I would like to respond to and clarify a couple of points from Ms. Manning’s article, “Transit tax hits bumps in Oak Harbor” on the front page of the Wednesday, July 8, Whidbey News-Times.

First, I did not feel that Jill Johnson, director of the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce, was “grilling” me whatsoever with her questions. Quite the contrary; Ms. Johnson asked excellent questions that I very much appreciated and she did so in a most gracious manner. Ms. Johnson and I, in my opinion, had a very productive and wholesome exchange. Obviously, Ms. Manning misunderstood the tone of the exchange. Island Transit is a proud member of the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce and we feel the questions that Ms. Johnson asked are the kind of questions that should be asked.

In regards to Mr. Bowers, at a previous community meeting Mr. Bowers completely dominated the meeting by launching into an unending diatribe making it almost impossible for anyone else to speak. He monopolized the entire meeting.

It is absolutely not my style, nor in my nature, to ever cut someone off from speaking. However, at the meeting in Oak Harbor, Mr. Bowers made countless loud outbursts about why should he should not have to pay taxes for schools and transit because he didn’t get anything out of it. In response, an elderly lady raised her hand to speak.

I repeatedly asked Mr. Bowers to please settle down and let this lady speak. Finally, the lady rose to her feet and after introducing herself, stated that she was 93-years-old and that she wouldn’t be able to survive without Island Paratransit services. She said that the bus gets her to shopping and medical appointments and that she even rides the bus just to socialize with others. She continued by saying that she has paid her taxes all her life for schools and all sorts of other important services, and that she felt it is her responsibility to do so as a citizen, and furthermore, it is an important element in strengthening community values. It was at this point that Mr. Bowers retorted, “Well, you’ll be dead soon and then you won’t be paying taxes!” I felt I needed to put an immediate halt to Mr. Bowers’ commenting, and so I told Mr. Bowers that I would not communicate further with him and cut him off by singing the Star-Trek theme.

Mr. Bowers was rude, offensive, and mean-spirited. It was obvious that his words deeply hurt this 93-year-old lady. I sincerely wish that Ms. Manning would have pointed out how badly Mr. Bowers treated this 93-year-old lady.

Martha Rose

Executive director

Island Transit