Russell County Fiscal Court has confirmed plans to build a new jail.

Finally!

The building of a new or closing the old, has been a topic of discussion for many, many years. Finally a decision to move forward has been reached.

This is an excellent time to undertake the project as stimulus funding should be available and of course would make the project much more financially feasible.

This will not only keep a lot of money in Russell County, versus paying other counties to house our prisoners, it will provide several jobs here in our own county.

We would anticipate our cities and county will posture to take advantage of all the stimulus programs being made available. It is not a handout, we all are paying for and will be paying for many years to come. Just in a different manner.

This stimulus package is now underway and we understand our government is already planning a second stimulus effort. One report we read recently stated each American household will have to pay over $80,000 in taxes to pay for what our government is dishing out at this time.

If you look at stimulswatch.org you will find that six cities in Kentucky (Bowling Green • Frankfort • Hopkinsville • Lexington • Louisville • Shelbyville) have already submitted projects totalling some $1,519,552,354.

Our community leaders need to mover forward as quickly and as efficiently as possible to take full advantage. It is our money. It is not a gift. We need to keep as much of it as possible in our own community.