Smith The Comet welcomes letters to the editor responding to articles and events in the news. They must include the author's name, address and telephone number. The letter writer's name and city/town will appear in the paper no exceptions. Letters must be 400 words or less in length. Please send your letters to: editor@ carrollcountycomet.com; Letters to the Editor, Comet, P.O. Box 26, Flora, IN 46929 or P.O. Box 179, Delphi, IN 46923; or fax 574-967-3384 or 765-564-2010. By submitting a letter or opinion article, the author grants the Comet the right to publish, distribute, archive or use the work in print, electronic, on-line or other format.

No safe schools

This letter is in response to a letter in the May 24 Comet from Mr. Kenworthy regarding equal treatment for students. As a graduate of Carroll High School, I'm shocked at what is happening there. Around the same time as the pipe incident at the high school, my nephew was also attacked at the elementary school by a fellow student with a pair of scissors. This happened in his own classroom.

From what I understand, this child was put into in-school suspension for one day, his parents kept him home for one day, and the following day he was let back into the same classroom with my nephew. After all, the school year was almost over and this kid had never been in any trouble before.

I am appalled at the school's response to this matter, and I'm outraged to find out it happened not once, but twice in one week in the same school system. What has happened to the nice, safe school that I attended? My children are students of Lafayette School Corporation, and at first I feared sending them to a "big city" school because of all the "trouble" you hear about the bigger schools. I've come to realize in this day and age, trouble is in all schools, it's just that the bigger schools deal with the situation publicly, and the smaller schools choose to sweep it under the rug for fear they may tarnish their reputations.

You may hear about more problems in our school corporation, but I bet you don't hear of any being handled the way these two were. I am ashamed of a school board and administrators who would allow this go on in their school. If it's ok today to pull scissors or a pipe, tomorrow it may be a knife or a gun. There is no such thing as a safe school anymore. Don't wait until Carroll turns into Columbine to wake up and see what's happening around you!

Tammy Crum

Lafayette formally from Carroll County Says cemetery is a disgrace

When we entered the Morning Heights Cemetery on May 25, we were really shocked when we decorated our father's grave. Whoever takes care of the cemetery doesn't do a good job. They took weed killer and went around all of the head stones. The whole cemetery was a disgrace for Carroll County.

There were other people there, and they asked me what happened to this cemetery.

We have been going to the cemetery for around 35 to 40 years and never saw it like that. We hope they can get the problem straightened out.

Edna Landis,

Logansport

The tale of twin Twin Lakes districts

Sit back youngsters and let me tell you the tale of two districts. When I was knee-high to a grasshopper, the school systems we now know were being organized.

Delphi and Monticello were intent on building and incorporating smaller schools into districts. In b e t w e e n these two larger districts stood the tiny, but e x c e l l e n t , Y e o m a n school. It had served the rural population of Jefferson Township for several decades and was a proud and well-run learning institution.

Due to the growing lakeside population and the result of the "baby boom" the need for a larger high school system became apparent. The people of Jefferson Township were courted and persuaded by both Delphi and Monticello.

Because of the shorter distance to Monticello, and some closer ties to the lake culture by lakeside residents, when it was finally voted on in a "referendum," Monticello won Yeoman. It became part of the Twin Lakes School Corporation.

Alas, they did not live happily ever after. In a monumental stab in the back, Twin Lakes School Corporation liquidated poor, proud Yeoman School and shipped all the students into Monticello. They now had access to all the property taxes of Jefferson Township and no longer felt obligated to keep the Yeoman school open. After closing Yeoman amid protests from local residents, they had the gall to take the school's famous bell to Monticello and place it in front of the Twin Lakes administration building like a trophy from the kill.

As a result of the closing, Yeoman has experienced years of negative growth and has languished as a center for Jefferson Township activity.

Now children, the plot thickens. After some skillful maneuvers by a small group of lakeside residents who were having trouble with their sewer systems, we find Jefferson Township once again invaded, this time by the White County-dominated Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District.

While these residents should have been concerned with the lakeside homes only, they took it upon themselves to include a huge portion of Jefferson Township without regard for the impact this might have on others. In their rush to complete this deal, they completely forgot to secure a local treatment plant, the jobs that go with this kind of construction, the jobs associated with running the system, and any control of the cost.

Once again, an essentially White County district is set to suck huge amounts of money northward, leaving Jefferson Township impoverished in the process. Adding insult to injury, the White County TLRSD plans to dump its sewage water into an essentially Carroll County stream, the Rattlesnake Creek.

Now kids, we come to a happy ending for some of us. At least the Town of Yeoman was smart enough to avoid this disaster a second time. Now if we could just get that Yeoman school bell back....

Gregory R. Smith Jefferson Township resident