Columns

“Mr. Dillinger, why do you rob banks?”
“Because, that is where the money is.”

Robbing banks is one thing. But robbing senior citizens, the mentally ill and an organization that serves kids who have endured domestic violence and homelessness? Not even Jefferson County could rise to that level of Grinchliness during the holidays, right?

Readers might be wondering why this week’s Courier has no stories with local reaction to the massacre in Newtown, Conn. — and that’s a fair question.

Now that we’ve had a couple of weeks to digest election results, I find myself with observations about what we’ve seen and will see at all levels of government.

By Ted Mink

Online child predators can interact with children through a variety of channels: computers, video games, handheld gaming devices and mobile phones. These tools make millions of people accessible at your child’s fingertips … and vice versa. Paradoxically, young people asserting their individuality online remain very vulnerable to predation. Their innocence, natural curiosity, desire for attention, ingrained trust in adults, and/or desire to rebel against their parents can lead them into the path of someone who could harm them.