COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) - No one from the audience spoke during yesterday’s public hearing on the 2013 Branch County general fund budget, which will be up for final approval a week from tomorrow. However, there was a large presence of county law enforcement at the meeting of county commissioners, who are expected to approve a spending plan for next year that includes laying off half the deputies assigned to the sheriff’s department road patrol.

Also, during the public comment period at the beginning of Tuesday’s session, a longtime supporter of 4-H and M-S-U Extension, Phil AcMoody, pleaded with the board not to make cuts to an extension youth educator’s position.

AcMoody said it’s like asking the star running back of the football team to run with a walking cast.  According to AcMoody, the program will still go forward, but it won’t have the ability to provide the value that it does now.