Pasco County Sheriff Bob White announced Thursday that he will disband the agency's air unit - eliminating four helicopters and one airplane - to cut annual operational costs by $600,000, much of which will be reallocated to hire more patrol deputies. ...more

March 6, 2009

Pasco County Sheriff Bob White announced this morning he is disbanding the agency's air unit to cut annual operational costs by $600,000, much of which will be reallocated to put more patrol deputies on the streets. The department will return its four helicopters to the federal government surplus program that provided them and will advertise its airplane for sale on the Internet, he said. ...more

March 5, 2009

So you really think $75 per month county combat pay for our warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan is a "wonderful gesture." Maybe you (and the commissioners) should rethink the idea. It is perhaps a noble thought but one that is very apt to get bogged down in bureaucratic red tape which will surely spoil the original purpose. For one thing, you say it will go only to those "on the front lines every day." Does that mean a wounded soldier evacuated to the rear for a week of medical treatment loses his stipend for that month? How would any soldier establish that he/she was on the front lines every day? Worse, in lands where suicide bombers and IEDs abound, where are the front lines? Someone driving a fuel truck to an isolated helicopter base may be in a lot more danger than someone patrolling a pacified neighborhood. ...more

December 30, 2007