NEED MORE NAMES FOR PETITIONS
by Robert Nolte
WORDEN — About a half-dozen people interested in organizing a mosquito district for Ballantine and Worden attended an informational meeting last Wednesday night at the school.
Roscoe Haggerty, organizer of the effort, said he was disappointed at such a scant turn-out but added that he has received strong support from both towns to establish a mosquito district.
“We will keep circulating petitions,” he said. “And hopefully this can go before the county commissioners for approval soon.”
Forty percent of the property owners in Worden and Ballantine would have to favor a new taxing district that would cost homeowners about $45 a year to operate.
Haggerty thought he had enough names to move the process forward until it was discovered that the signatures of a husband and wife only count as one name on the petition.
“So we have to get more names,” he said.
Despite the low turnout at the meeting Wednesday, Dec. 16, Haggerty is encouraged by the amount of interest in the communities and believes a mosquito district will soon be approved.
The petitions that are circulating are legal and have been approved by the county attorney’s office.
Why does Haggerty, a Billings resident, care so much about the spring and summer mosquito invasion on the Project?
“It’s my passion,” he said. “After the kids move out, I am going to move out this way… to a smaller community.”
Haggerty envisions not only fogging to kill the pests but also larvaecide control in the ditches and river.
Hardin has a mosquito district “and there are no mosquitoes there,” he said.