Dog Day's Briefs:

Ozmania; The Administration's "walk on" request for 1 million dollars capital improvement expenditure for the "gun shot location program" as a "priority program", Without going into the pros and cons involved in deciding the effectiveness of the detection system, why did Administration feel it was an emergency when the Planning Board, unlike the Council meets twice monthly?

Perhaps it is because the Councils Agenda session is this coming Monday and the business meeting is the 16th. Otherwise, Council action would have to wait until September. Once again this Council's meeting schedule can be counter productive.

An ethical question; should the Police Department and the Administration's representative on the Planning Board recluse themselves if this matter comes up for a vote at the Board?

The BOA/PSS announcement that the transfer of the Barack Obama Academy to the Jefferson School from the antiquated Lincoln School would save $600,000.00 is welcomed news. BUT is this a true figure. Has the costs of renovating the portion of Jefferson School that will be used the school's activities been figured in? Will these costs be prorated over the expected life of the unit? What about personnel costs? If Administrative personnel will be used in that school will or will not part of their salary be prorated to the school/ These are only part of the questions pertaining to the 600K savings. What one can do with numbers can be fun.

On the National scene; In California a judge declared that parts of the voter sponsored referendum was unconstitutional. This will ultimately go to the US Supreme Court.

Of greater interest was the size of the Missouri vote rejecting Federal sponsored Health Insurance. Once again along with the challenges by various States of the Federal mandating State participation this too will be settled in the Supreme Court. The Constitution founders never visioned the judiciary as formulating the laws of the land.