The primary duty of any government, whether it is federal, state or local, is to protect its citizens. That is its primary duty. We have two new county commissioners — Price-Johnson and Homola — who apparently don’t understand that duty. They along with the third commissioner, John Dean, want to cut three sheriff’s deputies from the budget.

Island County is currently fifth in the state in density of population but only the sixth county from the bottom for ratio of officers to citizens. If our county commissioners reduce the number of deputies by three, that will put us at the bottom of the ratio list. Will that make our county safer? Or does that give the bad guys practically open season on us?

As it is now, it takes a patrol car anywhere up to 20 minutes to get to any site on South Whidbey to do any police work, proactive or reactive. With three fewer deputies the chances of having help within a reasonable time becomes almost impossible. This leaves people the option of having to handle any situation — car prowls, family disputes, home invasions, etc. — themselves.

Surely there are other places where cuts can be made without endangering people’s lives and property. Remember, the primary duty of government is to protect its people. If anything they should be increasing their number.

Jean Goodfellow

Clinton