Letter to the Editor – Concordia Blade Empire

Sent in by Daniel P. Chaput, October 15, 2025

Dear Editor,

What I hear is that there is nothing to do in Concordia and that there is no place to have activities. That is what I hear adults say. It must be a different Concordia from the one I know.

As a 72-year-old, I have many things that I am doing and that I want to do. I would never think of asking other taxpayers to provide me with activities and to pay for them.

Check out our parks and recreation departments. Check out our Library, Museums and Churches. Check out all the youth sport activities and go to their games to cheer them on. Check out volunteering. I have been to activities at the Armory, Fairgrounds and American Legion. Thank you to those for providing space for activities. I understand we have a nice new business that provides space for activities and other businesses that provide activities. Our City Government should not be in competition with what we have already in town. Have a game that you want to play? Start a business that offers that activity. Don’t ask me to pay for it. All kinds of hobbies out there, people. Go for it. Do you have a club or want to start a club? Do it the old-fashioned way and meet in your own homes.

Should I give up one of my magazines so someone can play virtual golf? I don’t think so.

My thoughts on the city sales tax to pay for this building. We are now at a total of 8.5 percent. Add another 1 percent to get 9.5 percent. That’s almost 10 cents on each dollar.

This would be a 1 percent increase on your utility bills: Electric, Natural Gas and Phone. These are high enough already. You might be able to handle the extra, but we have a lot of neighbors in town that have trouble with them. Don’t vote yes to increase their utilities: Vote NO.

This would be a 1 percent increase on your grocery bill. It was 8.5, but the State took off their 6.5, so now it is 2 percent. Thank you, State of Kansas. I notice it when I pay for my groceries. But now the city wants to raise it to 3 percent. You might be able to handle the extra, but we have a lot of neighbors in town that have troubles with groceries. Just check with the food bank. Don’t vote yes to increase their grocery bill—Vote NO.

They say that 40 percent of sales tax collected comes from people outside of town. We want them to continue to come to Concordia. That extra sales tax gives them one more reason to continue on south of town. It makes our merchandise, meals and services more expensive for them. Vote NO to the sales tax.

We are not sure as to what we will get for this sales tax or how much it will cost. We have seen lots of changes over the last few weeks. It seems to be a rush job. I don’t think a bank would loan money on this project with what we know. So we should not give them our tax dollars. Vote NO. Please vote.

“Remember Our Prison!”—Daniel P. Chaput