QUALITY OF LIFE NO CONCERN OF JUSTICE DEPT.

The city has accepted yet another federal handout. This time, Lima will be
getting $1.08 million over a five-year period to "improve the quality of
life" in northern Lima. A similar grant program began five years ago in
southern Lima.

While we think city officials should take the high road and reject any
federal money as a matter of principle, we can't fault them too harshly
when they don't. After all, the money was taken from local residents by the
feds in the form of taxes. City officials can meekly, but with some merit,
justify their decision by pointing out that the money will be spent
somewhere, so it might as well as come back to Lima.

True enough.

Our problem rests with the grant program that has our city's staff
appealing for cash. The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Justice.
While the grant apparently comes with some law-enforcement provisions, we
still can't fathom why the Justice Department is concerned about quality of
life issues in northern Lima.

We acknowledge there is a justifiable need for a federal law enforcement
agency.

However, the Justice Department's concern should be limited to the realm of
federal law enforcement. Local law enforcement and youth programs in Lima
have nothing to do with the legitimate role of a federal law enforcement
agency.

That the Justice Department is concerned about the quality of life in U.S.
cities tells us that its $23.35 billion budget for fiscal year 2001 is
entirely too high.

For example the following items are just a few from this year's budget that
easily could be cut:

* $2.4 billion in increased funding to detain and incarcerate federal
prisoners. This much money would not be needed if the so-called drug war
was ended and prosecution of many crimes with no legitimate federal
interest were left to the states.

* $616.4 million to improve community law enforcement efforts by funding
more police officers and community prosecutors, as well as providing local
law enforcement with the latest crime-fighting technologies.

Government interference causes more problems than it solves. President
Clinton's 1994 efforts gave grants to local communities to hire 100,000 new
police officers who wouldn't have met the requirements to be police
officers in 1993.

And the increased number of police officers nationally parallels an
increase in police brutality and other police crimes.

* $439.3 million in new resources to guard against illegal immigration and
promote legal entry to the United States. This amount would not be needed
if our immigration standards were loosened.

* $358 million for fighting crime through technology, including funds from
the Department of Defense for telecommunications carrier compliance. The
use of military hardware by the federal government to combat local and
state crimes should scare even the least paranoid among us.

* $215.9 million to further combat gun violence. Most violent crime is a
matter for state and local officials.

* $32.2 million in increased funding for the department's litigation
efforts. The Microsoft Corp. lawsuit has demonstrated that the Justice
Department already has too much money for litigation efforts.

It's time the Justice Department got out of the quality-of-life business.
It's not that we are against programs to curb crime, if needed. We just
think they should be funded locally and not by the federal government.

Every time the city accepts these federal handouts, a little bit of our
independence as a community disappears as we have to answer to federal
bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., who probably can't even correctly
pronounce the name of our lovely community.