TextThe Times.

TextThe Times.

The Times.

Two shootings in Marion last week. It’s time to wake up! We don’t live in Mayberry anymore and it’s going to get worse unless the city pays our police officers more. If we increase the pay soon, maybe some of the officers who left over the last six months because they couldn’t make a living wage in Marion will consider coming back. I’ve heard rumors that the police department is running a ‘skeleton crew’ and most of the officers have been working less than 2 years. We’ve lost our talent to higher paying police department — the City needs to wake up and find the money before shootings in Marion become commonplace. [Editor's Note: I’m 45 and I don 7 think we can say we ever really lived in Mayberry. I will say that we don’t get nearly as much cooperation and transparency from the Marion Police Department as we do the West Memphis Police Department or the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department. I don’t know if there’s the idea that if they don’t share information with us, the public won’t be aware of crime that is occurring or if they are afraid sharing too much information will hurt their investigations, but it’s a policy they have had since before my time as editor. I will say, there does not seem to be any shortage of police officers in Marion . I see them all the time, in all parts of the city. I don 7 know the average number of year’s of experience the staff has, but 1 know they definitely have several experienced officers. Det. Freddy Williams, for example, is usually the one who contacts me when they do have information to share with the public and he does a great job of posting updates on the MPD’s Facebook page ]

America is facing the great ‘Shut-down’ but what we should be seeing is a ‘Shut up’. Most people hold the role of President in the greatest esteem with the possible exception of the incumbent. Speeches inspire, tweets don’t. There should be well thought out speeches and press statements that use the full vocabulary of the English language and not invented words. Present the best and forget the rest.

[Editor’s Note: It’s a little weird that one of the lead news stories each day on the Yahoo! News page is the “Donald Trump Tweetstorm,” with a rundown of the previous Twitter rants from the president. I'm not necessarily saying it’s a bad thing — an almost direct line of communication between the president and the citizenry is, at least in theory, a good thing. Now, most of what Trump tn’eets basically boils down to either “Ain't I great? ” or “Look at these losers!” But that doesn’t mean Twitter is in and of itself a bad thing. As for the government shut-down… I’m sorry, I just can't get all that upset about it. The things that are shut down aren't really having a direct effect on the average American, and all the employees that are still having to work because they are part of “essential services” will eventually be compensated for their time.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome of this standoff overborder security and the wall, I’ve picked up on two things: 1) Politicians, regardless of party, have no problem whatsoever about behaving like three-year-olds who aren’t getting their way, and 2) Life goes on, even with a government shut-down, so I'm thinking we could save a lot of money by getting rid of some of these government expenditures] ^^^ Everyone knows what is really going on in Marion, so why doesn’t anyone do anything about it? [Editor’s Note: I guess I’m out of the loop… this is a pretty open-ended question, and without some more details, I’m not sure I could even begin to speculate. So, at the risk of sounding ignorant, what is really going on in Marion that no one is doing anything about?] >ji >jc I think you might have answered this before but why isn’t there an overpass connecting LH Polk to the “other” LH Polk. It doesn’t make any sense, it’s confusing and it is ridiculous to have two large parts of the city completely disconnected from each other. Wasn’t there one in the plans a while back? [Editor’s Note: I think there might be some confusion here. There is an overpass planned for L.H.

Polk (in Marion, for those not familiar with the area), but it’s the one everyone has been talking about on the east end of the street. It will connect Highway 77 with the neighborhoods on the other side of the railroad tracks on the northeast side of the city, because yes, as you point out, it is ridiculous to have two large parts of the city completely disconnected from each other. Now clearly, if you ’ve ever needed to get from one L.H. Polk to the other L.H. Polk, you realize how much of a chore that can be, requiring you to either make a loop down the Service Road, down by Lake shore, past the Animal Shelter and then turn back onto L.H.

Polk (reverse that if you 're coming from the other direction) or go down the service road, brave not only the dangerous 1-55 offramp and then go through the “intersection of doom” and go up the other service road to get back onto L.H. Polk (again, reverse that if you’re coming from the other direction). So, an overpass would make sense… except for the logistics of actually putting one in. With the schools right there and not much room to work with, I actually can't see where you 7/ have space for an overpass, the necessary off and on ramps, and the access roads and such. I’m not saying it’s not needed, but it would not be an easy fix, even with a generous budget]

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