And so Austin libraries grow even quieter

You have got to be kidding me! The author of this Austin American Stateman article must be the only person on earth that could really care about this while our economy is taking a tumble for the worse. I mean crying about budget cuts to our libraries. Then has the audacity to say that our police and fire departments should take budget cuts too! Sure if our emergency services can save money in certain areas without causing strain they should do so. With our economy being in such turmoil people could be forced into taking drastic measures to get what they want and need. Also with all the added stress on household budgets there will be more spousal abuse and maybe even suicides. We need our police and fire departments at the top of their game. Looks to me the only argument this author is using is that people need the libraries to look up much needed jobs. Right, because there are no other places in this city that you are able to look for jobs. With pretty much everyone having access to the internet, libraries are not really that important anymore. You can find anything you need on the internet, including jobs. More then you could ever find in any public library. I say close our libraries if that means a safer city for our children to live in. Shame on this author to put the needs of the libraries ahead of our cites safety.

Dallas County to vote on withholding vehicle registrations for those who owe fines

So I was reading this article and wondering why we as a state haven't been doing this to start with. Dallas County commissioners will be voting today for a new program to go into affect. If you owe money for any unpaid misdemeanor citations, the program will put a block so you can not get your vehicle registration up to date until you pay the fines or fees. It seems that in Dallas County alone there are a whopping $210 million in unpaid misdemeanor citations alone. El Paso County was the first county in Texas to have used it and since 1997 they have already collected about 2 million in unpaid fees. Having been in law enforcement I think this is a great idea and wish that all counties in Texas would make this law as soon as possible. It would free up the criminal justice system and not only save officers time but would save counties a lot of money. I posted this blog because this could affect all of us in living in this state at one point in time. Since our local governments are feeling this hard economy in their budgets they could start to implement this to help get those much need dollars.