To the Allegany County commissioners, Jim Stakem, Bob Hutcheson and Dale Lewis:

Regardless of what excuses you come up with, that fact still remains that you didn’t see fit to give the folks who voted you into office a say in the matter.

When did you decide that you should make such an important decision on your own, to change the responsibilities of the sheriff, who was also elected to office by the voters the same as you were? What you claim is right, does not mean that everyone thinks the same way. You had to know that as you were making the changes that there was a lot of opposition to your decision. That’s the reason this story has never gone away.

The duties of the sheriff when Mr. Goad originally took office were the same as the previous sheriff’s duties, so why did you think you had the power to take these duties away from him without the authority of the voters who put him in office? I understand that you, the commissioners, must fund the Sheriff’s Department, and it seems that if he wasn’t spending his funds properly, the voters would certainly let him know on election day.

I keep reading in the newspaper that you say that what he does borders on illegal, but there doesn’t seem to be any facts to that printed in the paper. I just don’t see the justification in Allegany County needing the second police force, and I can’t believe that this entire farce has saved us any money.

William Ambrose

McCoole