CAT Tracks for September 5, 2009 WOE IS ALEXANDER COUNTY

The deed was forewarned in this week's Cairo Citizen...a long front page article that "continued" to the inside, appropriately a "filler" right next to the weekly Obituaries. Due to the absence a a two-week run of color, I was going to post it under the title of "Fade to Black and White". Sometimes, things are too serious to find humor...

The article is posted on The Cairo Citizen Website. So, if you want to REALLY get depressed and get the background for the article below, visit the link and then return for the gory follow-up.

Alexander County lays off 16 workers

By Codell Rodriguez, The Southern

Sixteen Alexander County employees got the ax Friday to help combat budget problems, County Board member Angela Greenwell said.

The Alexander Sheriff's Department took the brunt of the layoffs, with 11 full-time and part-time employees sent home.

There was one layoff in the county clerk's office, two in the assessor's office and two in the circuit clerk's office. One employee was removed from the treasurer's office, but was reassigned to the assessor's office.

"If the layoffs had not taken place, it would've meant the shutdown of the court house," Greenwell said.

Greenwell said the county has been working on a budget deficit for some time, and this is the third consecutive year that tax bills are late. Circuit Clerk Paul Jones said that his office lost two deputies and that each office in the courthouse has been affected by the cuts.

Alexander County Sheriff David Barkett said in a news release the layoffs became effective at 4 p.m. Friday and the department lost 75 percent of its staff. He said the duties will be reduced to serving the court, providing security at the courthouse and serving legal process and transporting and securing inmates.

"At the level we are forced to operate by mandate from the County Board we will do the best we can with the resources we have available to us," Barkett said in the news release.