Commentary

MIKE MASTERSON: JBU gets it

Bonafide protest

As with most of you, I've watched groups of our fellow Americans in full-blown destructive riots that were soft-pedaled by many from the nation's mainstream media as "protests."

The latest such criminal activity occurred on the university campus at Berkeley, Calif., supposedly caused by the speaking engagement there of Milo Yiannopoulos, editor of the conservative Breitbart News organization.

Seems some Berkeley students felt so threatened by any words Milo might deliver that they were willing to risk jail time by lapsing into hissy fits not unlike 4-year-olds in Wal-Mart after learning there will be no candy bar at checkout.

That's why I was smiling a day or so afterwards to see dozens of students and alums of John Brown University in Siloam Springs stand to maturely protest the campus appearance of former governor and GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. The agginers made their points of disagreement known. Huckabee listened and responded in an equally civil fashion.

About 600 others also had joined a Facebook group sympathetic to the protesters' cause.

Nowadays in America, with even full-grown marchers wearing ridiculous costumes designed to resemble female sexual anatomy while innocent civilians are beaten in city streets for their beliefs, normality and common sense are easily recognized.

Unlike the rioting at Berkeley, the gathering at JBU was a legitimate protest where contrasting ideas and points of view were thoughtfully exchanged.

Following his speech, Huckabee made time to listen to his detractors. And the protesters, most of whom were promoting love and a dislike for Donald Trump's policies, responded likewise. In fact, the crowded auditorium contained a far larger audience of those welcoming Huckabee along with the protesters.

Matt Feyerabend, an alumni protest leader, afterwards expressed pride in the peaceful and respectful manner that characterized their exchange.

He told reporter Jenelle Jesson: "Their ability to remain peaceful and respectful was very inspiring. Everyone listened, laughed and I believe clapped for him [Huckabee] when he was done. The civil display of opposition to his divisive rhetoric was beautiful. I think we all realize more than ever that we must stand for love."

A beautiful and admirable sentiment indeed. Of course, I've never seen Huckabee as one who has any problem freely exhibiting respect and appreciation even when he disagrees.

I also wonder how the noble aspiration for universal love applies to the many thousands of Christians who've been (and continue to be) savagely tortured and slaughtered by radical Islamists in the Middle East who carry no such thing for any others. I call it evil. Unfortunately it exists inside the dark spirits of far too many humans across the globe.

Sheriff still crusading

It's good to see Baxter County Sheriff John "Monty" Montgomery continuing his justifiable crusade to stop Arkansas' disgraceful revolving door of putting convicts behind bars only to quickly set them free.

Our state certainly deserves better than a woefully ineffective and wrongheaded system that continues to inflict the same criminal elements on a law-abiding public.

Montgomery, whose campaign for reform also was the focus of a recent newscast by KY3 in Springfield, Mo., produced statistics showing that in his county alone, chronic convicts have been paroled over and over again only to commit the same offenses.

I can't help but visualize going up an escalator, using the restroom and grabbing a sip of water, then heading down the other side to repeat the same circle again and again.

Most of these crimes in Montgomery's northernmost county of 42,000 souls involve robberies, breaking and entering theft and drug offenses. "In the last two months we have had people paroled in Baxter County who have been to prison three, five, seven, 11 and 15 times," he said, adding that a convict given a six-year sentence today is likely to only spend a whopping six months behind bars.

"Most people mistakenly think if someone violates their parole they are sent back to prison to serve the rest of their sentence," Montgomery told me. "That couldn't be further from the truth. We have found typically that our parole revocation cases end up being for just six months unless they're let out earlier due to overcrowding."

If all this weren't overwhelming enough, Montgomery said the average caseload for his parole and probation officers is 190 convicts. How bad is it in your county, valued readers?

Missouri is moving forward with fresh legislation to crack down on their repeat-offender problem. I'd say it's long past time for Arkansas to follow suit and make the madness stop.

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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].

Editorial on 02/07/2017

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