The state police aviation unit is no longer operating out of the Williamsport Regional Airport in Montoursville.
That doesn't mean there have been answers given to local lawmakers' questions about why the unit was closed.
State Rep. Rick Mirabito, a Williamsport Democrat, is hoping to get some answers today at a hearing of the state House Appropriations Committee, with state police asking some of the questions this time.
We're not holding our breath. The track record of state government in our area is that when there is a decision to cut back a service, there aren't a lot of explanations.
In this case, the aviation unit work that was done here is now being done out of Hazelton.
It would be nice to see a cost comparison between the cost of the service in Hazelton and the cost here.
It would be nice to find out when the decision was made, by who, and what the reasoning was.
It would be nice to know if these same cuts are being made in urban areas as part of state budget cutbacks.
Maybe this discontinuation of service out of Montoursville makes sense, but we don't know that without answers to these kinds of questions.
All we know is traffic and crime surveillance as well as emergency responses by the state police helicopter are no longer happening in our area.
It was a much-used service that we would be better off having.
It certainly, at the very least, was worthy of a forthright explanation from the state if it was being curtailed.
