Don’t put too much if any stock in the recent "survey" conducted by the city of Luverne. The very use of the word survey is inappropriate as it is completely unscientific and obviously biased to serve certain special interests. First, every question was prefaced by carefully selected "facts" designed to solicit a predetermined response. If I asked a randomly selected survey audience if they would eat a worm I strongly suggest the overwhelming answer would be "No." However, if I prefaced my question with these supposed facts: Worms, being high in protein prevent cancer and heart disease. Eating a worm will effectively cause you to lose 40 pounds. You will receive $1 million for eating a worm. Now if I asked, would you eat a worm, I suspect I could generate a significant numbers of "yes" responses. But can I safely assume the majority of those surveyed would really eat worms? Secondly, but perhaps most important, since this is a Rock County issue not just a Luverne city issue, the survey was immediately flawed by limiting responses to those receiving city utility bills. According to the U.S. Census online, Rock County has a population estimated at 9,614, with Luverne at about 4,600, meaning roughly 52 percent or a majority of the county’s populace was not involved in the survey. The survey suggested that payment for county services should be based on property tax shares. I suggest that services should be based on consumption, those who use the most pay the most. The survey also suggested that a majority of other county/city entities sharing services base payment on property tax structuring. I would like to know how many such relationships exist in Minnesota and exactly who they are before I agree that apples and oranges are exactly the same because they are both fruit. We may very well have a unique situation in which we are one of the state’s smallest counties where a large percentage of its population is located in one community. Let’s be careful not to make decisions based purely on self-interest, misinformation and tainted surveys but rather on facts and fairness. By the way, if future county-wide issues are based on voting decisions and decided purely on city/county population numbers, who would win? Jim Hensley Luverne
