To the editor:

As a country resident since 1974, I must take issue with a statement in the Dec. 5 paper by David Burress. He said, “The full costs of living in the country are not being paid by people living in the country.”

I beg your pardon. Living in the country, most of us do not think we are entitled to the same services as those living in town. We have septic systems, up to code and functioning well, all paid in full by the homeowner.

We pay to have our trash hauled away. What can be composted is returned to the earth to improve the soil.

We had water hauled to a cistern until getting rural water in 1976. This year, the fee to our rural water district doubled for the same service as before.

And here, last year, 35 families on their own initiative and with their own money, paid 60 percent of the cost to have the road resurfaced with the township paying 40 percent. Only six families live on our section of road but over 400 cars use it daily compared to about 35 cars a day 28 years ago.

What is Mr. Burress basing his statement on? Does he assume our homes in the country have security systems, requiring two deputies when the alarm, false or not, goes off? Well, all homes do not have such a system.

Not all county residents want to be hooked up to a sewer. Not all country residents keep their lights on all night. We see the stars,

Mr. Burress’ statement upset me, and I think I speak for many residents in the country who are quite independent souls and ask little of the supposed “powers that be.”

Pam Carvalho,

Lawrence