Very Impressed....

I am very impressed with the public comments made by Sen. Tracy Steele (D-Little Rock) in yesterday's media (http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/07/12/News/324284.html). In a nutshell, he stated that the $100 million surplus should be returned to the taxpayers so they can be good stewards of the money entrusted to them by the people of the state of Arkansas.

While I do not agree with a lot of what Sen. Steele says, I am total agreement with him on this issue. I think this also shows the strength of his character which I had not seen previously (or most likely had not noticed before). My opinion of the Senator has definitely changed for the better...

Back to the school funding issue

I think its great that spending on athletics is getting a closer look since the public schools filed another lawsuit over school funding.

I am worried since the state had a $100 million surplus for the 2004-2005 fiscal year that the school will be gunning for that. Well half of that money won't be there for the 2005-2006 fiscal year because the legislature did away with the income tax surcharge that was put in place a few years back when the economy was slow. This is going to cost the state around $57 million if I remember correctly.

I can't wait to hear about any extravagant expending on athletics especially by districts that filed the lawsuit in the first place...

Why???

Is it just me or is it the media coverage but it seems like these convicted sex offenders are going crazy.... After this last guy, James Edward Duncan III was captured with an 8 year old girl that he had abducted after most likely killing her two brothers and mother, I am shocked that a person could become such a monster.

The part that amazes me is that he had already done jail time for committing a sex crime in Washington (and was on parole), and was on out on bail while being accused of molesting another child in Minnesota. Why didn't Minnesota remand him into custody given his criminal history?

I could care less that he was attending North Dakota State University studying computer science and made the Dean's List, there was something obviously wrong with him that would drive him to do such horrific acts. This jerk needs to spend the rest of his life in prison, there is no hope in rehabilitating him in my opinion. I hope somebody in prison treats him as badly as he has treated his victims.

I think there needs to be some sort of legislation that would allow states to lock up the high risk offenders for the rest of their lifes. Lock up the offenders that are at the highest risk of repeating their sex crime or on a second conviction.