County Watch
by G. L. Penney

 My apologies to Doug Barton. 

 I must learn not to presume things when facts are not in evidence. Recently a county official called me to task for identifying Mr. Barton as the author of a letter to the state comptroller's office when, in fact, the letter was written by this official.

 I would not have made that mistake except for several things that had occurred previously. First, Mr. Barton had been the only one, to my knowledge, who had talked to the comptroller's examiner (and in private). Second, the official in question had told the county legislature that the letter was being handled "by the committee process." Third, the official had failed to follow written county policy in that he had not presented the letter to the legislators for their concurrence before sending it.

  The letter, as I said last month, concerned the county's alleged failure to properly oversee the Howland Brothers transactions. Personally, I would paraphrase the county official's response as telling the comptroller that the county had done nothing wrong and that he (the comptroller ) could not prove otherwise. I certainly would not have given my consent to such a letter. I certainly am not surprised that the comptroller's subsequent news release takes the county severely to task.