LETTERS: STORM WARNING FIRST, THEN SCHOOLS

To the editor:

With all due respect to the citizens of Jackson who are so concerned about education and multimillion-dollar educational facilities the school district is asking us to approve next week, it seems to me the community has its priorities wrong.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the first order of business for any government the protection of it's people? Where is the protection in case an unannounced tornado comes roaring through the twin cities of Cape and Jackson? We don't have any severe weather early-warning device in place or proposed for Jackson, yet we are asked to support an $11 million tax package in support of education. The media -- and we all know what happens to the media when lightening is around -- let last year's severe storm sneak in on us. With all the property damage, we were lucky there were no fatalities.

The winds from that single storm were reported to be only around 60 miles per hour. Suppose that had been a full-fledged tornado? With the onslaught of tornadoes already this year and the actual tornado season not even here yet, can we afford to be without an severe weather early-warning system of some kind? It's nice to have great educational facilities, but if we spend all the money on those amenities -- notice I didn't say necessities -- and a single life is lost through neglect of our city to provide a weather alert system, well, you be the judge. Maybe we should regroup and get our priorities straightened out.

RICHARD BRUCE

Jackson