I saw the video of Mr. Handy on election night. He said something about how he's going to put more police officers on the street. He'll be ignoring/eating those words in no time. As he'll soon discover, it would be absurd for the county to ''put more officers on the street'' without replenishing some of detectives that have been taken away, ...

Mike, T. , Well said. There are a couple other variables that you may not be familiar with: In the late 1970s the DA had 32 Deputy DA's and 12 investigators. Since then the serious crime volume has increased sharply, but the DA has lost all but one investigator in the criminal division and 11 of the 32 DAs are gone. (I think the feds pay for ...

Commissioner Fleenor and Commissioner Sorenson are 100% political. Their behavior is much easier to predict if you keep that in mind. Others, including Green and Stewart, try to do what they believe is right, even if it is political suicide. (That's what happened with the income tax they supported after the county had to eliminate positions in 13 ...

The question, I think, is how the essential information can be gotten to the public when the local paper and the community attack the county for any expenditures related to information-sharing. Oregon DHS (Department of Human Services) can and does sponsor sporting events and promotional commercials. The City of Eugene spends in excess of $1.5 ...

Don't think Lane County has any serious crime? Think again. Here's a list of 30 of the most serious entries from the Lane County Jail for the first 8 months and four days of 2008. (bottom of page) Bear in mind that a person arrested on murder charges may have to be held for more than a YEAR before the case is resolved and the person is sent to ...

mewzikmajor:I am completey outraged that Sarah Bridges was only given five years probation .... Am I over reacting?  I don't think so.  I think it's time that we vote people into office who will actually do something about the crime in our city and not let criminals walk the street because ''there is no room at the inn.'' Mewzikmajor, ...

Jail overcrowding is a misnomer. Lane County now has less than one-fifteenth of the average jail capacity for a jurisdiction of this size and population. With a crime rate that is well above average in 5 of 6 categories, and in the worst 5% in the U.S. in residential burglary and car theft rates, we're in trouble. According to the Oregon Criminal

No effect for me either, I guess, except for ever higher car insurance rates, and our rates are already awful.I have a statistically lower probability of being a crime victim again, as our house has already been burglarized and we've already had other property smashed in a ''smash and grab'', so I should be okay.Unless somebody I care about ...

foundation trilogy: Read this real slow Team player so you can understand. Lane County Public Safety has been de-funded over the past 10 years while Bobby Green and Faye Stewart were in charge of their funding.... There were provisions in the ''Forest projects'' $20 Million dollar a year fund that would have let them put the money back into the ...

My pleasure.It took me a long time to sort out most of this stuff, even with the benefit of several explanatory presentations and a financial analyst available to answer questions during the process.I think the real challenges are these:1) Can the media distil a dry 10 minute read into a 45 second story that somebody with a ninth grade education ...