Story 2

A heated argument broke out between the county sheriff and several county commissioners Thursday due to a dispute over equipment and personnel. County Sheriff Gus DiCesari accused the commissioners of “shortchanging” his department to save money.

            The Sheriff’s Department has asked the commission for money to buy new cruisers and hire new deputies, but Commission President Anne Chenn maintains that the county does not have enough money to make the upgrades.

            Commissioners Anita Shenuski and Raymond Laybourne stand behind sheriff Dicesari on the matter. Commissioner Shenuski believes the problem stems from the migrant workers allowed to work in the community. “We never had problems until we began letting migrants come to this county to work” said Shenuski in a heated argument with president Chenn. Shenuski believes the county should spend more money on the Sheriff’s Department rather than the county’s migrant workers.

            President Chenn disagrees, stating “Those people who come here to work are decent, hardworking people… They add a great deal to the local economy and they pay taxes. You are being a hypocrite when you try to blame those people for everything.” According to Chenn, the county is low on money because of the increased cost of both employee health care and fuel. Chenn also stated that the county had to spend $30 million to build a new prison to alleviate crowding in their existing prison.

             According to Sheriff DiCesari, the department needs money to purchase eight new police cruisers to replace eight older cruisers, each of which has more than 150,000 miles. DiCesari has said “My deputies can’t keep driving these old vehicles. Something bad is going to happen.” President Chenn suggested that the deputies not drive their vehicles home at night in order to cut down on the miles. However, Sheriff DiCesari says this practice serves as a crime deterrent.

DiCesari’s warnings fell upon deaf ears as the commissioners voted 5-2 against his request for additional funds. President Chenn said that the department would just have to make due this year because the county does not have the funds necessary to supply new vehicles and hire additional deputies.