To the Editor:
Okay, I can’t leave this one alone. I speak of the article in the newspaper stating the Cortland County Legislature was considering yet another study to address concerns about the jail situation. Really? Why? Haven’t you legislators spent enough of the taxpayers money commissioning studies to look into these problems? Where are those studies now? Oh I know, gathering dust on the shelves of some forgotten office or hole in the wall in the County Office Building.
The problems or concerns with the jail are nothing new and the legislators need to stop acting like this problem is all news to them. When Dick Bushnell was a legislator and chairman of the Judicial and Public Safety Committee, he and some other folks tore around the state looking at other jails, to see what they might want in our county jail. I don’t think the problems with the jail have changed all that much so why not look at those studies before shelling out our hard earned tax money for a study that’s probably not going to provide any new insight? And I just bet if the legislators have questions, my friend, Mark Helms, can answer ‘em. He has, after all, a bird’s eye view of what’s going with that crumbling edifice we call the Public Safety Building. Another thing, a new jail could pay for itself if done right. What is it they say? If you build it, they will come.
Whitney Meeker
Cortland
