Kenneth Frederick starts out his letter (Globe, Aug. 31) by telling everyone that he (made) a rolling stop at an intersection with a police car right there in plain sight.
Then, he proceeds to spout off about what a large police force and city staff Duquesne has.
The facts are that Duquesne has only five full-time police officers, one city clerk, one court clerk and one clerk who spends her time split up helping the other two. I’d like to see Mr. Frederick come up with a schedule to provide 24-hour, 7-day-a-week police protection with any fewer than five officers. They are overworked and underpaid as it is!
Revenues from the court fines for everything from traffic tickets and code violations to felonies only amounted to $237,517 for last year. A far cry from the $2 million, $3 million, suggested by Mr. Frederick. For the same year, expenses for the police department and court combined were more than $408,606. Almost anybody who has the facts can plainly see that the traffic tickets don’t even come close to paying for the police protection provided to the residents of Duquesne.
Many years ago, the good people of Duquesne chose to abolish the punitive notion of “property tax” and begin charging their first 1-cent sales tax to provide for city services. Last year, sales tax only amounted to $368,123, and even combined with the court revenue is still far from the outrageous figures suggested by Mr. Frederick.
The police officers of Duquesne were very happy when the construction barricades finally came down. They could get back to neighborhood patrols and criminal investigations that had to be put on hold to provide a safe work zone for the construction workers at the new roundabout.
Many of the tickets that were written during this time period were for driving into the actual work site and “cutting corners” through parking lots of private businesses in the area. At the same time this was taking place, Joplin police were having the same problems with officers in a work site at Seventh Street and Maiden Lane.
I personally know most of the fine police officers in Duquesne because as past mayor I hired most of them. I am very proud we have them to protect our community and enforce our laws.
Rick Sweet
Joplin
Opinion
Voices: Facts about Duquesne
- Opinion
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Our View: Victims should come first
Millions of dollars in donations have poured in from around the world since the May 22, 2011, tornado. Those donations represent money from lemonade stands, charity auctions, corporate gifts and celebrity checks, just to name a few. In fact, one year later donations continue to come to Joplin.
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Beth Meeker, guest columnist: Same-sex marriage battle a quest for equal rights
I would like to take a moment to reply to guest columnist Anson Burlingame’s, “The Marriage Debate” (Globe, May 13).
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Sunday Forum: 2012 graduation speakers key on tornado, mall school and president’s visit
Editor’s note: In addition to speeches by President Barack Obama and Gov. Jay Nixon, Joplin High School’s top students addressed graduates, faculty, parents and other guests packed into the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center on the Missouri Southern State University campus. Following are the text of those speeches.
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Geoff Caldwell, guest columnist: Pack mentality takes truth as a casualty
President Obama’s Joplin graduation speech Monday showed that while there’s the political “right,” there’s also a very active “rabid” political right.
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Your View: ‘Study’ can mean anything
A few evenings ago, I watched a television program on the science of marriage.
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Our View: Support for museum
How can you tell the story of Joplin without the accounts of its mining history?
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Our View: Finding middle ground
The G-8 summit held last week in Camp David ended as expected.
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Anson Burlingame, guest columnist: Class of 2012 upholds character, hope
My oldest granddaughter was part of the class of 2012 from Joplin High School, and I attended the ceremony on Monday night.
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Scott Charton, guest columnist: 'Deadline in Disaster' film a story about storytellers
Local newspapers are at their best when they help their communities confront, understand, endure and overcome shared challenges.
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Our View: Make voting easiser
This year’s ballot will not include a proposed constitutional amendment that photo identification be required at the polls in Missouri. Good.
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