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September 25, 2016

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This editorial was breathtakingly stupid, even for Dick Hughes, which says a lot. And you can tell it was written by Dick because it uses his trademark "poorly thought out and not really applicable but I will use it anyways metaphor."

I mean there are some really REALLY stupid words put together by Dick but the highlight (lowlight?) is "some folks contend that the Salem Police Department should not have a modern facility until the civic center and library also are rebuilt or replaced" (which NO ONE has ever advocated) which is preceded by "Even though public safety is the No. 1 responsibility of local government..." If public safety is the #1 responsibility of government, doesn't that mean that making the civic center safe for the inevitable earthquake is an imperative?

The whole point that flies over Dick's head and is not acknowledged because he is not smart enough to even consider it is that THERE IS ONLY A LIMITED AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT THE CITY CAN SPEND ON PROJECTS, we have to make due with what we can afford.

IF we spend a big chunk on a cop shop there is that much less available to do anything else in this town. The Mayor and local governmental don't acknowledge this, as tax and spend republicans they just keep on hiking up our taxes to pay for their BS. A streetlight fee here, garbage fee increase there, water rate increase there (which by the way has enough millions in reserve to "loan" out money to buy new parking meters for the capital) all these things add up and have a big impact on our seniors living on fixed incomes and the population that are lower income, not to mention all the other Salem residents who work hard and earn a decent living who shouldn't be asked to pay for unnecessary excess.

A more appropriate metaphor Dick Hughes could have used is that Salem is a lower middle income family who needs to buy a new car, but instead of a reliable economical sedan, the dealership is trying to convince us we should spend an entire year's salary on a tricked-out super stocked luxury car.

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