To the editor:

Last week, as I was taking my mom out shopping, I received a call on my cellphone. It was my kid in the Army.

She had received her absentee ballot for West Bath and had a question. She stated that there was only one guy running for selectman, and unless there was a write-in campaign that it was kind of a no-brainer.

What she wanted to know was where the money was coming from for the school and what it was going to be used for.

I haven’t seen the ballot yet, but I thought it was an excellent question. She said that she would call the town office directly and ask. Later that day, when I looked at the West Bath website, there was a link posted so that you can review the school budget.

This kid is half a world away and she’s still interested in local governance. It isn’t that she’s anti-schools. She just wants to know where her tax dollars are going before she votes.

Good for her!

How many of us actually check to see what our tax dollars are being spent on before we vote? I haven’t looked at the school budget but after that long-distance phone call I will.

It puts me to shame that someone in Germany cares enough about what she’s voting for to call home and ask. It’s too bad that she has an obligation to fulfill for the Army because I would certainly put Sgt. Chanda Hinton down as a write-in for selectman.

Marsha Hinton
West Bath