Surplus, Surplus Everywhere! But No Troopers...

For those of you who do not live in the 24th Senatorial District you may not be aware that it contains a very strategic Crossroads in our Commonwealth. Interstates I-81 and I-64 intersect here and it is a major conduit for illegal aliens & other criminals smuggling drugs such as Methamphetamines, Cocaine and Marijuana through out our region and to all points north, east and west.

The counties of Augusta, Rockingham and Nelson have had more than their share of these drug busts, and numerous Methamphetamine labs have been busted, and this is truly a huge regional problem. Del. Ben Cline has been trying to address this issue for four years running in the General Assembly by going down 'hat in hand' to get extra funding for over time for our State Troopers to help stem the tide of this trafficking and to improve highway safety along I-81.

The main problem it seems is that the 'Priority' of Public Safety has not been addressed, because per capita Augusta County alone is authorized 19 State Troopers, and the General Assembly only funds 14! This is truly outrageous, especially since the Commonwealth has been in surplus now for 3 years running. Unfortunately, we have not had the Leadership from our Senator Hanger to address this growing crisis, instead he has found a way to provide in-state tuition to illegal aliens!

Having those extra five troopers would eliminate the need to over work the ones we have, because obviously they would be rotated into the current patrols! These aren't problems that manifest themselves overnight, they are problems that display quite clearly a lack of Pro-active Leadership! It's time for a change in the 24th District, we need Scott Sayre as our Senator, who will make Public Safety a priority in the 24th District, and push to get us our Troopers!