To the Editor:

Dwight, How about some of your courthouse insight on the Romero Cotton story. I don't know the kid and don't go to Hutch High football games so I know only what history I've read on the sports page over the years.

I had a conversation before this football season whether it would be a good idea for Hutch Juco to allow him on its team. I said yes, but that it would be a bad idea for Cotton. I thought the Juco should let the justice system do its thing but until then they shouldn't be an extra court.

I also said that Cotton's status as a player would make it more difficult for the judge to give a lighter sentence. In fact, the better Cotton was as a player the worse it would be for him at sentencing time. (he was a star in high school but is only a back-up at Juco.) Better for him if he were not known in the community, but was just some 18-yr- old who had never been in a fight before … with no juvenile or other criminal history.

To the Editor:

Geez, Dwight. Isn't SOMETHING happening worth reporting on?

Are the prisoners in Reno Co. stir still barricaded? How goes the search for the missing columnists? Will the new County Commissioners attempt to vie for the 2020 Olympics? Who will replace Judge Rome? How many extra-curricular affairs with staffers will you admit to?

Apparently the folks who wish to keep their activities secret -see your header- are winning.

Ken

Reno County

Well, Ken, my friend …

1. There was The Hutch News shaming the district attorney into stop trying to ship a man off to three years in prison for stealing a couple of pieces of Dillons’ inedible chicken. But it was the paper’s story. And I was kind of interested in Cody Heitschmidt taking over Memorial Hall, but I figured if he wasn’t going to say anything about it on his own website -- and that’s his prerogative -- then he sure wasn’t going to say anything to me about it. I’ve always liked Memorial Hall (I thought it was a good destination for the Gitmo prisoners) so I hope whatever he has in mind, works.

So, there’s two stories, but both died on the vine. There’s lots of cops and robbers stuff I could be writing about, and, oh yeah, I was going to complain about KWBW’s morning crowd -- again -- and it’s FOX News-like political favoritism and, ahem, “analysis.” The news reporting, the interviews, have really gone downhill since, first, Dan Deming and second, Ken Willard, left. But I didn’t because I don’t know whether you and your neighbors get radio reception out there in the sticks. Probably not … you probably need new transistors.

 HUTCHINSON -- Here I am again … already. Sorry about that.

First things first: Mayor Bob Bush was kind enough to email a week or two ago (in response to a Ken Lucas column in The Effort) that Careyville residents whose homes are destined to be swallowed by large, underground holes, can do anything they wish with them -- including, as Lucas suggested, moving them to another locale.

They’ll have to pay for the move themselves, but they won’t lose anything on the purchase price either, Bush wrote.

And the mayor knows I appreciate his input … but I’m a little disappointed in his and the council’s reluctance to ban pit bulls -- the most aggressive, dangerous breed of dogs in America, hands down -- from the city of Hutch. A mere mauling or two won’t do -- apparently, the next victim must be fully digested before the council will act responsibly.