I do not understand. The court system fines people all the time in the city. The county court fines people all the time in the county. Where does this money go?

If anything, our city should not have to be putting more fees on the water bill. And the county jail was built 40 plus years ago. It was not built for these dope heads, drunks and those who just can’t keep from breaking the law.

The courts are too easy on the lawbreakers.

Yes, my wife and I have paid our share of speeding tickets and no seatbelt fines before we learned our lesson.

So many of these people will never learn until something more is done to punish them.

I make the suggestion of putting these people in a tent jail, where they only get three meals a day, no TV, no air conditioning and work them. The only people who benefit from jail are the repeaters who lay around and do nothing, but want what I have.

Money that should come in from court fines should go to help in a lot of our departments.

Our men and women who work for this city earn their money! I am grateful for the garbage men who collect my garbage, hot or cold.

The city council needs to start at the top and really look at where the money goes. When I was in business, when times became hard, I cut my income, not my employee. Even though I was not able to pay much the employee received their pay.

The water bill has become a means to generate an income for this city. It needs to stop!

When are the city council and the mayor going to start saving a little money?

One way I thought of is to take out or shut off the traffic lights at Third and Spruce, Third and Oak, and Third and Vine.

That would save the city about $600 a year.

Take the lights at all basketball courts and put them on a timer. There is no need to have them on all night. It would be a good start! How much money would the city save?

There are a lot of things I believe that could be accomplished by using the lawbreakers other than cutting grass at the intersection that the state is suppose to take care of.

One is cleanup after a demolished building has been torn down as there is a lot of work needs to be done. Will you say it takes insurance to cover these people?

The insurance carried by the city or the county should already cover an inmate. When they get hurt behind bars the city or county pays for it.

Again, jail (behind bars) is not the answer! Real work is. Find our people who need help with their yards and homes. Dig a ditch to drain water in troubled areas. Pick up trash off the streets. What else could a person find to do?

If an inmate won’t work, isolate them from all others until they do work. I realize that the union has a lot to say about labor, but the union is losing jobs because of no money in the city. No money means no work for the union members.

Think about it!

Bill Lightner

Ironton