Tragic similarities

Dear editor:

A recent tragedy saw a young child left in a van at a West Memphis day care, with the child ultimately dying. Four day care employees have now been charged with negligent homicide. Sounds similarly tragic to the death of a young child here in Hot Springs a couple of years ago, left in sweltering conditions by his father.

In another strange twist, the prosecutor in the West Memphis case will be Scott Ellington, brought into the aforementioned case after all local judges recused themselves, citing their relationship with Wade Naramore.

But at least to Ellington, that’s where any corollaries end.

“There were four sets of eyes that should have (been on the West Memphis child) was left in the vehicle,” Ellington told the state paper. So the greater number of adults who failed their duties is relative to whether there is culpability or not? I don’t know how else to translate that statement.

Ellington wasn’t done, however.

“In the (West Memphis) case, there were four caregivers with safety protocols in place as opposed to a situation with just one parent,” Ellington reiterated. Apparently, four day care workers outweigh the carefulness and safety of one actual parent of a child, so the laws should be enacted differently, if I understand that comment.

If found negligent, I do believe these day care workers should face punishment; but let’s not kid ourselves about the law being blind or even relatively equally enforced between the two cases, which, in essence, are the same.

These four workers are not important people, with menial incomes at best. They cannot afford the best legal representation. Most likely, they will serve prison time. They were all immediately fired (as they should have been). They certainly won’t collect $168,000 salaries over the next year, as Naramore did, then be allowed to return to work.

The point is, two children tragically died under almost identical circumstances, but the manner in which these cases will be handled, and the outcome, will be totally different. Which is something for all of to think about when we read these tragedies: It matters who you are, who you know and how much money you have, much more so than the actual life of the child. That’s a sad commentary on our judicial system. Anthony Lloyd Hot Springs