Bring in real jobs

I've been biting my tongue for quite some time on the sports complex. I kept hoping someone else would get the ball rolling on a "no" vote.

Unfortunately, no one else is doing that, so I guess I'm going to have to state my two-cents worth. You brought up a lot of great points in your article in Oct. 3rd paper.

In my mind, I just can not understand why we need this complex. Hays already has numerous ball fields, many of which we have spent thousands of dollars to upgrade with new grass, sprinkler systems, etc. From what I understand, the people ram-rodding this project think it's a quality of life issue to recruit new employees to the medical center. Why in the world should taxpayers pay for a project to help a business recruit workers? That responsibility should fall upon the business -- offer better benefits or a better salary. So what if we can bring in some tournaments? Who gains by that? The numerous motels and restaurants that continue to pay their employees $8 or less an hour? How in the hell does that really help Hays out?

Instead of paying a half cent sales tax to help a medical center bring in some new people and a few tournament people who will spend their money at Wal-Mart, motels and restaurants, we should use that half-cent like we tried to do a few years back when we were aggressively pursuing an aircraft manufacturing plant here. Instead of wasting a half-cent sales tax on something that will end up being a constant expense, let's spend it for something that will actually bring some real jobs to Hays.

Jason Klitzke

107 W. 17th