I’ve written a lot of stories lately about courthouse security or rather the lack of it inside and outside Jackson County two courtrooms.

Although county Commissioner Steve Gill and I have had some differences in the past, I do tend to agree with his assertion that we need to provide more security at governments buildings. We may not have the money to pay for it, but Gill’s right when he says we need to be proactive instead of waiting until something happens and someone gets injured or killed. In case you haven’t noticed, Jackson County’s changed a lot in recent years.

I moved here in 1986 and during the first 15 years I lived here we didn’t have very many murders at all.

Take a look at what’s happened here since January of 2005. We’ve had a 10-year-old girl, abducted, molested and murdered. We’ve had a man shot and killed from an overpass while he was on a family outing. We’ve also had a man beaten to death and a second man shot in the head. The times sure have changed and we need to do something about providing security.

One step that could be put in place at the courthouse in Brownstown would be to limit access to one entrance. Sure, its a pain in the you know where, but schools have been doing it for years.

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