Text The Times.

Text The Times.

To the person who keep saying the mayor is hiring his friends and west memphis is going down have you see west memphis. Mayor Johnson was a joke. Under mayor Johnson West memphis got turned into Sunset. I am a white guy who wife worked for the hospital that she got scammed out of money [Editor’s Note: I’ll side with you on some of this. Let’s not pretend that appointing friends, family and supporters to positions of authority is something Marco McClendon invented. Now, I wouldn’t equate West Memphis, a city of 25,000 people with infrastructure, industry and a very strong school system with a town of less that 300 people that never really attained any sort of status (no offense intended to the people of Sunset). I will definitely agree with you that the whole Crittenden Regional Hospital fiasco was super shady and I still can’t believe no one was held accountable for that (at least not yet that I know of, and it’s been five years). But you can’t lay that on Mayor Johnson. That’s like blaming the CEO of McDonald’s because the line cook forgot to put cheese on your Big Mac]

*** just want to give a big shout out to linemen working for Entergy company for coming out in the storm on the 19,. We lost ourpower but it was restored in about 2hrs. GREAT JOB.

[Editor’s Note: I will never not have respect for those frontline disaster folks. While we’re inside safe in storms or ice or whatever, they are out there in it doing their jobs, so I’m happy to pass on your attitude of gratitude. Good work, guys!]

*** Marion should follow the example of west Memphis and pass laws to see that people who trash their yards with junk, clean them up. It makes the city look bad. Several homes on east end of Judge Smith could use a little enforcement from city. [Editor’s Note: I assure you those laws are already in place. In fact, I don’t have Marion’s municipal codes at my fingertips, but I would almost guarantee you the ordinances governing the maintenance of properties in the Marion city limits are more stringent than those in West Memphis. The problem comes with enforcing the already-onthe- books guidelines, and honestly, if I’m in charge of law enforcement and code enforcement in a city, making sure folks keep their grass cut and their yards clean is on the list of priorities, but it’s kind of low on the list after crime and traffic and school safety. You could make the argument that some of that goes hand-in-hand with nice looking neighborhoods, but resources are limited]

*** Sir I like sudoku puzzles, columns by the judge, horoscopes, AND, PLEASE STAY THE SAME [Editor’s Note: Well, that’s good to know. I may have mentioned it before, but hopefully everyone saw the survey we had in the paper for several days a couple of weeks ago. We got some very interesting feedback, and I assure you we are taking all of those suggestions very seriously. But just to let you know, many of the features you are fond of are among the more popular ones in the paper, so I wouldn’t worry too much about them going away]

*** Obviously Mr. ‘Rich’ Fenter doesn’t realize for one thing, we don’t all have deep pockets or kids in school. Why should I have to pay more taxes when I don’t even live in the city of Marion but pay Marion school taxes and I am on a limited income? It’s always ‘Raise the Taxes’ for anything anybody wants!

Editor’s Note: No one likes paying taxes, especially me. I’m the kind of guy that will make change in the offering plate, so I see where you’re coming from. But, investing in the school system is one place where I can’t help but be in support of putting money into the types of things Dr. Fenter has been promoting. I live in Marion, but my kids are already out of school, but I still want Marion to have the best of the best for current and future generations. And as far as being on a limited income, property taxes aren’t based on income, which I’m sure you know. They are based on the value of property you own. Low-income families and renters (non-property owners) will not be affected my the millage increase, should it pass, but perhaps through some of the new programs, facilities and such that the school wants to create through the extra 5 mils, their children will grow up to be property owners (and taxpayers) themselves and keep this whole thing going]

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