The readers write

The year is at its end. Ergo, our quarterly examination of the mail, cyber and surface. Reader feedback — complimentary or, more often than not, critical unto condemnatory. For example, writing about the cost of being “tough” on crime, as is occasionally done in this space, invariably brings a zinger or nine.

Arkansas prisons require enormous outlays: In the current fiscal year, more than $600 million, a sum destined to grow substantially in light of additional prisons already authorized or anticipated. Noteworthy: Senior officials of the Department of Correction acknowledge that prison construction can’t keep pace with the rate at which offenders are dispatched, and that the increase in prison appropriations cannot be sustained. To a certain subset (albeit a sizable one) of readers, however, any suggestion that alternatives to incarceration might be considered or that changes to the sentencing grid for lower-level, non-violent crimes could be justified is tantamount to allowing cold-blooded murderers and serial rapists to roam unimpeded.

“[R]oca” of Mountain Home: “I’d like to see what you write when it’s your daughter or wife slaughtered and the judge gives a slap on the wrist.”

“John” of Cabot: “It’s people like you that have this system upside down. We need more prisons, not less. They wouldn’t cost so much if got what they deserve instead of caviare (sic) and champane (sic).”

“Brl” of White Hall: “ is turning loose by the thousands and nobody feels safe anymore.”

Jim Luker would have politely asked to know which judge delivered a mere rebuke to violent crime; he would have noted, as he was at pains to do, the economics of prisons; and would have gently dismissed any contention that inmates were fed gourmet meals or in any other way coddled. Luker, a state senator from Wynne until term limits deprived Arkansas of his service, was among the very few lawmakers willing to risk voter opprobrium by challenging the prevailing attitude toward crime. His passing, in November, and an appreciation of his 16 years in the General Assembly brought comments from several of his former legislative colleagues, among them Allen Gordon of Morrilton: “Steady as a rock, honest to a fault.”

An outlier on prison spending was Jane G. of (it appears) Fort Smith: “There simply have to be other, better ways of dealing with crime and criminals. Nobody wants killers to go free…and criminals ought to be punished. But (prison expenditures) are making it hard to pay for other things we need, like better schools.”

In that vein, “GeorgeMe” of El Dorado believes social programs will be stressed even more “unless we stop thinking that tax cuts are just what the doctor ordered.”

A close second in reader responses followed a column on the death of a colleague’s son to a drug overdose.

“Shame on you for taking advantage of a friend’s sorrow,” wrote an irate “Sa---” of Forrest City, while “Je----” of Brinkley wondered if I have “any conscience” and whether I gave any thought to what the column did to the young man’s parents. Both writers evidently skipped over the paragraph in which I explained that I wrote about the lad’s passing with the explicit encouragement of his father and mother. Such missives were the exception; most communiques sympathized with the victim’s family and recognized the column’s intent.

“I lost a cousin to fentanyl and my wife lost a nephew,” wrote “M.L.” of Little Rock. “There’s no accounting for the lives lost” to synthetic opioids,” he added.

“K----” of Clarksville could account for three lives: “I can only hope that nobody else can know how bad this hurts.” Hers was the pain felt by, among others, “C-----” of Pine Bluff: “(A young lady’s parents) did everything they knew how to do and nothing worked, not a thing. And we’ll miss (the victim) every day for the rest of our lives.”

To a grieving “M-------” of Fayetteville, the temptation to demand “public hanging or a firing squad” for drug dealers is offset by the realization that “many of them are selling the stuff to get money for their own dope. So, what’s the answer? Treatment? Prison? Both? What? What?”

The November elections didn’t produce much mail, possibly because the outcome of all the major races seemed foreordained. As for the gubernatorial contest, what little comment came this way was evenly divided odd, given that the winner captured more than three of every five votes.

“Would she even be an alderwoman if she wasn’t a Huckabee and worked for Trump?” asked “L--of Springdale. “Give her a chance,” implored “D------” of Van Buren.

Who knows, and of course.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Here’s to ’23!