I was absolutely appalled by some of the things that were reported about the Pike County jail. If you are naive like me and thought things were smooth as butter at the jail, the front-page story in the Feb. 21 Enterprise-Journal tells a very different story.
I don’t know if these allegations are true. But the first thing I would like to address is what I call corruption among some of our officials concerning the allegations by former inmates.
Here is my first problem and first question. I am not familiar with any of the officials personally, and with only a few by name. I just took it for granted they were all fine, upstanding Christian people. Why did they allow the inmates to be treated as they were? Would we have known about this if not for the lawsuits and newspaper articles?
The question that should concern us is, shouldn’t we expect more of our law officials? I thought they were supposed to take some kind of oath or something, at least one concerning decency and the humane treatment of others.
I can just imagine what is going to happen here. Everyone involved is going to put the blame on someone else. Don’t they always?
What makes this so mindboggling and unbelievable is that I have been listening on the news, it seems like forever, to injustices and inhumane treatment happening everywhere else. Now I open up the paper and, lo and behold, I see we are not immune ourselves.
As far as I am concerned, I go to the polls to vote for people whom I put my trust in, not to mention the welfare of others. These people are put in office to serve the needs of the public, to uphold the law and to protect and defend the lives of innocent people. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I do not know the man who spent about 450 days in jail unlawfully. I am terribly sorry about that, and I just want to say this. There is a saying, and I’m sure all of you have heard it: Be sure your sins will find you out.
To everyone involved in the problems at the jail, and to all the rest of us, for that matter, the truth will come out eventually. You can count on it.
That applies to all of us. Each and every one of us.
— Debbie Touchstone, Jayess
Where is the public outrage about litter?
What has happened to litter pickup along Interstate 55 — from the Louisiana state line north through Lincoln County? It’s a trash heap. A disgrace. An abomination. It’s bad.
And now, it’s making a mess of my own litter-pickup route along Apache Drive from Veterans Boulevard (Smithdale Road) to Delaware Avenue, where I’ve been busy since October 2022.
I feel a little like Sisyphus, punished by Zeus and forced to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity. My efforts won’t go that long, given the reality of the calendar, but I’ll trudge along as long as I can because I have pride in what people think when they drive along my street and happen to notice it looks nice.
Earlier this week I was making my Apache route when a weather system from the north barreled down on me with 30 mph winds — blew my straw hat back a half block and I raced to reclaim it. That must have been a sight! But then, as I struggled to corral the plastic cups, cellophane wrappers and whole plastic bags of discarded fast foods, I rejoiced as I turned toward home on what I describe to myself as “the easier” side of my route.
Not that day. I plodded toward home with a mild fury that trash was back where I’d already picked it up — no doubt from the untamed garbage pit, Dante’s Third Ring of Hell — also known as I-55 between Veterans and Delaware.
Where is our Transportation Commissioner, Charles Busby? Looks like his office is at 401 N. West St., Jackson MS 39216. I believe he’s about to hear from me.
Where is my old buddy from my state Senate days, Commission Chairman Willie Simmons? I believe he will delight at correspondence from a former acquaintance. I recall that he and my beloved mother have the same birth date.
But where is the public outrage in general to these people we elected? Our district MDOT office chief is Albert White at 684-2111. I’m sorry if his litter-designate minion says they don’t have enough people to keep the highway rights-of-way clean. I don’t think that was the case just a few years ago when someone else was operating the anti-litter efforts with success.
And so I repeat: Where is the public outrage? Have our local elected officials complained to Jackson? Has our sheriff complained to Jackson? My understanding is that our new sheriff has his hands full with countywide litter, among other things.
While I can’t stop people from littering, I can pick it up. While you may think no one else cares about this litter embarrassment, I know very well that if a dozen Pike countians who care about this will contact Busby, Simmons and White, something will get done. Really. And thanks for allowing me to get mad about this publicly.
— Patsy R. Brumfield, McComb
