Editorials

We as a community are down to the last Christmas seals of approval for the proposed outlet malls for Simpsonville.

Next Wednesday the Simpsonville City Commission will consider on second reading of an ordinance that signs off on zone changes and site plans submitted by Trio Property and Paragon Outlet Properties, which have partnered on the 64-acre parcel south of Interstate 64 and east of Buck Creek Road.

The absurd incongruity of the state’s application of shock probation has added a new twist of the sword of inequity, a new and ugly demonstration of why the law must be rewritten, redefined or – best of option of all – repealed.

Exhibit 1: Tonya Nicole Brown delivers a baby in a restroom of a restaurant in Shelby County, puts that living baby into plastic bags and shoves them into a trash receptacle, gets back into her vehicle and drives home to Lexington.

The case involving Susan King and the murder of Kyle “Deanie” Breeden of Shelbyville continues to produce new briefs and chapters that introduce many questions and educate us at each stop through the legal system.

As you may recall, Ms. King last summer had appealed to the courts to grant her a new trial based on new evidence but was turned down by Circuit Judge Charles Hickman because, as he wrote in his opinion, there had been no trial in the first place.

A study completed last week by state Department of Criminal Justice has come to a conclusion we addressed two years ago: We no longer need constables as part of the law enforcement structure.

We agreed in 2010 when Shelby County Magistrate Michael Riggs, a former member of the law enforcement community, raised the question to Shelby County Fiscal Court about these elected members of the police community, and we encouraged Mr. Riggs and his fellow magistrates to move toward eliminating these positions.