This great nation was founded upon the principle that its leadership is elected by a majority of the people to benefit all of the people.

Often times neither part of this statement is true. In most elections apathy is so rampant that a small number of people take the responsibility to vote seriously, and only a majority of this minority decide who will "win" any given election.

Some people will even argue that decisions made don't necessarily benefit "all" of the people.

Be that as it may, our nation with its free elections is still a beacon of desire and hope for the majority of people in the world. For millions of people around the world voting for public officials is still a dream.

This year in our community there are only a few items on the local ballot. Three should be of significant interest to all of us.:

First is Amendment 66, a minimal tax increase designed to increase funding for education in low-income districts (that's us).

Second is Referendum 5D MCHD to allow the Montezuma County Hospital District to go after grant monies - no tax increase is involved.

And the third is RE-4A school board election for two new directors. This specifically is important, because just as the children are our future, so too is the RE-4A School District, the focus of our community. Our present outstanding reputation is one to be proud of and one that we all want to see continue.

The good news is, there are five people passionate about our children's education vying for the two positions. (Many small communities have difficulty finding anyone to run for school board director.)

Hopefully you've read the information about each candidate in The Dolores Star over the last few weeks and you've thought about voting for Dan Jones, Stan Mannis, Joye McHenry, Linnea Vass, or myself, Rick Carpenter.

Please, don't stop there. Fill out your mail-in ballot and VOTE! Voting is a privilege and a responsibility that we should all take seriously.