There are two sides to most stories and the 300 or so Central Kansas residents who attended a meeting Sunday afternoon at Vesper heard only one side of an issue that threatens to create a rift between property owners and promoters of Kansas tourism. Some background:

A group of citizens in southern Nebraska and northern Kansas, including Ellsworth County, have started discussing the possibility of seeking federal designation as a Kansas-Nebraska Heritage Area. The partnership’s purpose would be to promote the region’s museums, historic sites, lakes and other attractions together instead of individually.

A heritage area already exists in eastern Kansas, along the Kansas-Missouri border. The Freedom Frontier National Heritage Area promotes the region’s Civil War history and other aspects of the country’s “enduring struggle for freedom.” It also tells the story of frontier settlement.

Operational funding comes from the National Park Service, local donations and grants. A portion of those dollars was recently used to design a cell phone app visitors to the region can download for free and be directed to attractions and learn about their historic relationship to Kansas and Missouri.

Unfortunately, in this conspiracy culture era, the Southeast Colorado Private Property Rights Council, which organized Sunday’s meeting at Vesper, is going around the countryside sounding the alarm — the heritage areas are in reality a government scheme to grab your land. They also toss in the unrelated 30 by 30 initiative, an executive order signed in January by President Biden that directs the U.S. Department of Interior to submit a report within 90 days recommending steps to conserve at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and 30 percent of the country’s waters by 2030.

Ok, everyone. Let’s all just stop for a moment and take a deep breath. A cell phone app is a far cry from a land grab.

Both of these efforts — the heritage area and Biden’s conservation initiative — are worth our attention, especially the 30 x 30 initiative since right now it’s more of a sound bite than a plan and details are important. But in order to make a sound decision, we need to hear both sides of the story and that certainly didn’t happen Sunday at Vesper.