The Joker’s gang leaves Gotham City, invades Lincoln

I’m jealous. Where is Batman when you really need him? Why should Batman only help the people of Gotham City when the good people of Nebraska must fight all the Jokers by themselves?

It is unclear just how many Jokers are operating in the state, but it is crystal clear a large majority of them frequent the state capitol in Lincoln. And what evidence do we have we are under assault by Jokers, disguised as state senators?

Could it be that the State of Nebraska is projected to be sitting on a $574 million dollar surplus, money taken from Nebraskans with no real purpose? Even the Jokers who mistakenly took our money are undecided as to what to do with it. They fall into three hilarious camps. One group of Jokers wants to save it for a rainy day. Another wants to give it back to us and yet another group wants to find a worthy project to spend it on.

Meanwhile I read with interest in the York News-Times that the York County commissioners have been sending letters to the state asking Nebraska to pay what is owed to York County for housing prisoners in the county jail. According to Board Chairman Gus Brown the county only received a small portion of what is owed.

The News-Times reported last year alone the county billed the state for $64,155 but only received $19,304. (Since the year 2000 York County has claimed $421,960 but the state has seen fit to only send us $218,173. Seems the state of Nebraska owes York County $203,787.)
So here’s the story line. The Jokers in Lincoln have taken too much of our money, $574 million dollars to be exact. They won’t pay us the $203,787 they owe us.

People of York County, we are not alone in our fight. It seems this has been going on in counties all over our fine state. Sheriff Dale Radcliff, we hear you when you say, “The state makes all these mandated deals, but then they don’t pay for it.” We hear you when you say, “When it comes to the state prisoner reimbursement, we don’t get paid because they don’t have the money. And then they don’t pay us.”

But Sheriff, they do have the money, $574 million too much of it in fact. The Jokers just won’t give it to us. Instead they give us excuses blaming appropriations for only allocating four million to the reimbursement fund, knowing that would not be nearly enough.

So what’s a county to do? One solution is for two of the Joker Groups in Lincoln to get together.

The one group who wants to give the overtaxed people of Nebraska some of our money back needs to get together with the group of Jokers who want to find a worthy cause to spend the state’s windfall on. Here’s a worthy cause; Pay the counties for the qualified prisoner costs.

How? Simply appropriate more money to the prisoner reimbursement fund.

If that fails, Batman may be our only other choice. Is there a way the York County Commissioners can get in touch with Gotham City’s Police Commissioner James Gordon?

Can we arrange a deal to borrow the Batman spotlight and beam it towards the east? It has about as good of chance of success at the letters the York County Commissioners are sending to Lincoln.

Right now, by all accounts, it seems the Jokers are in charge. Unfortunately, Batman is unavailable and the York County citizens are left with few alternatives.

It’s a “Dark Knight” in York County.