DAYTON - At the close of their Sept. 7 meeting, Columbia County Commissioners and Columbia County Prosecutor Rea Culwell discussed the idea of seeking mediation to help overcome an impasse regarding how to utilize excess funds from a federally funded crime victim advocacy grant. The disagreement now threatens business as usual in Columbia County and Dayton.

Last year the U.S. Department of Commerce tripled funding for crime-victim advocacy. In Washington, every county prosecutor's office received additional money from the grant for improved recruitment and retention of personnel, through hi...