It’s too bad that President Bush didn’t recognize Michael Brown’s incompetence before now. At least he’s no longer in charge of recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast region, but it’s clear that he never should have been in the first place. There’s no question that Brown was never qualified to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, considering he was made director after being asked to resign from the International Arabian Horse Association.
But now even the little experience Brown supposedly had in emergency management is being called into question. This is from the Associated Press:
The 2001 release on the White House Web site says that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 “overseeing the emergency services division.”
But according to Time magazine, Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, says Brown was “an assistant to the city manager” from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
In a two-part editorial this week, I wrote about the overcrowding problems facing the Sedgwick County Jail.
A team of consultants from Wichita State University recently told the County Commission that under present trends, jail space would have to double by 2020 — an expensive proposition.
But — echoing a previous consultant hired in 2004 — they argued that costly new jail construction can be avoided by implementing alternatives to incarceration for low-risk inmates, such as mental health and drug counseling, work centers, and traffic detention centers.
These “get smart on crime” ideas are well worth exploring further, although Sheriff Gary Steed likely is right that even with the alternatives, we need extra bed space now.
Still, as County Commission Chairman Dave Unruh told the editorial board, we can continue to lock up low-risk offenders — but are taxpayers willing to pay for it?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Two years in the making, Kansas’ entry in the U.S. Mint’s popular 50 State Quarters Program officially went into circulation Friday at the Kansas State Fair. The quarter’s clean design is nothing flashy — just a bison and some sunflowers. OK, some also would say it’s nothing much. But our image-challenged state can use the exposure these quarters will afford it as they move from hand to hand through the nation’s economy for decades to come.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
