Late news, as in, too late

    Carroll County Times editor Jim Lee had another insightful column in Sunday's edition, adding to a list of good analytical pieces in the past few months.
     But as I have mumbled about a few of them in recent months, I heard someone else say, "Where was this information when it mattered?" As, for instance, during the campaigns and before the primary elections. Or why were these questions left unanswered, for the most part, in the mainstream press prior to now?
     Dig out your Sunday Times editorial page and read the column, and then go on line and find past cautionary columns by Lee in the archives. He raises many of the same red flags that I have raised over two terms in public office. To get to the point, we are about to return to the days of unbridled residential growth and unplanned zoning that the libertarians love, even if it is at the expense of the average citizen. Lee sees it, I see it, and anyone with a memory of the history of the past 30 years can see it. but the voters got stars in their eyes when candidates used words like liberty and freedom and property rights.  Sure, those words imply shared values, but what is missing is the fact that not everyone gets to benefit.
     If you live in Carroll County, you will love the majority members of the new board of commissioners if you:
     ....Own property that you want to develop into residential building lots...
     ....Sell real estate, or practice real estate or property management law....
     ....Have land that could be used for junk, storage, noisy commerce or other odious uses if the zoning were eased up . . . .
     ....Love the sight of billboards ....
     ....Do not care about the quality of water that drains into Liberty reservoir or the Chesapeake Bay.....
     ....Think it's no body's business if groundwaters are polluted by industrial negligence combined with a lack of governmental regulation .....
     ....Do not use and do not care if others value recreational facilities, trails, fields .....
     ....Do not use and do not care if senior centers or libraries are not funded as they have been ....
     ....Oppose or are indifferent to the preservation of farms so they can remain a viable industry in a county becoming more and more a dormitory, with amenities, to urban jobholders.
     I'm glad to see the Times and other media raising the issues again, but where were they when the information might have given people something to think about?