“Heaven forbid we just consider reducing the number of laws that send people to prison....

“Like which laws Luke? We are all listening. You might not consider some laws as important as another person but all are necessary in one way or another. Which ones should be dumped ? Some might say sticking a guy in jail for DUI or DWP is unnecessary. When does it become necessary? Would you agree that when a guy gets stopped for driving without privileges 3 times in the same year because he was suspended for a DUI earlier in the year that maybe he isn't getting the message yet? Add on the fact that all 4 times he has been stopped he still doesn't have insurance. Seems petty on the surface until you see the whole picture. We can let him go if you'd like but I hope and pray you have uninsured motorist coverage in case he hits you. I'm sure then you would complain plenty loud that he wasn't locked up when he should have been. How often do cops see behaviors like this? Every single day. How many people have died on our roads because one of these jerks who shouldn't have been driving hit them? Even one is too many. I have attended three funerals in my lifetime of people I knew who were struck and killed by Drunk and/or DWP drivers. I don't want to attend any more either. There has to be a penalty or there will be anarchy.

“There are thousands of people with suspended drivers licenses in Idaho. Do you see many people walking to work. There are a ridiculous number of ways to lose your license in Idaho and not even know it. Last count I got from a Judge was 22 different ways tolose your licence. These people are not criminals.

“So law enforcement should choose not to enforce laws they are sworn to uphold when you don't agree with them? How should we deal with people who shouldn't be driving when they continue to do it? Law Enforcement doesn't get that choice Flyonthewall. They are hired to enforce the laws of this state, not decide which ones to enforce. There is a way to change laws though. You can lobby the legislature you elected to represent you to strike a law from the books. They did that with Felony DWP several years ago. Now you also seem to think the jail is overflowing with DWP offenders and space is being wasted. I hate to tell you that you are mistaken but that is the case. At last count that I checked there was a total of 3 people in the jail for DWP. All were sentenced meaning they had their day in court were found guilty and a judge put them there. Note a Judge put them there, not a cop. Of the 22 ways to lose your license some are civil penalties like for failing to pay child support etc. Does it make them criminals? No. I agree with you to some extent the DWP laws could be changed in this state. You got a better way to get child support out of some of these guys? Not a perfect system by any means but it is a system. I don't have all the answers but I will say this. Withholding resources from Law Enforcement to display your dissatisfaction with the state legislature is not the best idea either. DWP laws have nothing to do with an undersized jail where we don't have enough room to house SERIOUS offenders. In all seriousness, do you have any other ideas other than cops should break the laws they are sworn to uphold?

“Whatever we said no now and again then. I would rather pay for schools than participate in growing criminals. If you truly want to do it for the families start there.

“I know you would rather build schools Lisa but we already have plenty of schools and yet there seems to be more criminals appearing everyday. What really bothers me is the growing gang problem in this community which is out of control and taking over the schools. What do you do with gang kids that prey on other students at school? Unfortunately removing the gang members from schools doesn't seem to be the answer. That is why I am all for private schools. They don't have to deal with the little monsters and aren't forced to accept them and have to turn the school into gang central. Until the school system is effectively empowered to manage problem students your idea is and has been failing miserably. So how does this fix our problem? What we don't have is enough jail space. No matter which way you cut it or who you compare it to this county has less than 1/2 the absolute minimum bed space needed to serve this community. This is a sad reflection on the community and sends a clear message that anger over the economy and taxes is more important than peoples safety. This county has kept up on building schools to keep pace with the growth that has plagued this county. It has not however kept pace in the size of it's jail. I really don't think this county will ever get a jail bond passed through until the citizens first recognize there is a shortage of space and settle to some kind of long term growth plan to deal with it. They could choose to ignore it too, but that will just force the courts to intervene and force you to build it. I don't like that option, I would rather have a say in what gets built. Wouldn't you?

“Why can't we have Charter Jails? Just submit a proposal on how your vision of how to run a jail is better than the jail already in place. Then the Charter Jail Commission will give you millions of tax dollars to build your new jail vision and the prisoners will come. No need to get "approval" from the people who will pay for it, just the approval from a few souls on the Commission. That's how the charter schools do it; why not jails too?

“That is a .........unique idea. But it is an Idea! I think more research may be required Blue, but thats a good start.

“Dear Sounds crazy, Blue in Idaho was not really proposing a charter jail, Blue is bitter towards Charter schools altogether as evident by the 1000 posts about charter schools in the past 3 weeks. However, Sounds Crazy has a great point that we need to think outside the box. Perhaps if PRIVITIZE the jail system we would actually save the tax payers dollars. We need to stop making jails a place where it is actually better to go for many people: individual cable tv, not having to work, etc, etc, etc. I recently was unemployeed for a few weeks and so went to a Temp Service for work. They sent me to the land fill one day to help stack pallets of old tv's and computer monitors. Very hard work. The supervisor told me that they used to be able to get community service hours from the jail inmates, but that a judge had decided that the work was "TOO HARD PHYSICALLY". So I go from a mid level manager job to stacking pallets and it is okay (I actually refused unemployment benefits and like to support my family by working), but they guy who has DUI's or robs someone, or beats up his girlfriend for the 8th time sitting in jail is too good to do the "hard work". Yes the system is broken, and until we make the jail system a punitive process, there will be no determent for people going there... Remember they choose their actions that landed them there in the first place. Perhaps we should take a note from the Sheriff in Arizona who makes the inmates wear pink jumpers! And BTW: Blue we all understand you don't like Charter Schools - Grow up and stick to the topics at hand and stop being so single issued focused - the world is a great place with many issues facing our city, county, state, nation, and world. Maybe you should pick another cause or two in addition to your obvious distate for an educational system that IS working much better than the traditional schools. Do some unbiased researchand you may be surprised at what you find in performance of the kids!

“I think that the commisioners need to rethink this plan, The jail that they want to build is too small 625 beds is not enough for future growth, The residents in canyon county want more bang for the buck.

“Terry it is too small but it is a modular design so you can add on to it like lego blocks. Efficient cheap and easy. The real up front cost is in the core area not the inmate living areas. The core is designed to support up to 2000 inmates but they want to build 650 beds to start. These facts were not accurately represented by those opposed to this during the election. In fact the information was twisted around and misrepresented to turn people away from voting yes. It has been very carefully thought through, it's just the opposition doesn't want you to know that. They want to confuse the issue. I think all the plans, literature, etc. should be put on a website. Then the public could peruse all of the facts, plans, data, studies, civilian committees findings etc. without having to play these stupid games of fitting a 1000 plus page report into 400 word or less blurb to appear in the newspaper or a 30 second spot on television. Then the taxpayers could see it all without all this inaccurate reporting and rumor mongering. Wouldn't it be nice if you could see it for yourself? I think the taxpayers are smart enough to decide for themselves without the opposition re-interpreting and filtering the facts for them. Don't you?