"Dawson County - Now and Then"

The Nankipooh Enquirer
P. O. Box 1849
Nankipooh, Georgia
Editor in Chief: Colonel Bascomb Biggers
Ace Reporter : Scoop Biggers
bascombbiggers@bellsouth.net





DATELINE December 3, 2012:
"Dawson County - Now and Then"
By: Scoop Biggers

I was looking at the results of the recent elections, and it got me to thinking about how much things have changed in the last ten or fifteen years. Take the election for sheriff in Dawson County, Georgia, for instance. Sheriff Billy Carlisle was re-elected with more than 75% of the vote, after fifteen years in office. Now I'm not saying that Sheriff Carlisle hasn't done a good job, but look how different things are today from when he was first elected in 1997.

In 1997 the population of Dawson County was about 12,500 folks. Today there are around 22,500 people in the county, for an increase of about 75% in population over the last fifteen years. Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Department now employs about 110 people, for an increase of about 350% over the 30 folks that worked there when Sheriff Carlise first took office back in 1997. Fifteen years ago the Sheriff's Department housed about 25 or 30 inmates, whereas today, they average around 165 inmates, which is an increase of about 550%.

Now again, I am not saying that the Sheriff is not doing a good job, but the figures speak for themselves. There are more people in the county, but there are a whole lot more people in the Sheriff's Department, and also a whole bunch more folks in jail. The point is, that this is typical of government today, as opposed to just fifteen years ago.

Just like the Dawson County Sheriff's Department has gotten a lot bigger and more expensive to run, so have all levels of government and services, from the local level, on up to those folks up in DC. The question is, do we want government to keep getting bigger and bigger, and more expensive? Also where does it all end? The population is getting larger, and the crime rate may be going up, but how many policemen and jails do we need? And, how much government do we really need?

I, for one, am in favor of less government, less expenses, and less taxes, but what can we do? Obviously the citizens of Dawson County are happy with what they have, or they would not have voted to re-elect a sheriff, who seems to believe that bigger is better, just like the nation re-elected a President who never saw a dollar, he didn't want to spend.

"Just my opinion"
Scoop Biggers

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