And while Warren County leaders had the ear of a representative of U.S. Sen. George Voinovich Tuesday morning, Commissioner Mike Kilburn contended the nation needs better border control to keep out illegal immigrants.

Commissioners' concerns will be passed along to Voinovich, according to field representative Andre Harper. Harper also held office hours in Lebanon to hear residents' concerns after meeting with the commissioners Tuesday.

Local officials in the nation's 52nd fastest growing county are in the middle of the $1 million Southwest Warren County Transportation Study to identify traffic bottlenecks and ways to fix them. The plan will then be recommended to the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, and the ideas will be eligible for federal funding.

But Commissioner Pat South fears that larger projects in the region, such as the Brent Spence Bridge, might take too much of the available funding, and she wants Voinovich to fight for Warren County's needs.

"We certainly are at the table," South said. "However, I can see the handwriting on the wall that we're going to need extra help."

Kilburn thinks the Border Patrol needs some extra help, too. In August, the longtime commissioner suggested the Mexican border needed a "40-foot wall" with "about a gazillion volts of electric on top of that wall and then every 400 feet have a guard gate with machine guns" to stop illegal immigration.

On Tuesday, Kilburn told Harper that illegal aliens shouldn't get federal financial help. Kilburn wants Voinovich and President Bush to focus more on the issue.

Kilburn said. "They should receive something," Kilburn said, "but what they should receive is a one-way ticket back to where they came from."

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com