You would think with major issues facing the city like crime and serious financial issues, some people still find time for foolishness.

No, I’m not talking about the City-County Council and the Ethics panel which Councilor Paul Bateman stepped down and Bill Oliver never showed concerning the not so bright actions of Monroe Gray.

I’m actually talking about the ACLU of Indiana threatening to sue the Lawrence Township Trustee for threatening to suspend poor relief for families whose children missed John Marshall Community School this week.

From what I’ve been able to gather, the ACLU told Mike Hobbs that the poor are “entitled” to relief because being poor is a protected class. Whatever. If being poor was a protected class, my brother-in-law would have eight bodyguards around him everyday.

And just for the record, after annoucing the plan to withhold poor relief, more than 70 children who had been previously absent magically showed up and more calls have been coming in from other parents promising to get their kids to school.

This week marked the first week of school for students at IPS’ John Marshall Middle School on the city’s east side. Unfortunately some parents forgot; about half of them. Out of about 800 students, nearly half of them have not shown up for class. 

Lawrence Township Trustee Mike Hobbes is announcing today that his office will withhold poor relief for any family whose children have not attended school.   I like the idea, why should the taxpayers fork over their hard earned money so a bunch of people can sit around and watch television all day?

But the fact that these children are missing school is symptomatic of a bigger problem.

Part of the reason we have a crime problem is because the only people who don’t seem to think it’s a problem are the people most impacted by it.  They don’t cooperate with the police, they don’t send their kids to school, but somehow a good chunk of them have found the route to the public troth.

I’m not saying build a fence and leave them to their own devices, but until the people in these crime-ridden communities decide that they’ve had enough, crime will never get under control.