National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C.            Vol. 31, No. 15 * August 9, 1999

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CALIFORNIA

• County commissioners are familiar with hard choices. In KERN COUNTY, the Board of Supervisors decided to share the feeling with voters.
  County officials conducted a "Hard Choices" survey for the past several months, asking voters to rate the most important five programs and the least important five programs from a list of 26.
  More than 750 answered survey questions, which were published in newspapers, distributed in workshops and were available over the Internet.
  Turns out this innovative approach yielded expected results. Kern voters want to protect their kids, have safe food and water, and be free from crime.
  
  
• If David Luna is elected the mayor of Bakersfield, KERN COUNTY, supervisors will have something new to worry about in city/county relations: the dreaded Sleeper Hold.
  Luna is a 26-year-old professional wrestler who is following in the boot steps of Jesse Ventura, Minnesota’s new governor.
  Luna has lived in Bakersfield most of his life. Roads, education and crime prevention are at the top of his "to do" list.
  Another wrestler, Jerry Lawler, is running for the mayor of Memphis.
  

FLORIDA

• "If you build it, they will come."
  Some commissioners in LAKE COUNTY are pondering that phrase in connection with a proposed toll road to connect the county to Orlando. They’re hoping if they build it, urban sprawl won’t come.
  The toll road would be an alternative to State Road 50, which becomes a parking lot during rush hour with suburbanites trying to get to their metro jobs. The commuters are more than willing to foot the bill for an alternative route.
  Commissioners are split. Some say it’s a good idea. Some are worried about the environmental impact. Some are worried that the new road will encourage more development, thus creating as many traffic problems as it solves.
  
  
• A sales tax increase to help expand public transportation in MIAMI-DADE COUNTY was defeated in late July by a 2 to 1 margin. Mayor Alex Penelas had actively campaigned for the tax in recent months.
  Penelas and traffic experts contend that public transportation spending is the only way to avert pending traffic and economic gridlock in the county. Opponents appealed to voters’ mistrust of government.
  The county has been trying to pass a tax to fund mass transit since 1976. This was the fourth time the issue has come before voters. Each time it has been handily defeated.
  
  
• If eyes are the windows of the soul, it must be pretty hard to get drapes. Turns out that no two irises are exactly alike.
  The SARASOTA COUNTY Sheriff’s Office is putting this little bit of trivia to good use with a security device that scans the irises of inmates entering and leaving the county’s detention center.
  The system, from IriScan, has been in use for a year and has already foiled two escape attempts and uncovered a man who had given a false name when he was arrested.
  Inmates’ irises are scanned before they leave for court appearances and work crews or at the end of their terms.
  

KENTUCKY

• As if record low commodity prices aren’t bad enough, farmers in the eastern and northern counties are being hit hard by the worst drought in more than 10 years.
  Farmers in BOURBON COUNTY are reporting massive crop failures and farmers in JESSAMINE COUNTY are quickly reaching a point where their ponds will run dry and they will be forced to sell all their cattle in an already glutted market.
  Gov. Paul Patton is seeking federal disaster aid for farmers in 27 counties.
  

NEW MEXICO

• DONA ANA COUNTY will use a $4.6 million federal grant to build a sewage treatment plant in the desert. The plant will have the capacity to serve two 1,300-acre industrial parks, a Border Patrol office, an Immigration and Naturalization Service office, a highway inspection office and thousands of homes, the county manager said.
  

PENNSYLVANIA

• Senior citizens in ALLEGHENY COUNTY are dusting off their dance shoes.
  Dancers age 60 and over will tango, jitterbug, waltz and polka to big-band sounds in September when they face off in a competition sponsored by the county’s Department of Aging.
  The popular contest got its start eight years ago and is still going strong. Judging will be conducted by the pros from Arthur Murray Dance Studio.
  

VIRGINIA

• FAUQUIER COUNTY Sheriff Joe Higgs is a bit miffed at how he and his department are portrayed in a new nonfiction book, A Woman Scorned, according to a recent report in The Washington Post.
  The book, about the fatal shooting of an Argentine polo player by a millionaire heiress, describes Higgs, who is running for reelection, wearing "stylish Italian designer suits."
  The author "talked about my designer clothes, which are anything but, unless you call J.C. Penney’s and Sears ‘designer,’" he said.
  

WASHINGTON

• According to the Washington State Association of Counties, COWLITZ COUNTY is gearing up to begin rehabilitating addicts in its new federally funded drug court, one of eight in the state.
  KING, PIERCE and SPOKANE have operated similar programs for several years. THURSTON, KITSAP, SKAGIT and CLALLAM (juvenile offenders only) have started their programs and several others are contemplating starting a drug court program.
  There are about 600 drug courts operating nationwide.
  Cowlitz County will receive a $400,000 federal grant that will fund the program for 18 months. The money will primarily be used to provide intensive outpatient treatment to about 50 defendants at any given time. Generally, people charged with possessing illegal drugs or forging prescriptions will be eligible for the alternative program, provided they don’t have prior convictions for any sex offense or violent crime.
  Cowlitz’s adult felony caseload grew from 843 in 1996 to 1,121 last year – an increase of 33 percent. Almost 22 percent of the 1998 cases filed were drug crimes.
  

(News From the Nation's Counties is compiled by Mary Ann Barton and Kevin Wilcox, senior staff writers. Got some news? Send it to mbarton@naco.org or kwilcox@naco.org. Or fax 202/393-2630.)