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Budget priorities jumbled

The Spokesman-Review

Reading the newspaper Sunday morning and watching news at the same time, I found myself on the verge of regurgitating my breakfast.

I just want to make sure I get this right. Prisons and law enforcement offices across this country are scaling back on a significant scale. Just here in the city of Spokane and the sheriff’s office for Spokane County, there are plans to release anywhere between a dozen and 30 officers, and Geiger correction facility has floated the idea of releasing nearly 300 convicted criminals in a cost-fighting measure?

Yet the Pied Piper of the 21st century, President Obama, is going to provide cell phones to low-income families at a cost of over $290 million, money retrieved by taxing those of us who work, earn and pay for our communication services.

People, wake up! We can run a lottery to build and pay for sport complexes; we should be able to do the same for prisons and hire police officers. We deserve security.

Take the cell phones away and keep the convicted criminal in jail. Save money there, too, and take away their weights and large-screen TVs. Am I wrong?

Rand Thompson

Greenacres



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