Northeast News
October 26, 2016

Well folks, this dog is not surprised. Two more murders over the weekend – one in Westport and one on the city’s East side – ratchet this year’s body count up to 95. Compare that to 86 at this time last year and it’s plain to see that the status quo just isn’t working.
By the time this Dog’s column hits the streets, the Mayor’s blue ribbon committee on preventing violent crime will have released its findings after a year dilly-dallying and deciding who to endorse in the upcoming general election. Since this is being written on Sunday, we’ll hazard a guess that the solution offered up by this largely do-nothing group of politically connected wanna-be’s will cost the citizens of this city more money in the form of social programs like midnight basketball or fly fishing for petty thieves. Additionally, we’ll predict some sort of statement on “common sense” gun reform will be included as well. Emphasis on the “common sense” part, so anyone who disagrees with their position can be easily labeled a right-wing whackadoo. In this dog’s eyes it’s much ado about nothing, given no sweeping change will come from this panel of subject matter “experts.”
This conservative news-pooch thinks it’s high time we put the punishment part of crime and punishment back into play. Prosecute the bad guys and send them to jail. Period. One successful prosecution takes one dangerous criminal off the street. Two successful prosecutions takes, you guessed it, TWO dangerous criminals off the street, and so on and so forth until the criminals get the message that there’s an actual punishment phase that, big surprise, is actually punishment instead of a plea bargain. If it can be done in Clay, Platte, Johnson or Cass Counties with success, it can certainly be employed here with largely the same result. The benefit, of course, is a safer community. We know that’s a foreign concept here in Jackson County but a dog’s got a right to dream, right?