To the Editor:

I no longer live in Washington, and after reading articles about the jail I understand why.

I am and always have been a loyal reader of the Washington Daily News. The county commissioners that I have read who don’t want a new jail are out of touch with reality. The jail as it is now is one step above the jail of Andy and Barney in Mayberry. Having have spent a bunch of time there, I know that the existing jail is unsafe and so outdated it’s pathetic. Who and how many will die at the jail before the good old boys on the county commission see the light? It’s 2013, not 1960, Hood and cronies. Politicians like you are dinosaurs. Spend the money now or risk lives being lost and lawsuits coming into play. I bet no one opposing a new jail has ever had a loved one in there. Beaufort County will never grow with such close-minded leadership.

Bert Hodges Jr.

Raleigh