Readers like to play “Stump the Reporter.”

They apparently think I know everything and want to test me.

Well, I am here to say it’s only an act.

I really do not know everything. Those who do are the officials whom voters elected into office.

So, while I do not know everything, I am good at pretending I do.

The other day a reader called me to inquire about the Mower County Jail and Justice Center project.

Not even the beleaguered Austin Fire Chief Dan Wilson can push the giant jail and justice center project aside from people’s thoughts.

The reader wanted to know “Why are the county commissioners building a new jail, when counties all around us have new jails which are only half full?”

Does that mean crime is down?

Furthermore, she wanted to know how Mower County taxpayers can afford to build a new jail, when the county is forced to consider making deep budget cuts, threatening programs and services taxpayers have come to rely upon? “Who’s going to pay for this and with what if the economy is bad?” she wanted to know.

She also wanted to find out “Doesn’t anybody care about any of this?”

I tried to tell her when I asked Freeborn County officials about the possibility of over-building jail beds within such a close proximity, they expressed concern, but not worry.

As far as building a new $36-million jail and justice center at a time of deep budget cuts and an economy sinking into the toilet did not, at first glance, seem like good sense. Particularly, when everyone seems to agree: Boarding out prisoners costs less than building and operating a new jail and justice center.

This kind of thinking is not new to the county.

The Mower County Board made headlines and caught the Governor’s attention when they gave themselves and all other elected officials a 3 percent pay raise in January when the economy was sinking and everyone else was worried about a state budget shortfall impacting local government.

Go figure.

Judging by her questions, the reader was obviously a smart person who has followed the jail/justice center issue from the start.

I told her the county commissioners have paid the city of Austin to buy two blocks of downtown property to make way for a new jail and justice center.

And soon they will demolish the Robbins block buildings and clear a third block in downtown Austin.

A reporter should not be an apologist for elected officials, but I tried to explain their thinking: “They weren’t thinking,” I said. “They’ve gone too far now to turn back. They’ve got two blocks ready for the project and soon they will have a third. It would be political suicide to stop the jail/justice project and scale it back to a more reasonable project.”

The reader was ready for that argument. “Why don’t they build a new veterans medical clinic on the property they won’t need for the jail and justice center?”

In an instant, I realized she got me, and I was stumped.

Let’s see: Invest $36-million to build a new jail and justice center or build a new clinic to help America’s veterans?

That’s a tough question to answer. (I’m kidding of course. It isn’t really. Why not invest millions in schools instead of gray bar hotels for criminals?)

It was a great conversation with the reader leaving questions to ponder: “Are district court judges pushing the project, because they want a new place to hand out ankle bracelets and suspended sentences? Wouldn’t a downtown medical clinic attract more business for the remaining retailers on North Main Street? Can’t courthouse employees walk a block or two to work like everyone else instead of parking on the streets outside the government center? Why a 128-bed jail that can be expanded to 250-beds in the future? With so many suspended sentences being given, will Mower County actually use the jail to house offenders or will it start competing with the jails around us to board prisoners?”

The reader obviously knew the backstories many citizens have been repeating about the jail and justice center project. I have heard them before.

I had no good answers for her, but I did offer her a gift certificate to get a “In Bonorden We Trust” tattoo at Austin’s newest growth industry. Nobody has taken me up on the offer.