Commission changes are coming

To the editor:

In 1999, a drunken driver hit my car as I was pulling into my driveway. The driver was a client of the Cape Girardeau County public administrator, who was my neighbor and who conducted his duties from his home. The driver, a ward of Cape Girardeau County, hit my car on his way to the public administrator to -- as he explained to the police officer -- get "money for more beer."

I called Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones and asked about the possibility of having the public administrator work out of a county office instead of his home. Mr. Jones said that was not going to happen. When I asked to attend the next commission meeting, Mr. Jones said I could not attend. When I asked that the office space issue be put on the agenda of the next meeting, Mr. Jones dismissed me by saying he was not going to put my issue before the commission -- all this in the course of one phone call.

The presiding commissioner may "have been operating this way for a long, long time," but I think things are about to change.

CINDY MAHER, Cape Girardeau