Our readers write Aug. 28

Apology due to Mar’riel

Everyone was so preoccupied with the survivors of Mar’riel Lucas that I don’t remember reading any of those involved ever saying, “I’m so sorry Mar’riel.”

I never read that his mother said it or his mother’s boyfriend.  I never read that Child Protective Services said, “We’re so sorry, Mar’riel. We’re sorry we failed you. We’re sorry that if we had been more on top of this situation, you might still be alive.  You might still be able to go to school, graduate, maybe go to college.  Maybe you could have fallen in love, gotten married and had a lovely child or children of your own.” I never read that anyone involved said, “I’m so sorry Mar-riel.” 

I don’t want to appear to be blaming Child Protective Services for this whole thing because only his mother and her boyfriend are at fault here. The charges don’t fit this crime at all.  An innocent baby was tortured to death over a period of only God knows how long. The lowered charges are an insult to the value of Mar’riel’s life. 

God loves that little boy and he is very specific about his love for children from “in their mother’s womb” and then on. 

I for one am saying loud and clear:  I am so so sorry Mar’riel.

Sherry Conklyn

Elizabethtown   Serious trouble

Mr. Jim Black exhorted us to think “outside the box” in his sales pitch for Elizabethtown’s terribly unfair city food sales tax.   What Mr. Black calls thinking “outside the box” seems more like causing our taxpayers a lot of serious trouble.

Mr. Black suggested that seven counties in Indiana passing a 1 percent food and beverage tax to support construction of a new stadium for the Indianapolis Colts is a lesson for those who oppose the food tax.  But Mr. Black only skimmed the surface of what’s going on in Indianapolis, and it’s not pretty.

Here’s the rest of the story.  The Colts threatened to leave if taxpayers didn’t build them a new stadium. Many locals call the new stadium “The Extortion Dome” for that very reason.  Those taxpayers still owe $75 million on the stadium that is being torn down.

Those Indiana taxpayers also have been hit by a hefty property tax increase mandated by the Indiana General Assembly to pay for the “Extortion Stadium.”  And, taxpayers in Indianapolis still are paying a previously passed food tax imposed to help build Market Square Arena, which has been torn down and now is a parking lot.

Indiana has the 10th highest number of home foreclosures in the nation. Is it any wonder?  Who can afford a home when so much of a homeowner’s income is devoured by an avalanche of taxes imposed to support the whims of a selective few? 

Some existing Elizabethtown city council members are whispering about imposing another city sales tax on all retail purchases.  I say repeal the food tax and put a lid on the tax box before city government becomes more addicted to city sales taxes.

Steve Atcher

Elizabethtown