Keep Ring, Smouse in Antioch Township

Since August of 2007, the Chain O'Lakes has experienced three (100-year) floods. Last year, in 2008, there was a flood in April and in June. As someone who lives on the Chain, flooding is expected occasionally (not every year) and as a result I volunteered to help fill a lot of sandbags and then we had to fill a few hundred more to protect our own property.

Without the help of Antioch Township the task would have been impossible to achieve as the county, state and feds were noticeably absent, with the exception of the occasional local politico showing up for photo-ops.

I called the Antioch highway commissioner, Mark Ring, and asked for sandbags. Within an hour there was a truck at our house with a full load of sand and several hundred bags. When I ran out of bags, one of the highway workers dropped off some more on his way to deliver sand to another of my neighbors battling the floodwaters. I can't tell you how grateful we were to get the assistance.

That is how governmental services are supposed to work and indeed it is my opinion that the Antioch Township highway department is top-notch. Without fail during the winter, the workers from the highway department are out plowing the roads at a moment's notice of measurable accumulation.

The highway department workers work hard because they are led by someone who works hard himself, and that person is Mark Ring.

Mark has also been responsive on other matters in our area of Antioch Township and in my opinion he truly represents what a public servant should be today. This is why I am supporting Mark Ring for highway commissioner, but without good leadership at the top, Mark would not be able to be as effective as he is, so I am also supporting Steve Smouse for township supervisor because both of these men run a tight ship and know how to make government work.

Steve Skinner

Antioch