The Pleasant View facility is a very much needed part of Green County, for residents any others in need of its type of care. To vote down the Oct. 6 referendum to keep this in operation would be a travesty to our obligation to our fellow citizens in need.

Although I and most Green County residents are not in a position to continue to pay more of our hard-earned money to cover the shortfalls of its operation, I believe we must!

My biggest question is why were our Green County Board members seemingly unaware of this financial problem when they were so intent on spending megabucks on an extravagant building to house a justice center? It was not a dire need. There were many alternatives at a considerably lesser cost. Yes, the new building is beautiful and, of course, useful. But it was not in our best interest to tear down the Ag Building, which covered some of our space needs, and to overlook many vacant and available downtown buildings.

I plan to vote "yes" on the Pleasant View operations funds, as it is a very necessary part of our obligation to those of us in need of such a facility.

My biggest regret is that I did not have the opportunity to vote on a referendum on whether the justice center was needed. If only half of the cost of the justice center could have been averted by using other available options, we would be able to continue Pleasant View operations for many more years without being forced with the choice between our conscience and our pocketbooks.

I sincerely hope we never are faced with making such a decision in years to come.