It is very disheartening to see the state of our county. Consider the contrast of the following news stories: An 83-year-old man and 55-year-old woman were arrested for unlawfully growing marijuana, as a result of an investigation by the multi-agency highly funded St. Lawrence County Drug Task Force. Two days previous, Karen St. Hilaire proposed a 20 percent tax levy increase, as well as cutting funding for things like cancer prevention, the Arts Council, the Historical Association, libraries, the IDA, the Cornell Cooperative Extension and other programs. Not only are the politicians wasting our money "busting" and prosecuting someone's elderly grandparents, they are asking for more - and not using it to do anything that benefits us. Shame on them all.