There is a lot of voting going on for school and hospital projects that affect our taxes. I don’t have school children and the hospital doesn’t have any doctors that are in my insurance network, but I still support both of those. However, what I would like to see is this county approve a bond for a new jail and incorporate mental health services.

I find it very frustrating to read the paper and see there are felony warrant stops but “the jail refused.” The ongoing story for years is that there is no jail space. Why isn’t this county working towards an upgrade? Counties throughout the state are upgrading their jails or building new ones, to increase capacity, as well as account for mental health. Pacific County is growing all the time and it’s common knowledge there are no consequences for breaking the law. We utilize a community watch program because we don’t have enough law enforcement and even if we did, why should law enforcement bother? There is no place to put the criminals. I can only imagine that police find it frustrating as well.

The new community watch program might want to consider pushing for a new jail. If people aren’t held accountable for their actions, they just keep doing the same thing, it’s nothing new. Have you read the court reports in the Chinook Observer? The judge does a lot of hand slapping; is that because he has no place to put these people? I for one would be open to paying taxes for a jail to house these people and or get them treatment. It’s something that would affect the entire community, not just a few.

I know it’s controversial, but so are school levies for people who don’t have children and bonds for hospitals that don’t have physicians in network for patients. I guess it’s easier to allow criminals to continue running amuck. We all better lock and load.

LAURA BOHLMANN

Ocean Park