LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Commissioner shows balance

To the editor:

With the dire economy, there’s probably few thank you’s making the rounds in Coupeville these days.

Here’s one. Thanks to Angie Homola for eloquently speaking up for the little guy that often lacks a vested promoter — our quality of life and the environment.

I refer, of course, to your desire to balance the budget cuts across all departments (as reported in The Record) without placing undue burden on such activities as land use, planning and clean air and water.

As we hear, law enforcement has a zealous spokesman in the sheriff, to make quantitative arguments comparing his budget per capita with other counties and the familiar “cut to the bone” warnings. Like you, I think that larger losses to the overall health of Island County will result from not safeguarding our precious and fragile environmental qualities. These are the financial and prized backbone of our communities.

The fact of the matter is that Island County is not only unique in environmental assets but also age-related demographics.

We have an exceptionally high percentage of older people that do not fit the profile of car thieves, burglars and associated law-breakers that keep the sheriff’s department busy. According to county stats, growth of the 65 and older set has increased 310 percent since 1970 and in 2000 represented 14.3 percent of the population. We also have a lot of military personnel (6,000-plus in Oak Harbor) who have a vested interest in not pursuing a life of crime. To blanket-compare sheriff deputies per capita to other Washington counties is not telling the whole story.

So — thanks again for recognizing the importance of these environmental priorities during these times of budget trimming.

In the long run, preserving our unique quality of life will contribute more to our safety than a police department staffed according to some derived percentage.

Dean Enell

Langley

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