Wed., November 4, 2009 - 8:00am

The people have spoken, and unfortunately it was decided to continue with an unfair, unethical and immoral tax that foists the burden of collecting money on one small segment of the community that suffers an economic loss because of it. The size of this defeat was staggering, but if I were to do it over, I wouldn't change a thing. We simply had too big a hole to climb out of.

When I began actively working on this campaign in June 2009, City officials told me I was crazy, that it was going to pass, that the majority of Ashland citizens would vote out of their own narrow self-interests and would not step up to the plate and do the right thing. And they were right.

To all the people who voted no--and to all the volunteers who participated in this campaign--I salute you. It was a flawlessly-run campaign, but the odds were not in our favor. You are the true heroes.

To the majority who voted yes, and who have no qualms about letting others fall on the grenade for them, maybe someday you, too, will become victims of an unfair action. Maybe then a light will turn on in your head.

Curtis Hayden