State employees at a welfare office in Louisville say they are frightened and outraged by plans to cut nine of 11 security guards at the building where they work with troubled and sometimes dangerous clients.

"It makes me mad that now I have to fear coming to work every day," said Noelle Milburn, a secretary who said she routinely meets with upset clients. "We need security in this building."

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services plans to eliminate all but two security guards who patrol state offices in Louisville's L&N Building. Statewide, 43 full-time guard slots are being cut at 27 locations. The move will save up to $900,000 a year, budget adviser Beth Jurek told the Courier-Journal of Louisville.

Employees in the offices routinely deal with clients whose children have been removed because of abuse or neglect, people angry at the loss welfare benefits, and others who are addicted to alcohol and drugs or who suffer from mental illnesses.

"It is a dangerous environment in which we are working these days," said Teresa James, the deputy director of social services in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment