The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1913-06-10
ARE THE TAXPAYERS
ENTITLED TO KNOW?

The grand jury sitting at the March
term of the Bourbon Circuit Court, on
the day of its final adjournment,
March %, filed with Judge Robert L.
Stsout, the presiding Judge, an exhaus-
tive report of its findings during the
session
Among the matters referred to in the
report was the condition of the turn
pixies of Bourbon county. The grand
jury made thorough investigation of
all matters pertaining to the public
roads of the county and scented a con-
dition that had heretofore been passed
unnoticed and embodied in its report a
scathing criticism of the manner in
which the affairs of the county in
this regard had been conducted.
The apparent laxity of the conduct
of these affairs prompted the grand
jury at the March term of court to
summon number Of witnesses which
were thoroughly examined and the
most minute detail probed before the
report to the court was submitted.
The grand jury in its report in
ferred that favoritism had been shown
and preference given some roads over
others, and asked for reports showing
the taxpayers the amount of money
that had been expended in this depart
ment.
1t further requested that the report
as soon as filed be published that the
taxpayers Of the county might see
the manner in which their money had
been expended upon the public roads,
The report, we are informed, was
made and presented to the Fiscal
Court, but for some unknown reason,
failed to gain the publication upon
which the grand jury insisted That
portion of the report of the grand jury
regarding the public roads is as fol-
lows:
Your grand jury has made a thor
ough investigation of the condition of
the public roads of the county, and
have have very serious fault to find
with the manner in which it is kept,
the results received for the amount of
money expended and the general
handling of the county's business in
this regard. We have examined a
number of witnesses and from our per-
sonal knowledge find that a large per
cent. of our turnpikes are in a deplor-
able condition. Some of these have
had practically no repairs made upon
them for the past two or three years.
I'VE have compared our turnpikes
with the turnpikes of other counties
having practically the same road fund
per mile available and find that the
fiscal courts and supervisors of these
counties have been able to keep their
roads in satisfactory condition and
that their condition is strong evidence
that there is something greatly at
fault with the manner in which the
money of our county is expended and
the work done upon the roads. We
are thoroughly convinced from the
evidence at hand that these conditions
are caused by the neglect of the Fis-
cal Court and Road Supervisors. We
find that practically no attention is
given to the condition of the roads or
to the manner of their up-keep by the
Fiscal Court or the Road Supervisors. |
Again we find that some of the |
roads of the county have been shown |
preference over other roads in the |
county in regard to the amount of |
money expended for their up-keep and |
repair. We find no justifiable reason |
for this. We find that the Road Su- |
pervisors give a very small part of |
their time and practically no personal |
supervision to the work on the roads. |
I'VE have asked for a report from |
the Supervisors some days ago, show |
ing the amount of money expended |
upon each road of the county, but |
we have been unable to get it in time /
Il embody it in this, our final report. |
We recommend. that in the future |
the Road Supervisors be required to |
give their full time and personal at |
tention to their Offices and to the care /
OF our roads so that the taxpayers of |
our county may be assured that full |
value is received for the money ex-
pended from the road fund.
I'm justice to the taxpayers of our
county We respectfully ask that this
report be fully published in a promi-
nent place in our county newspapers
and also that the report of the Super
visors in regard to the amount of |
money expended upon each road in the
county be also published when it fin
ally appears"
Are the taxpayers of Bourbon en-
titled to know how their money was
expended? We think they are From
the fact that this report was never
made public further than to the
officials of the county demonstrates
disposition on the part of the Fiscal
Court, Road Supervisor or other offici-
ais, anything but friendly toward the
interests and welfare of the tax-pay-
ers.
The present grand jury should look
into the matter before adjourning
finally, and determine upon a plan to