Bait shops

To the editor:

How many years does it take to be classified as a business in Marion County?

We are starting on our fifth year here at Last Chance Bait Shop and Tackle at the Marion Reservoir, but as the county commissioners and the newspapers state, we do not exist, according to articles in the Marion County Record and Hillsboro Free Press.

We have purchased and supplied all the equipment and supplies needed to run a bait shop in Marion County without receiving any grants or assistance from Marion County taxpayers.

So this brings up my next question: How can a county use taxpayers’ money for a profit business — stock, supply equipment, and inventory, along with salaries — to compete with pre-existing businesses that have been paying these very taxes to operate?

Now these taxes are being used to compete against these businesses.

As stated in the articles, they came and talked with all the bait shops in the county, and this includes us. This is not the truth. No one from the Marion County commission has been out to talk with us at any time.

So, this brings the conclusion that the taxpayers are paying for the operating costs of a profit business as well as the salary of the employees.

What is being done with the profit of this business and who is benefiting from the endeavor? What is this going to do to other local businesses?

Janice Davis
Marion

Editor’s note: The Marion County Record reported only that commissioners had promised to purchase supplies from local businesses. Commissioners did not name the businesses.