Waggener High School - RingBrothersHistory.com

The Voice of St. Matthews, April 20, 1950:4 Page —AdvertisementDON’T LET THE “EXPERTS” KID YOU ON INCORPORATIONST. MATTHEWS IS TIRED OF BEING AN ORPHANED CHILDSt. Matthews has a head of its own. It is tired of being the butt of ridicule, derision, indecision, and division. The so-called“experts” tell us that we don’t know what we are talking about. They say if we incorporate we will need a new fire department,police department, city hall, school streets, and—yes—a jail.Imagine that: a jail! Does Louisville have a jail? Does Audubon Park, Richlawn, Indian Hills, Druid Hills, Anchorage, orShively have a jail? Does any other incorporated city in Jefferson County have a jail? NO! Louisville uses the Jefferson-County jail. All the other incorporated cities use the County jail.We have a fire department. We have the FINEST VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT IN JEFFERSON COUNTY. Ourvolunteer fire fighters are on duty 24 hours a day to protect our homes, our lives, and our property. They deserve your finestsupport. If you are not now a member of our Volunteer Fire Department by subscription, send in your application at once.Our fire department is so GOOD that a part of our St. Matthews area is covered by a 24-cent fire insurance rate and a goodpart at a 40-cent rate. With further action as a united corporate municipality we can lower those rates.A police station? For what? Does Audubon Park, or Richlawn, or Indian Hills, or Druid Hills, or any of the other incorporatedcities outside Louisville have a police station?A City Hall? Why, of course, we plan to have a municipal office. Nothing pretentious. Certainly nothing like the old feudalmonument of the Civil War days that is a dismal sight at Sixth and Jefferson. And that was paid for only two years ago. Weplan to have a simple, efficient municipal office where our citizens can go to pay their taxes and to talk over municipalproblems and affairs of THE CITY OF ST. MATTHEWS. Nothing extravagant. Nothing that will take us 75 years to payfor, as it did the City of Louisville.Mayor Charles Farnsley incorporated the City of Shively, before he became mayor. And look what’s happened to Shively.It has grown into a thriving, healthy, bustling American city. In 1939, its appraised property value was $13,000,000. Todayit is over $200,000,000.A school? Well, who owns the school system? The people, of course. Anchorage has a school. There’s one just beyondShively. There’s one right here in St. Matthews. And it will be with us always. Nobody can tear it down and move it away—just because we choose to incorporate.Louisville’s annexation efforts have kept us out of new schools. When this controversy is settled, we will get new schools.Of course we will have taxes. It costs money to run a city. Ask the “experts” in Louisville how much it costs. They willgive you a lot of mumbo-jumbo about the high cost of running a city.That’s the Louisville story. But we intend to levy taxes at a reasonable and equitable level. Not on the Louisville level.AND THE LAW WILL NOT ALLOW THE SIXTH CLASSCITY OF ST. MAT-THEWS TO LEVY A TAX RATEHIGHER THAN 75 CENTS.Your CITY OF ST. MATTHEWS trustees are serving withoutpay in their civic duty.We have over 60 miles of sewers in St. Matthews. That’s moresewer pipe than the City of Louisville ever laid at any one time inits history. We have 99 percent-plus of the pipe in the ground.There are only a few hundred feet more to be laid. Yet, not oneinch of the sewer line has been accepted by the Sanitation District.There is approximately $150,000 available to finish the sewerjob. And two of the biggest bonding companies in the country arebehind the contractors with performance bonds. Each contractoris required to furnish a performance bond. Behind these bondsare the Maryland Casualty Company and the MassachusettsBonding and Indemnity Company.In recent days, new legal steps were taken by foes of THE CITYOF ST. MATTHEWS to attempt to beat us. This action was filedby Raymond C. Stephenson, a Louisville attorney, member of theLouisville Board of Education, City Attorney for the City ofShively, and a former law partner of Mayor Charles Farnsley.Isn’t it a bit strange how these special interests become entangled?WHY CAN’T WE INCORPORATE?