It is time that Pike County and the state of Mississippi invest in the future of our county, communities and state — the youth.
The recent events (the murder of a 17-year-old in Summit, the melee in a classroom at McComb High School, not allowing spectators at the South Pike-McComb football game, cancelling the tailgating for the McComb High School homecoming and gunshots at the Pike County Fair) serve as a stark reminder of the pandemic concerning youth and violence, particularly gun violence in our county, communities and state.
There is currently no youth detention center in Pike County, and there are limited youth detention centers in the state. This is a fact that the youth are aware of, and there is nothing to deter their behavior when they commit delinquent acts (crimes).
If we want to reduce the recidivism in the county and state’s prisons and jails, then we have to be able to deter juveniles from committing delinquent acts (crimes) before they become adults.
It is time that we, as the stewards of our county, communities and state demand that local and state leaders invest in our county, communities and state and provide adequate resources (youth detention centers and other resources) to discourage our youth from committing delinquent acts and crimes before it is too late and they become adult and inmates in the Department of Corrections.
Ben Gilbert, Pike County Prosecutor
Covid-19 shutdown is the cause of inflation
The political cartoon about inflation in the Tuesday, Oct. 1 newspaper was simplistic and misleading. We have suffered from high prices not because of Bidenomics. If anything, Bidenomics and the Federal Reserve board kept us from a deep recession. The high prices are because the country shut down for almost a year from covid-19! It takes awhile to recover from that kind of economic turmoil.
Bonney Cole Petersen, McComb
