Dear Editor,
The Weekend Outlook article by Santana Wood was spot on. The recent heartbreaking episode of Aniah Blanchard allegedly abducted and murdered with the involvement, as of today’s count, three men with previous run-ins with the law points to a weak legal system, which is exacerbated by not enough prison space. Serving two years of a 19-year murder sentence is outrageously unfair to the victims. Had this individual served his full term, he’d have been rotting in jail instead of allegedly having a part in another brutal murder.
There is a solution: More prison cells. And the cost for building them is simple. The Alabama Legislature does not have the backbone to buck the Poarch. Got it. Any hope of a statewide, nationally participating lottery is out the window, and now I have changed my support to the offer from the Poarch. Alabama needs more prison space, now. So I urge the legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey to take the $1 billion offer from the Poarch and accept the $350 million per year guaranteed. Give them what they want and take the money for the benefit and protection of all Alabamans. Build prisons with the first $1 billion, and do whatever with the $350 million per year thereafter.
The Poarch just paid $1.3 billion for an out of state casino, surely they can fork over $1 billion upfront for the State of Alabama where they have made tax free income for decades. Legislators and Gov. Ivey: Please, I beg you to make the $1 billion upfront and the annual $350 million a guaranteed payment. One single dollar missing should invalidate the deal and all casinos close immediately — including existing, make the Poarch put some skin in the deal.
For those Alabamans that still want to play the lottery, your drive to the west has been significantly reduced; Mississippi now has one. We are completely surrounded.
Rap McBurney
Jacksons Gap
