BND readers sound off on government raid, priest charges, medical pot
Accountability
How nice it must be to live in Madison County where public officials are actually held accountable, unlike St. Clair County when the only time a public official is held accountable is when they step out of line — Kern’s line. In Madison County law enforcement is respected and supported by elected officials. Unlike St. Clair where Kern is secretly trying to get rid of patrol deputies while taxpayers are asleep. And unlike in St. Clair County where residents are forced to foot the bill for Kern’s folly — MidAmerica Airport.
Answers, now
Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons won’t say why the Madison County offices were raided. This is offensive. Those are public buildings. Whatever was going on was happening on the public dime on public property. They won’t say what it was “because of the highly sensitive nature of the investigation?” The public deserves answers. Now.
Bishop’s role
Bishop Braxton needs to resign immediately. Hechenberger was sick and Braxton covered it up and protected him. Those young children will never recover their innocence because of Bishop Braxton, not the sick priest.
Natural law
I’m so sorry to see another young man, who believed he had a vocation to be a Catholic priest, run afoul of an ancient rule. Celibacy requires the priests to remain unmarried. That is against natural law. The church banned birth control because it is against natural law, but they didn’t ban parachutes or scuba gear which is also against natural law. The bishop had an opportunity several years ago to remove this man from the priesthood and he refused to do so. They’re having trouble finding new priests because of the strict rules of the Catholic church.
Senator goes to pot
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin cries wolf again: This time about Illinois’ medical marijuana program. Durbin is trying to panic and create fear among those who use medical marijuana. Medical marijuana is here to stay. Durbin’s detestable behavior has more to do with Attorney General Sessions enforcing laws which might prevent Illinois from making over-the-counter sales of marijuana to the public legal. Durbin is one of the despicable Democratic politicians who allowed Obama to add $10 trillion to the national debt. Durbin is a political cretin, more concerned about political donations than your children’s health.
Moving out
Good to hear some local cities care about saving their residents money and lowering property taxes. Nice going, O’Fallon. Then there is Belleville, where the Democrats have out-of-control spending. Then you hear Eckert saying, “Residents of Belleville, we need to fund the police and fireman pension funds.” It’s only another $80 a year. You would think Eckert could understand why Belleville property values are declining and why people are moving out. You haven’t seen anything yet. Just wait for the 2018 elections when the Democrats and schools districts come begging for more taxes. Kern will waste another $10 million on his airport, while the sheriff’s department goes without.
No raises, except...
St. Clair County Administrator Deborah Moore probably announced county employees would not receive pay increases in 2018. That wasn’t totally true, although it’s hidden well within the budget using questionable budgeting techniques. It appears that a select few will receive an increase. At the top of the list: County Administrator Deborah Moore. Also, Zoning Director Andy Markowitz, Economic Development Department Director Terry Beach and Mid-America Airport Director Tim Cantwell and Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons. Happy New Year.
Recreation ideas
These were the headlines last Tuesday: Mother shot two people at park, man sentenced for shooting man in jaw, Belleville man shoots brother, stabbing in Red Bud, stabbing in East Alton, Mascoutah priest and Scott Air Force Base resident charged with child porn, juvenile makes social media threat at Belleville West, robbery at Family Video, Caseyville armed carjacking, 93-year-old killed in hit-and-run, hail of gunfire in East Saint Louis. Seriously, people? What is going on in our community? Lessons for the day: Don’t shoot, stab, rob, threaten, or carjack people; and don’t download dirty pictures of kids. If you are considering doing any of these things today, find something better to do. May I recommend baking, jogging, or watching a good Netflix series?
Park optimist
I applaud Chet Cantrell and the Christian Activity Center for wanting to build a new park in East St. Louis. Building a park for the kids is a wonderful thought. However, the reality in East St. Louis is if it’s not nailed down, it will be stolen or damaged, not to mention the personal crime that will take place. The park will become a new place for the corner drug dealers to hang out. Cantrell said they only need another $2 million. Wonder if he’s thought about how many tens of thousands of dollars it will take to maintain the park annually? While I wholeheartedly support Cantrell’s motives for building the park, as we’ve seen from other attempts to improve the lives of East St. Louis residents, the million-dollar park would soon fall into disrepair and become a breeding ground for crime.
Private school donors
The generosity of people for a worthy cause is heartwarming. The people of Illinois have donated $36 million to the new Illinois private school scholarship fund. The fund will allow students, trapped in failing schools, to finally escape the failing schools. Naturally, the state teachers unions don’t like the choice program. The public school will lose state funding for the students who leave. Teachers unions’ biggest fear is what happens when the students, attending the school of their choice, get better grades with higher graduation rates. The failing public schools may finally have to face the music. Unions are also afraid of losing dues and good teachers to non-union schools. Remember, the teachers unions have given hundreds of millions to Democratic campaign donations. Bet teachers are wishing those millions in campaign contributions would have gone into their unfunded pension funds.
Senior Section 8?
I sure hope the new 62-unit senior living complex under construction in Swansea won’t become another Section 8 apartment complex.
Partisan judge
I read a comment in the paper about what a great judge Kolker is. I’m an attorney and I don’t see it that way. I’ve practiced in St. Clair County in front of him. He is partial to Democrats only. If you are a friend of Judge Kolker, you get the breaks. If you aren’t, you don’t. He is a very poor judge.
MetroLink unsafe
I’m calling about how unsafe the MetroLink is. To ride the Metro from Belleville to East St. Louis through to St. Louis is the most unsafe ride I’ve ever taken. I will never ride the MetroLink again. Where are the police on the MetroLink? Where are they? Either make it safe or get rid of it. Politicians pushed it on us just like MidAmerica Airport.
RINO judge candidate
Laninya Cason never belonged on the bench in the first place. Laninya Cason left Hinshaw Culbertson to become an associate judge back in February of 2003. When her ineptness caught up with her, she became a “Republican” and cried “Woe is me.” She’s a phony. Don’t let this “republican in name only” get back on the bench.
Flu plan flawed?
The article in Friday’s paper about the flu was interesting and alarming. The alarming part is where Anderson Hospital said they were going to use their employees wherever they felt they were needed. Are we going to have untrained and inexperienced employees taking care of us over at the hospital now?
Impeach Eckert?
Mayor Eckert is incompetent on so many levels. This newest voucher program for homeless people when the temperature reaches 15 degrees is a disaster. He is not only putting the health and lives of poor people at risk, he’s wasting our tax dollars and people’s donations. Also, he can’t develop Belleville economically. The Hofbräuhaus is plumb scared. Can we impeach a mayor?
Color-blind justice
To Frankie Seaberry: Darren Wilson was declared innocent, not because of the jury verdict, but because the Justice Department led by a black Attorney General under a black President decided he was innocent. They investigated that case with a fine-tooth comb, hoping to find something to prove Wilson guilty, but could not. As far as O.J. goes, the federal government didn’t get involved since he killed a white woman so it wasn’t important enough to investigate the jury’s verdict.
Paid spokesman
Frequent BND letter writer Jason Sibert, executive director of the Peace Economy Project, gets paid to express his organization’s opinions. The Peace Economy Project website says they “research military spending, educate about the hazards of an unchecked military-industrial complex and advocate for conversion from a military to a more stable, peace-based economy.” That’s all well and good, but is the letter to the editor column the place for a paid professional to get free space to push his position and product?
This story was originally published January 14, 2018 at 4:30 PM with the headline "BND readers sound off on government raid, priest charges, medical pot."