Letter to the Editor: Carla and Newell Freeman

Two weeks ago the county met with concerned citizens about our road conditions. It was a good crowd of about 40 or more people. All tried to voice their opinions about their particular road. Yes, we all agree that the county has lacked the ability to improve roads over the past 10 years or so. Yes, we all agree that going out and working on the road costs the taxpayers as much for a bad job as it does for a good job. Yet, we seem to keep getting the bad jobs.

We just got a quote from one of the local tire shops in Orofino to replace the struts on our car. The estimate is $575. But the kicker was the man’s comment; “I have never seen struts this bad on a car with only 30,000 miles.” Then he looked at our address and boy that explains the situation. Several of my neighbors have the same repair bills or worse for their cars. Should we all send our bills to the county? It seems to be the roads’ fault. There is no way in hell to avoid the potholes.

Another of our neighbors has had several surgeries and needs to go to the physical therapist, but can’t stand the jarring of the ride on the Clearwater roads. So they have to go the long way around (through Nez Perce County to Lenore) each and every time to get to Orofino. Does this even make sense to the County Commissioners?

They did come out to Sunnyside Bench Rd. the day after the meeting and worked for four days. It is better than we have seen in a long, long, time. However, my daughter came to visit on Sunday and said “What the hell’s the matter with your road? It’s terrible.” So you see another four days of bad jobs. The ditch across the road at Robinson’s should never have happened. The county should have ditched along the hillside to the culvert. A quick fix is not really a fix. It’s gotten worse and now is its own problem.

All that was fixed last year is back this year. The slides on the road are larger than ever. I’m sorry but the road department is not doing satisfactory work. If you don’t wish to do the job, please give it up because there are a lot of people that need a job and would be willing to do a good one.