Taxpayers as ATMs for DeBell

Does City Councilman Gary Bric have a crystal ball? He stated that DeBell Golf Course “supported itself before and it will support itself in the future” (Council defends DeBell loan, June 18).

How can Bric say with certainty that the golf course will be self-supporting again? But since he seems to know, perhaps he can gaze once more into his crystal ball and tell us when this will happen. And while he’s at it, also tell us how many more dollars must the city pour into DeBell before it pulls itself out of the red.

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Nowhere could that be truer than on the Forum page of the Sunday News-Press & Leader on June 19. The photo shows a lone golfer on DeBell’s links.

So for the few people who play golf here, a majority of council members, themselves golfers, have determined that shoveling money into this faltering enterprise is more important than supporting the city’s libraries or its fire department, which both took economic hits in the recently-passed 2011-12 city budget.

If Bric and his council cohorts are so adamant about keeping DeBell open, why don’t they and their golfing buddies fund it from their own pockets? Better yet, turn it into a private club and let the members support it.

Are we taxpayers ATMs that the City Council can tap into whenever they need a quick fix for one of their personal priorities?

Molly Shore

Burbank