A resolution asking the Board of Orange County Commissioners to request state representatives to oppose legislation further funding war in Afghanistan was tabled until November at Tuesday’s meeting.
The resolution, entitled “Resolution To End the Expenditure of the Public’s Tax Dollars by the U.S. Congress for Excessive and Unaffordable Warfare Funding,” was initially proposed by Mark Marcoplos, a Chapel Hill resident and the owner of a local construction company, at a board meeting Sept. 21.
Marcoplos has formerly served on the county’s economic development commission, planning board and the Orange Water and Sewer Authority Board of Directors, for which he was chairman for nearly two years.
The resolution states that the actions in Afghanistan offer no “identified public benefits” and cause “great and unnecessary harm” to the people of Afghanistan and to American troops and their families.
It also requests North Carolina’s house representatives and senators take strong action in U.S. Congress to stop the funding of the war.
Marcoplos said he argued that funds available for local, county, state and federal budgets is limited, and the U.S. government is spending an “inordinate” amount of money on military actions in Afghanistan.
He said Orange County residents are paying $2,600 per person annually on the national military budget, totaling $351 million dollars a year.
“Postponing this resolution is disappointing,” Marcoplos said to the board at the meeting. “I would venture a guess that most votes do not see the kind of nebulous consideration shown by Commissioner Yuhasz.”
But Commissioner Steve Yuhasz said that he motioned to table the resolution due to lack of public opinion.
