Fewer county services, government employee layoffs and possibly higher taxes now become the possible avenues for our county commissioners to take in order to reduce our county budget deficit.
As our local political leaders look for creative ways and hidden or unused funds, the imminent threat of government employee layoffs and fewer basic and needed services lie just ahead.
While questions are raised by our commissioners about alternative use of money initially planned for a new judicial center, where were our political leaders previously challenging the heavy-handed, law-and-order judges who have been imprisoning an exorbitant amount of citizens, for long sentences and for questionable criminal acts?
Why weren't our commissioners speaking out as our jails filled up for questionable illegal activities, or for nonviolent crimes such as drug use (i.e. marijuana possession, etc.)?
Where were Commissioners Rose Rocco and David Russell, and the other commissioners, when the judges let off the adult son of a former Florida state highway patrolman for vehicular manslaughter, with probation, and yet threw 19-year-olds, who are first-time offenders, in jail for 30 years, for the same type of accidental vehicular manslaughter events?
Hernando and 5th Circuit Court judges act politically correct, and then expect to be rewarded with new and bigger administrative offices to match their heavy hands of justice!
Why did our county commissioners contract with a private company to administer our public jails for less money, thus resulting in fewer services, little rehabilitation and poorer servicing of our prisoners, while prisoner recidivism increases? The result of using private contractors is a logjam in our judicial system and in our overcrowded jails.
Our budget deficits are the direct result of failed political leadership, on the county, state and federal levels. The politicians, and the two major parties, are guilty of making decisions that reward and protect their longevity, but cause long-term havoc and unfair suffering of our innocent civilians and workers.
Brian P. Moore, Spring Hill
Air ambulance use absurd, costly
Oh, please! An out-of-county woman, who was swimming in an unauthorized area in the Weekiwachee Preserve gets shot in the leg, walks to a convenience store for help (who knows how far away?) then gets flown to Tampa for medical care for her non-life-threatening injury.
If she was able to walk, and not get a ride from her pals to get help, then just why was a hugely expensive helicopter ride a necessity? This is the same absurd need for an air ambulance several months ago when a drunk fell off the curb in Brooksville and hit his head.
Don't any of our local doctors and hospitals have any education on how to treat a minor wound? Don't we pay huge taxes to support our local ambulance?
This above action should give great thought on the abilities of our local emergency services and how they can perform, even in a non-emergency setting.
Who is going to pay for this fancy ride to Tampa? We, taxpayers, of course. Who else?
Elizabeth Wood, Spring Hill
Was airlifting really necessary?
A woman was shot in the leg at the Weekiwachee Preserve and then flown to hospital in St. Petersburg for treatment. Apparently she had been able to walk after the shot. So, who decided that it was necessary to incur thousands of dollars in medical costs to airlift her to a hospital 60 miles away?
It is a well-known fact that medical costs in the United States are the highest in the world and are escalating.
I would like to know who pays for this woman's treatment — if she is insured, then of course the insurance company pays and the premiums go up. If she is not insured, then she will have considerable debts for an injury that could have been treated very well in a local hospital.
Gillian Maden, Spring Hill
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