Rather than spend money on arena, county should do more for youths

Editor-

How is it that we have youths on the street without a place to live and we have youth who are in need of help from drugs, alcohol or behavior problems, and Columbia County wants to build an arena? Wouldn't the money better be spent building a facility to help the youths of Columbia County, who are the future of the county?

There are no facilities in the county to help the youths who need counseling or help for their problems. The county has, I believe, three probation officers to deal with all the youths of Columbia County, parents, and the schools. Your schools in Columbia County don't want to acknowledge the problems in the schools with drugs and prescription drugs, but instead want to put it aside.

Columbia County needs to think about the youths as well as the citizens of the county and try and find a facility to help them. Yes, an arena would bring revenue, but what about the youths here? Are they going to benefit from this arena, or just hang out and do drugs together? The commissioners need to help the juvenile court and provide help to the staff that manages the youths.

My heart goes out to the staff of the Juvenile Court; they have to be a probation officer, counselor, mentor and parent to the youths of Columbia County. They wear a coat of many colors. But let's build an arena to make the rich-richer.

S. Hart

Harlem