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Posted on Friday, March 28, 2008

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March 28: More Important Things to Worry About

I read the online edition as often as my schedule will permit. One thing I notice that continues to surprise me is what people feel passionate enough to write about -- like Sheriff J.B. Smith might in his mind put an inmate on the same level as a dog as far as it comes to taking care of them.

So what? I saw nothing wrong in that comparison, and in the context it was used thought it was a pretty accurate and clear estimation of the problem in question.

That said, do I think all inmates are dogs? Of course not. I had a son who resided in the Smith County Jail for awhile and, like a dog, he is going to have a collar around his neck that he will have to wear for the rest of his life.

Whatever happened to the old adage you pay for your mistakes and start over? It seems in our justice system one never finishes paying for one's mistake, and it seems that many of our self-righteous politicians are always trying to find ways to demonstrate to the public their righteousness, placing more burdens on those people who have made mistakes.

These people need to be able to become productive citizens in society, and would like to be able to get on with their lives and put the past behind them.

If the truth were known, these same self-righteous people who are so quick to judge have done things in their own lives that would require them to wear a collar if they had only been caught. That�s another entire issue. The point is, it is irrelevent and unimportant that the sheriff thinks an inmate has similar characteristics in the department's care as a stray dog. Find something more important to be passionate about, like world pollution and there is a greater percentage of population trying to use the resources of this planet than ever before.

Only a complete idiot could not see that the time for this planet to support life at the current rate of consumption of resources is fast approaching unsustainable levels. We need to worry about more important things than comparing inmates to dogs..

Chuck Barnett
Jacksonville

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