A stunning post by Riley over at the Political Junkie.  He went through the considerable effort of requesting, getting and reading the emails related to siting and planning our new jail.  He informs us of how there has been zero public process on both selecting where to build and what to build. 

Riley understates the conclusion of what his research shows.  To use an analogy, he tells us that our airplane is way too low and slow.  He leaves it to us to conclude that our plane is about to crash.  Our crash will be a jail that is way more expensive to build than we need and then way more expensive to maintain and manage than is necessary.  

Elfo avoided any public or legal process for moving the jail way out to Ferndale when it should be built next to the county courthouse.  Transporting jail inmates the miles between the courthouse and jail every day will be an expensive and unnecessary expense - and will be so every year for decades.  We could list many other problems related to this remote jail.  The important fact though, is the sheriff - with the tacit passive help from Louws and the council - has not followed public process.

The old adage that a frog in a pan of cold water will not jump out if the heat is slowly increased is false.  The frog jumps out when it gets too warm.  However, this does seem to work for humans - make the awful wrong changes slowly enough and people do not notice - until too late.  Crash. 

Read Riley's short expose.  The powers that be - those anti-tax conservatives of sheriff, executive and council - are about to hit us for construction and yearly cost taxes that will boggle our minds.  Which will set them up to privatize the jail in a couple years to relieve us of the cost.   We act now or lose.  Riley can inform.  He has done his part.