The following is a March 3 submission to Rant and Rave:

“Edward Marshall, your egocentric attitude and entitled spirit tremendously disappoint me. If you care anything about the future of Thomas County and the ability to educate a workforce that will be prepared to be active, successful contributing citizens, you must change your perspective on your responsibility in paying school taxes. As long as you are alive, you are benefitting from your tax dollars paid toward education. The cashier at the grocer, the nurse at the doctor’s office and the mechanic repairing your car all have to be educated to serve you!”

From Rant and Rave on March 1:

“Edward Marshall,why do you continue to display your ignorance and selfishness regarding the penny tax? That’s all it is. Why don’t you get a life?”

As has happened previously, some people resort to the “low road” and start name-calling when they don’t have something substantial to share on a topic. Use “big words” and high-sounding ideologies to “sell” ideas. But if what you have to say is worth the paper and ink it takes to print, you would write a letter to the editor and take ownership of your ideas. No guts, no glory!

I don’t “call out” people by name in my letters unless or until they have mentioned me byname. Individuals who send in rants like the ones above,mentioning me by name, are comparable to the person who pulls the fire alarm in a school and runs away, or throws a rock off an overpass on a car — all talk but no integrity, a “wannabe” bully without courage. Don’t try to “lecture” me in your rant. You don’t have the credibility to pull it off. By the way, I have a life. What happened to you?

Just to set you straight; I and more than 1,600 fellow Thomas County voters, about 1/3 of the total, voted against the ESPLOST. I don’t speak for them, but I feel I don’t need to change my “perspective on your responsibility in paying school taxes.” I don’t agree with the ESPLOST or senior citizen school tax the way it’s done now or the Conservation Use Assessment, but that won’t keep me from paying since it’s the law.

Twice as many Thomas County residents voted to tax themselves and the rest of us, so the result is in the books. Ideological conservatives but operational liberals. That’s democracy at work. The will of the people whether you agree or not.

Five years from now, we’ll be here again and I’ll be opposing ESPLOST V. I’m marking it on my calendar.

And, the school boards won’t even allow citizens to vote on a senior citizen school tax exemption. Now THAT is not democracy at work.

Edward Marshall

Boston