008 issue of The Lebanon Democrat.

If the IDB does not plan to ask for a third-arty impact study, then we have every right to urge the county and/or the city to insist on one being done.

Sorry, Mr. Fox, but we will continue to question you and any other leader in our county when his or her decision seems questionable.

You might view any who questions you as a case of “attack, attack, attack.” However, we choose to agree with Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the following to George Washington in 1792. “No government ought to be without censors, and where the press is free, no one ever will. If virtuous, it need not fear the fair operation of attack and defense.”