Send us your thoughts whether you agree or disagree, and we may print it in the Mailbag. To see our letters policy, click here . Perhaps more important, the state needs to let the counties know if this is going to be a recurring annual fight for operating money. We want a reliable funding source. If the state won t supply that, we need to look to local resources, and probably let the sheriff operate the Lee center.
Commissioners claim the state promised to fund operations, but they didn t have it in writing.
Bush wants to switch this sort of spending to the counties, so we ll probably be lucky to get some money this year. This community wants and has worked for an effective juvenile assessment center, where the complex decisions about what to do with young people in trouble can be made by a professional 24-hour staff. People here developed grass-roots support for the center. We may not have an enforceable funding commitment from the state, but Tallahassee has a moral obligation to help fund these operations, as it does at other such centers. Copyright 2000, The News-Press.