I owe Dennis Pfannenstiel a debt of gratitude. About five years ago, when Barbara Wasinger was mayor, the city of Hays decided to break a 19-year-old land lease with my parents and condemn the land with water wells on the Smoky Hill River. We tried to let the city commissioners know we did not want to sell our land and were satisfied with the lease, which they never said was unfair.

Under the auspice of Mayor Wasinger, the city spent thousands of dollars on consultants and hours in work sessions, yet Mayor Barbara Wasinger allowed Ellis County landowners only 10 minutes to present their concerns and point of view to the commission right before the vote of condemnation. To make a long story short, their city attorney bullied landowners to sell their property because they had a multimillion dollar slush fund up against the limited money of the landowners who would have had to take the issue to the state Supreme Court.

I am voting for Dennis Pfannenstiel, because he listened for an hour at a county commission meeting to his constituents and tried to help the landowners, but their hands were tied with the eminent domain laws. I knew from the past, when I was a county department head, that Dennis Pfannenstiel is a person of integrity, who listens and does what is best for the county. He is a good partner, to work along with the city of Hays and yet protect county interests. My experience with Barbara Wasinger is that she would be a county commission Trojan horse for the interests of Hays.

Our county citizens, cities and towns need a commissioner they can trust to be fair and represent their interests. The city of Hays can be, and often is, a good partner in projects to make best use of our limited resources.

Because they are the big boy on the block they can be of invaluable help, but the flip side is we have to watch to not lose our autonomy. Dennis Pfannenstiel is the best person for the job to work with Hays and surrounding counties. Let me leave you with a quote from Barbara Wasinger concerning the county commission listening to their constituents, the Smoky Hill landowners.

"Letting Mr. Werth educate them (Ellis County commissioners) at a public meeting for no less than one hour was both outrageous and inexplicable to me."

A vote for Barbara Wasinger is to put a Trojan horse on the Ellis County Commission. A vote for Dennis Pfannenstiel would be a vote for a man who will make decisions for the good of the whole county.

Michel Werth

Hays