I am writing this letter in regard to “Lofton proposes panel to take on crime,” in the Jan. 17 edition.
The article said, “Pike County supervisors have spent more than a year discussing the need for a new jail as well as juvenile crime concerns, and the board’s new president wants to tackle those issues with programs focusing on the root cause of the area’s violent crime.”
I noticed the article said “juvenile crime concerns.” A juvenile is a child or young person who is not yet old enough to be regarded as an adult.
Also in the article, “Lofton said youth under the age of 17 who have been in the criminal justice system have a higher degree of recidivism.” Please forgive me, but I didn’t know what “recidivism” means. After looking it up, it means a habitual relapse into crime.
Mr. Lofton proposes a program where the county would be awarded, the article said, as much as $150,000 to build a youth crime intervention program over 18 months and another $150,000 to continue it thereafter.
I thank God for the Pike County supervisors, the board’s president, Mr. Lofton, Sheriff Wally Jones and other who may be involved to see this program come to pass.
My concern and question is, will parents be held accountable and be involved? I read the article more than one time and I didn’t read anything about parents.
Is there a program in place where parents of habitual offenders are required to be a part of?
I understand parents may not always know what their children do, but if they’re out at night roaming the streets, parents are responsible.
Please understand, I’m not criticizing or judging anyone. I am a mother and grandmother. i just know parental accountability and involvement has to be part of the program. Some of the root causes come from the home.
I will continue to pray that the grant is approved and all the ideas will be implemented. Thank you for all you do.
— Cynthia McGhee, Summit
A mother's forgiveness
On occasion, I watch the TV show “Dateline NBC.” Sometimes, if the story isn’t all that interesting, I get so sleepy that I go on to bed. Well, not tonight.
The story was so very touching and seemed almost unsolvable — until DNA testing took over and did the job it was meant to do, which just happened to be almost 30 years later, to the relief of so many detectives, a grieving mother and so many saddened relatives. The wait was worth it, by all means.
The show told the story of a 14-year-old young lady named Gloria who disappeared one morning on her way to school. They had absolutely no clues as to what might have happened to her.
A couple of people had seen Gloria standing beside a car, talking to a man, but it was such cold weather and he was bundled up that they really couldn’t tell anything that would help identify him.
The title of the episode was, “A Promise to Gloria.” And when Gloria’s mother saw her bruised and beaten body in the casket, she promised that she would find out who had done this. And lo and behold, she did just that, even though it took almost 30 years.
Eventually the police found Gloria’s killer, and the remarkable part to me was that her mom requested that this vicious murderer not be given a death sentence — but instead spend the rest of his life in prison.
At the sentencing, Gloria’s mother turned and faced the man who had brutally killed her precious 14-year-old daughter and told him she forgave him. I wonder just how many of us would be capable of doing something like that? I don’t have any children, but I imagine it would take everything in me, and then some, if it were even possible for me to forgive.
There was only one way a mother could do an incredible thing like this, even though her heart was breaking. And that was to have the love of God in her own heart.
To me, the bottom line is to put our hope, faith and trust in the Good Lord above — to have the love of God in our hearts, as He intended.
— Debbie Touchstone, Jayess
