The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-08-04
THE COUNTY BOARD AND GRAND JURY


yelled insinuations have been given out that
the board may go on record as to the con-
tinuation of the work of the grand jury. It
is admitted that the grand jury probe is not
entirely in keeping with the ideas of some OF
the members of the county board but any eff
fort on the part of the board to lessen the
scope or hinder the work Of the grand jury is
going to be decidedly unpopular in the coun-
ty. A large majority of the people of Keno
sha county want the work Of the grand jury to
go forward to logical conclusion and they are
convinced that these seventeen men are work,
ing in a manner to make the cleanup of the
county one that will go down in history as the
best work of the kind ever done in any county
in Wisconsin.
The county board may properly show an anx-
iety about the expenditure of public funds but
when it comes to great moral movement, such
as the grand jury probe has become, the peo-
pie want~it to go forward regardless of costs
There is no reason to discuss the legal phase
Of any question connected with the grand jury
investigation or the right of the officials named
by the circuit court to demand the payment
Of the bills for the inqusitorial probe. The
people want the work to go on They want ii
to go on without being hampered with the I'm
derstanding that there can be no better ex-
penditure of the county funds than that which
brings better conditions. Official records have
been under investigation by the members of
the grand jury and it is possible that indict-
ments will be returned against men who may
be active in county board work but this fact
should not in any way prejudice the members
1of the board against the continuance of the
investigation. If men who serve the county
have gone wrong and nisserved their con-
stituents their faults should be laid bare and
their punishment exacted. The great majority
of the members of the board will undoubtedly
take this view of the grand jury question.
Some members Of the board have suggested
that they want to know just how long this ex-
penditure is to be continued. They might ask
the same question about the examination of
any criminal case in the county and they
would hardly expect the officials to permit men
guilty of crime to escape for lack of appropria-
tons or lack of sympathy for the prosecution
It is to be hoped that the county board will
look at the matter in az big way and tell the
members of the grand jury to clean up Keno
sha county, no matter what the cost may be
and place at the service Of the grand jury every
avenue in the gift of the county which will
further the investigation.
If officials of the county have been receiving
pay for services which they have not rendered
it is wholly within the province of the board
for these bills to be denied It is perfectly fair
and the duty of the members of the county
board to scrutinize every hill for service pre-
sented in connection with any service rendered
to- the county and these bills should be paid
only when it is shown that fair price has
been charged for fair service Kenosha
county has no money to throw away on useless
service and such service should be eliminated
just as soon as it is discovered In this system
Of elimination, however. the members of the
board must not lose track of the big issue and
that is that Kerosha county is cleaning house
and that the work must not be stopped with
the washing Of the windows. It must go on.
The rugs must be beaten and the baseboards
washed until every particle of suspicion Of
law violation has been taken away.
The members of the grand jury have shown
no idea of weakening and with the mercury
climbing to the top of the tube these men have
been on duty day after day. The men working
on Investigations have worked late into the
h4SAAU anu lndHy nights III Oruef 70 give 10 LIE
county the best possible service along these
lines
These men have not asked that the county
seek to pay them for their service. The fees
awarded to them are admittedly petty in con
nectfon with the service being rendered and
the best possible way for them to be paid fol
their sacrifices is for the county board to give
full assurance that they are standing back of
the efforts of these men and not pinching nick
els in an attempt to hamper their work
PprhanS they'll melinda he House Snna+o