LETTERS: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR SHOULD BE PROVIDED AN OFFICE TO CONDUCT COUNTY'S BUSINESS

To the editor:

Last April , as I was bringing my 7-year-old son home from school, a truck driven by a drunk driver hit my car. The accident occurred as I was pulling into my driveway at 4 p.m. My car was moved 90 feet from the point of impact, and the truck of the drunk driver landed in my front yard. My car sustained $6,000 worth of damage, and the drunk driver was uninsured.

The drunk driver was on his way to the public administrator's house to get some money. The current public administrator, John Ferguson, is my neighbor, and the drunk driver, an alcohol- and drug-dependent man, is a client of his. The public administrator's duties include handling the finances of those people the county views as incompetent to handle their own financial affairs. The drunk driver was one of those people.

Currently, there is no office for the public administrator in the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse. Based on Missouri laws, the county commission does not have to provide the public administrator with an office unless the commission deems it necessary. Last spring I sent a letter to Gerald Jones, the presiding commissioner, asking that an office be made available for the public administrator in the courthouse. I was told that there was no room for the public administrator in the courthouse and that the commission didn't think it was necessary to provide an outside office. I disagree.

If an office were provided for the public administrator, the citizens of Cape Girardeau County would be better served. Without an office, the public administrator is forced to do county business out of his home. I feel this not only jeopardizes the public administrator's neighbors, but also puts the county at risk of litigation. Fortunately, neither my son nor I was hurt last spring, but the reality is that a drug-dependent, uninsured, drunk driver hit us on his way to do county business. I feel strongly that the county commission should provide an office for the public administrator. Thank you.

CYNTHIA C. MAHER

Cape Girardeau