The following letter forwarded to the 193rd Rifle Division requesting help and support for the Village:
Dear Bob,
I’ve just received our date to go before the Bedford County PA review board over these property taxes: Oct 29th at 9am.
This is a ‘Call to Quills’ as part of a timed and measured response prior to this public hearing.
I don’t think anything relating to historical significance will have any bearing on the commissioners decision, so I would therefore request that letter writers supporting OBV focus on:
1) The economic impact that they bring to Bedford when visiting the Village i.e. money spent on gas, hotel / motel rooms, restaurants and area retailers.
2) Would the letter writer come to Bedford were it not for the Village’s existence?
3) The new tax imposed on OBV threatens the continued existence of OBV
Letters of support should be addressed to:
Commissioner Michael Herline
Chairman of the Bedford County Commissioners
The Court House
200 South Juliana Street
Bedford, PA 15522
For any eloquent writers who are members of GD who’d like to contribute a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, they can reach her at:
Ms. Sharon Maust (Editor)
The Bedford Gazette
424 West Penn Street
Bedford, PA 15522
As when dealing with anything political like this, we have to suppress emotions and concentrate on the facts. If OBV is forced to pay this $18,000 per year property tax on the log cabins, I really can’t see how we can possibly survive.
OBV does not receive any money from Bedford County to help it survive. Our main source of income is from visitors to the Village.
We’re fighting for employees jobs, a revenue stream based on tourism for this impoverished county and to preserve a part of America’s history. This tax is wrong! OBV is a non profit organization and is recognized as such by the IRS and the State of Pennsylvania.
We need to respectfully ask the Bedford County Commissioners to come to their collective senses, to stand back and look at what they are doing to OBV and rescind this abhorrent tax!
Yours Aye!
Roger Kirwin
Executive Director
Old Bedford Village
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