Governor's office corrects CR editorial (04/11/08)

To the editor:

I read your editorial from earlier this week. Though I'd be glad to discuss how Governor Daniels' Major Moves program has helped the state or what advantages we have now with Daylight Saving Time, I won't take your time unless you wish to talk further. But I want to bring to your attention an error in your April 7 editorial.

The General Assembly took action to eliminate the state's inventory tax in 2002, before Mitch Daniels decided to run for governor, so to state that "those defenders need to recall that the Indiana General Assembly, under the governor's leadership, did away with the inventory tax..." is not accurate. Governor Daniels worked with everyone this year to not only develop a plan for immediate property tax relief but for permanent future relief and he got the ball rolling on tackling the tough issue of reforming the state's local government operations. Thank you for your time and attention.

Jane Jankowski,

The office of

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels

Justice?

To the editor:

Last month I wrote a letter to the editor headlined "Man invites public to see robbery trial."

Well, the trial is over and the verdict is in: Guilty. On March 20 I was convicted of armed robbery.

Sentencing is April 15 at 2:30 p.m. before Jay Circuit Court Judge Brian Hutchison.

Even after the conviction I'm still pleading my innocence. I was pulled over by a Jay County deputy, and there was a man in my car that committed a robbery, admitted to it, and took a plea bargain of 10 years in prison.

Under Indiana law, an accomplice can be charged and convicted of the same thing as the principal offender. So even though I wasn't there, didn't have a gun, and actually didn't take part in the robbery itself, I was convicted of armed robbery for allegedly being the get-away driver. I understand that.

The reason for this letter today is that I was told by someone that the judge is going to give me 20 years in prison.

I've discussed this with many people in this county - jailers, deputies and even other inmates.

They're all saying the right thing would be for me to get less time than the person that had a gun and put someone's life in jeopardy.

But they won't be surprised coming from a county where a teacher can get an 18-month sentence, get it all suspended but 30 days, and get six other charges dropped for actually putting someone in harm.

I guess we will just have to wait to see who is put in a worse category: The bad teacher, the gunman in a robbery, or a person who was found guilty of being the get-away driver.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Shane Slagle

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