Brickbat: Cornhusker Highway Robbery

Nebraska has 93 counties. The Flatwater Free Press reports that one-third of the state's civil forfeiture cases start in just one of them. In fact, over the past five years, Seward County collected some $7.5 million from civil forfeiture, more than any other county in the state, including much larger ones. The newspaper reports that almost all of those start when a sheriff's deputy stops a vehicle on Interstate 80, usually for a minor traffic violation, and almost all involve out-of-state drivers. Half the money the county collects goes to a state fund for schools. The rest goes to a fund controlled by the county attorney, the sheriff, local police chiefs, and the Nebraska State Patrol.