SOCIAL COMMENTARY

Here’s a selection of opinions and reactions readers have shared at delawarestatenews.net and facebook.com/delawarestatenews:

Changing prison system

Tuesday’s story headlined “Prison guards learn how to manage mentally ill inmates” drew this opinion:

•The state officials will never spend the money to change the system. Prison guards do not have the education or degrees to care for the mentally challenged inmates. The system needs to change not the guards. A percentage of the inmates are put behind bars because we don’t have the medical facilities in the state to treat them.

You are putting a band aid on big problem, it is easier to sweep it under the rug again. If we started caring for the teens in this state we wouldn’t have so many adults with issues. The juvenile system has been a joke forever. Spend money in this state and country instead of sending it elsewhere. — Sallie Rolph

Sharon Hills saga

Tuesday’s story on the ongoing problems at Sharon Hills Memorial Park drew sharp reactions:

•My wife and I were told by Sharon Hills management when we reported our mother’s and father’s urn had been stolen that we would have to pay to have them replaced. The management company states (in the article) that the items will be replaced in a timely matter. This has been a year now and still not replaced. — Vance Gaschler

• I have known (Ethel Melvin) for a very long time and knew this is definitely not her. She is a great person who cares for others and would never do anything so disrespectful. The public needs to quit judging by photos. A photo can be so deceiving after you cry for being accused of something you did not do. Yes, there are some rude people out there that do some messed up things and it’s sad for the families affected. To judge before the facts are in by a photo is just wrong. — Paula A. Wetherall Wilson

•What is perpetual care there for then? — Andy Longacre

Support for Dover police

Monday’s Letter to the Editor by William C. Crawford IV critical of the Dover Police Department saw readers rally around the officers:

•What does he do for a living? I bet someone out there is saying he does his job wrongfully. And if you’re in trouble, the first thing you are gonna do is call 911. Yes there are bad and good and even great cops in Dover, as well as all cities in the U.S.. But I myself can call a good family friend of mine a Dover cop. I support him 110 percent. — Christina Fitzwater

•So you lead off with police speeding in your community. Well maybe they are heading to a specific threat that calls for speed but no lights or sirens. Also you are painting an entire police department by what is questionably not appropriate to you.

I lived in Dover for 16 years, until two years ago and the police do a fantastic job and you sir need to not be so judgmental because you do not know all of the facts about what may or may not be going on. I am so in favor of body cameras because they will 99 percent of the time show that the officers are not only doing the right thing but also what dangers they face day in and day out to protect your sorry butt. — Virginia Hayes-Pippin Retting

•Make sure when you dial 911 you tell them to take their time when someone has a knife to your wife’s throat during a robbery, just sayin. Obviously he hasn’t read the newspaper or watched TV to see all the violent crime that has been going on in Dover. — Richard Miller