Letter: Lives would be made worse by budget cuts

Wednesday, June 25, 2003 | 9:04 a.m.

Are all of the people in Nevada who stand behind Assemblymen Bob Beers and Lynn Hettrick and others mean-spirited, uncaring, hardhearted people, or do they just seem that way? When you talk about "budget cuts" you're really talking about "people's lives" and making them worse. Children who deserve a good education, children who deserve mental health services, health care, dental care.

The state has been living on bread and water and has been underfunded for years. Go ahead, open the budget, make more cuts. Let's see how bad we can get, let's see how many children will die because of understaffed case workers, let's see how many kids are left behind in education.

Guess how much the state of Washington had to pay for their lawsuit brought on by foster care children? It was $60 million a year in court-ordered changes, plus damages, plus five years of legal fees defending a lawsuit they could not win. The Washington lawsuit was for the same things our state is guilty of and in some cases not as bad as we are.

These are lives, people. You know the same people you rally to help out at Christmas time, well these people have needs all year round. Get some accountability for the money we spend, I'm all for that, but pass the needed increases or forever be known as Scrooge or worse.

DONNA COLEMAN

Editor's note: The writer is president of the Children's Advocacy Alliance, a nonprofit group based in Las Vegas.