With the annexation of Salida off the table of Modesto's General Plan, the spying and prying eyes of the city are now looking down upon our vibrant and fully employed community as easy chum for their pathways to oblivion.

Wood Colony already has jobs and the land is owned by county tax paying families. Those jobs include farming and teaching, just to name two of the most important socio-economic pieces of our backbone here in the Valley.

Some things are more important than money, elusive jobs, and a greedy fist full of quick dollars: FAMILY. I hope we can have the foresight to see the future and predict what Wood Colony will look like if our farmland is paved over, our schools taken away, and our families uprooted.

Wood Colony will become the most hellish place in all of Stanislaus County. And, if allowed, it will be the elected officials that we put into office, who will have done it to us.