We visited briefly with Sheriff Paul Mullins on Monday morning, and the conversation turned to the report of a missing child in D’Lo. Fortunately, the child was not missing, and everything was resolved rather quickly.
However, someone had already gotten on Facebook and requested that a bunch of volunteers turn out to help with a search party, which hadn’t even been authorized. The sheriff indicated that this impulsive action could very easily have caused a logistical nightmare for law enforcement.
This is yet another case of social media and uninformed people wanting to get “the news” out there. That’s not the way to take care of problems. Information needs to be released to the community with rhyme and reason, not with the mad dash approach.
Rushing to see who can post all the information on the internet first can often do more harm than good. As a rule we wait for an official source to confirm information before we release it, and many times our news comes through official statements or press releases from the responsible party.
Most people don’t know or care that they can be held liable for misinformation that is presented as fact.
Yet another shooting occurred in the County last weekend in which two people were injured from a shotgun blast.
A group of us were recently discussing the number of local shooting incidents and what could be done to stop or reduce those incidents. The guys did not seem to think my idea of cracking down and making it impossible to allow this to happen with roadblocks and the likes would work.
They seem to be resigned to the fact that this is the time and the place in which we live. I disagree. I think it is time for us to stand up, not only as residents but as Christians, and say we are not going to allow this illegal behavior anymore.
We start with holding our elected officials responsible. It is their job to provide a safe environment to raise our families. It is up to them to come up with a plan to make this happen. One thing is for sure: doing the same thing we have been doing and expecting a different result is not going to work. So it’s time for a new plan.
Our community, our city, our county, and our state are not so far gone that we can not correct what is wrong and make Simpson County a better place to call home.
It is pretty disappointing that someone would go into the Ural Everett Park on Main Avenue in Magee and vandalize the terracotta columns that were donated by the Stephens and Grubbs families. The repairs to the columns cost over $1000.
A general disconcern for other people in the community seems to be spreading. I was young once when having a loud vehicle was all the craze. But those would not hold a candle to the loud vehicles of today. In the evenings, Hwy. 149 sounds like a racetrack. I think this, too, could be stopped if our elected officials want it to.
It is past time that we start treating our neighbors and friends the way we would like to be treated. And that might put a stop to some of the violence and incivility we’re seeing and preserve our way of life.
