SAMUEL: Bad parents; no chance

I’ve been following the Eldon Samuel trial and the outcome as well as readers’ comments and I feel this is just one more example of society’s failure to protect the young.

I see tons of cases of children being yanked out of parents’ care for the pettiest of things and yet here we have a case of severe neglect and abuse of two kids that spanned several different states and many teachers and others observing and acknowledging the home life of these two kids, and NOTHING and NOBODY intervened? This incident could surely have been diverted had ANY of these people bothered. SHAME on all of them!

What do people expect the outcome to be when our young are essentially raising themselves due to parents’ addictions and paranoia rendering them useless for setting an example of right and wrong? Children learn what they live. It’s kind of like a dog is only as smart as its owner concept.

My heart breaks for this child who has known nothing but what his drug addict parents allowed him to know. His mom should be serving half his sentence in prison for failing him in the first place by not protecting him as a mother should. I’m not saying he should get away with murdering his little brother, but where his father is concerned, I believe his death is justified and good riddance to bad rubbish.

This child is young enough to change the course of his god awful life with some good nurturing and a LOT of LOVE. Instead, we throw him away. SHAME!

MARCIE GILLESPIE

Coeur d’Alene