To The Editor,

I am deeply saddened by Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott’s refusal to accept stimulus money for his department.

Lee County citizens are the losers in this unwise decision. We in Lehigh Acres acknowledge and belive Sheriff Scott thathis department needs help that the stimulus money could provide.

Surely, attrition over a three-year-period would allow the Sheriff’s department to absorb those 21 officers.

The hardships of our times demand that we think and act outside of partisan politics.

We have learned nothing if we don’t understand that difficult times require difficult decisions.

I sincerely hope that Sheriff Scott will reconsider his decision that the stimulus money be used … put the people who re-elected him in this equation.

Joan Patterson

Lehigh Acres