Democracy At Work

Forget the balanced-budget amendment. In Breathitt County, Ky., if you don’t get rid of red ink, you go to jail. After failing to obey a court order to balance the budget by July 1, three county magistrates were simply thrown in the slammer. The three had refused to vote for a 1% payroll tax, which state officials claimed would eliminate the $400,000 budget deficit. Their suffering coal-mining county could not afford it, argued the martyred magistrates, who were released four days later after reluctantly agreeing to the tax.