Time for S

As a fiscal conservative, I balk at the idea of any new taxes. However, Measure S comes at a time when those of us that are concerned about government spending cannot turn away from this opportunity.

If we lose the $56.5 million that the Sheriff’s Department has secured in grant money from the state because of delays this will only be an additional burden to the county taxpayer down the road. Construction costs get higher every year and we will bear that burden as well if we don’t act now.

There are rumblings of why can’t we build a tent city out in new Cuyama like Joe Arpio in Arizona has done. I researched that. There is a reason why no Sheriff in the State of California has done this and it’s because it is not legal here. Besides this, the type of criminal that Joe Arpio houses in his tent city, Santa Barbara County had to stop booking years ago. Even if it were legal, what would the residents of Santa Barbara County want between themselves and prisoners-concrete walls, alarms and barbed wire, or a piece of fabric?—Richard Price, Lompoc