Tuesday night made us realize where Roanoke Rapids City Council’s priority should be in the proposed budget for next fiscal year.

The priority, as we made clear in a previous column, is not with a bridge and fountain at Cedarwood Cemetery. It should center on those charged with protecting life.

The protectors are members of the Roanoke Valley Rescue Squad, whose budget request for $25,000 was not honored in the proposed financial plan.

There is still time to change this before council’s next Tuesday meeting because it is a way to pledge support to an organization that has supported the city and area without asking for much in return.

Like many, the rescue squad has been hit hard by the economy, having to cut positions over the last five years.

The agency has been self-supportive and has not asked the city for money in 11 years. It has done without while responding to life and death situations daily, whether it is cutting vehicles open to get crash victims out, going on water rescues or serving along side the Roanoke Rapids Fire Department.

We feel funding some portion of that request makes better sense than funding $6,000 for a fountain and bridge at the cemetery.

As we stated before, a fountain and bridge is nothing but a want while responding to save lives is always a need.

We believe it is imperative that council honor some portion of the rescue squad’s request, doing the right thing instead of the extravagant thing.

Council has shown that protecting its residents is important by including a new ladder truck for the fire department in the budget.

The ladder truck is an important tool and not a luxury item with the number of hotels and tall buildings in the city.

Council needs to show that same commitment by supporting the lifesavers of the Roanoke Valley Rescue Squad and scrap the $6,000 for the fountain and put it toward an organization that risks their lives every day to save the lives of others.

To us, this is the right thing to do, to help the many rather than the few who see a fountain and bridge as a necessity — Editor