CAT Tracks for September 25, 2009 AS THE COUNTY CHURNS

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From the WSIL TV Channel 3 Website...

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Money Probles Pile Up in Alexander County

By Dana Jay

CAIRO-- The Alexander County Sheriff is trying to dig out of a money mess.

So far he's had to lay off eleven workers. He gave up almost all his patrol vehicles when they were repossessed early this week.

Help on that front is coming from all over the country, but the rest of the county remains in deep trouble.

Sheriff David Barkett said he's short four deputies, after being forced to lay off staff in early September. That means most days he has only one officer to patrol more than 200 miles of county roads.

Some Alexander County residents are concerned.

"I'd be scared if I needed some help, especially in my community where I live. It [took] forever to get there even when they had cars. I can imagine now it's probably a four to five hour wait," said Timothy Lawrence of East Cape Girardeau.

It may not take four or five hours, but the sheriff admits there may be a delay.

"The response time can be slowed down by the lack of manpower. It's a large area for one man to cover out there by himself," Barkett said.

"We're doing the best we can. It's not the way I think it should be done. It's not the way I would like to do it. But I'm forced by mandate from the county," Barkett said.

The sheriff is slowly working on rebuilding his fleet, but not with county cash.

He went to Springfield earlier this week to ask for help and came back with one vehicle.

Governor Pat Quinn, (D)-Illinois, gave the sheriff’s department an SUV from the Central Management Agency. It will be outfitted with law enforcement equipment.

That vehicle makes three patrol cars in the county.

Law enforcement agencies from as far away as Rhode Island now know about Barkett’s troubles. They're offering to donate vehicles.

Barkett said he’s surprised and humbled by the response.

The problems at the Sheriff's department come as no surprise to others who work at the courthouse in Cairo.

The next thing to go may be an election.

A brand new computer that the county clerk is supposed to be using sits idle because the county is so behind in its bills to the election company.

Alexander County owes $35,000 dollars to Election Systems and Software. Without that computer the clerk and her one remaining staffer can't keep up with voter registrations.

It costs thousands of dollars to run polling places and sources say the county can't even afford to buy ballots.

"That would be bad. That's all I can say," said Nancy Joyner, a long-time Alexander County resident.

Problems go on from there. That box in the clerk’s office holds bills from everyone from office suppliers to gasoline providers to the telephone company.

The county started the day $86,000 dollars behind on its payment to Tri County Jail.

The company gave them until October 1 to come up with the money before they started turning away inmates.

Alexander County officials paid about half the amount they owed Thursday afternoon.

That's enough to grant them a reprieve for now.

Florida sheriff comes to region’s rescue

By Becky Malkovich, The Southern

ALEXANDER COUNTY - St. Lucie County, Fla., Sheriff Ken J. Mascara knows what it's like to overcome obstacles placed in the way of ensuring public safety.

His county was ground zero for three devastating weather events in 2004: Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, as well as Tropical Storm Wilma.

So when Mascara learned that a fellow law enforcement official - Alexander County Sheriff David Barkett - was trying to run a department without squad cars, he decided to help.

Barkett's department had its fleet of squad cars repossessed earlier this week. The repossession came just days after the sheriff's department in the cash-strapped county was forced to lay off 11 employees, about 75 percent of its workforce.

"Public safety is perhaps the most important service government can provide to its citizens. Without it, a community would cease to exist," Mascara said.

"In these trying economic times, public safety is more important than ever. As a sheriff, I know the responsibilities and daunting tasks faced by a fellow sheriff. Because I know how important vehicles are to the operations of a sheriff's office, I felt compelled to offer assistance to Sheriff Barkett in his hour of need."

The Florida sheriff is donating five decommissioned vehicles to the Alexander County department. He'll also have light bars installed on the cars before they make their way to Illinois. If sold at auction, the cars could fetch $3,500 to $4,000 each.

"The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office and our community were the benefactors of an outpouring of support from across the country," Mascara said about the help his department received during the 2004 storms. "Now that a fellow sheriff finds himself in a time of need, I believe it is appropriate to offer assistance."

The department was also given a vehicle by Illinois' Central Management Services and more could be on the way.

The car is coming courtesy of the CMS surplus property project, spokeswoman Susan Hofer said.

"The sheriff in Alexander County let us know what was going on. We found one car and are working on getting more," she said.

The project draws from not only local and state sources, but is part of a national network, Hofer said, and is particularly useful to law enforcement agencies in these days of shrinking budgets.

While not new, the vehicle is in good shape, Hofer said.

State Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, said he and Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, are also doing what they can to help.

"It is a local issue, but it's also a public safety issue," Phelps said. "We're working with the governor's office to see what the state can do to help so our constituents don't suffer."

Sheriff David Barkett was unavailable for comment Thursday.