—
Setting up a charitable account using a county tax number is not the right way to do business. That’s why the Jasper County Commission was correct to quickly shut down an account containing just over $28,000 that was being used for charitable projects of the sheriff’s department.
We are not accusing anyone of misappropriating money here. There is, however, a correct way to set up a not-for-profit fund that is regularly audited.
The largest portion of the money, $23,347, is used for the “shop with a deputy” Christmas program. Another $3,171 is used for an employee’s Christmas party, and $1,780 was generated by souvenir coins as part of a program for breast cancer awareness.
The sheriff’s fund actually came to light when Sheriff Archie Dunn sent a check from the fund to the county to reimburse it for the fundraiser coins.
In our view, any time a special fund is created and used as part of a government entity — especially if the government entity had no knowledge it existed — it leaves the door open for problems.
Bill Fleischaker, an attorney for Dunn, has suggested the commissioners turn the money over to a newly created not-for-profit called the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department Employees Benevolent Fund.
That’s one idea.
We would suggest the money designated for the “shop with a deputy program” be used in its entirety this year for that purpose. While the fund may have been set up incorrectly, children shouldn’t be penalized.
If records are available to trace the rest of the money, then it should be also used for its intended purpose this year, before Dunn’s term is over.
It should be up to the sheriff elected in November to decide how to proceed with establishing a not-for-profit fund for the department.
And it should be done correctly.
Opinion
Related Photos
Discussion
Our View: Clean the slate
- Opinion
-
-
Our View: Spying on us
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
-
Our View: Pass on the legacy
Forty hungry members of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry began gathering corn at the Rader farm near the village of Sherwood when they were ambushed by a guerrilla band of about 70 Southern sympathizers.
-
Our View: Big Brother looms large
The federal government, working under the cloak of secrecy, has been having a heyday at the expense of all Americans.
-
Our View: Disgraceful military assault
We want to make one thing clear: A sexual assault is not a sex scandal. Nor can the rise in sexual assaults in the military be justified in any way.
-
Elliott Denniston, guest columnist: Right-to-work laws only hurt workers
Middle-class workers have been fighting an uphill battle for the past 30 years.
-
Your View: Food drive efforts
Branch No. 366 of the National Association of Letter Carriers along with the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, the American Postal Workers Union and the U.S. Postal Service would like to thank all the area communities that participated in the 2013 Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
-
Your View: More about tax credit
The Globe’s editorial in “Our View” (May 10) may have left readers with a few inaccurate impressions.
-
Other Views: Sickening disparity
Don’t feel bad if you don’t understand the wide, sometimes huge, discrepancies in fees hospitals charge for the same procedure. Or if you don’t understand the arithmetical magic the hospitals use to arrive at those fees.
-
Carol Stark: America in need of more 'momisms'
Several years ago, I attended a writing workshop where one of the sessions was called “Tell it to Mom.”
-
Our View: Keep learning
Donna Maus, a biology teacher from St. Mary’s Colgan High School in Pittsburg, Kan., told a group of top students, their parents and their teachers something we think everyone needs to hear.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
