Normally I would be writing a sports article of some sort about our outstanding high school teams here in Panola County, but something happened Saturday night on a Courtland back road that I cannot shake out of my mind.

We hear about it all the time on TV or internet about a person dying a horrible and senseless death, but it has always been in some big city on the other side of the country or world.
 “It could never happen here,” I am sure a lot of people have said. “ Not in Panola County.”
Well it has.

I personally did not know Jessica Chambers, but I know a few people who did and all said she was a sweet person both inside and out. So I am sitting here thinking, can someone be that bad of a human being to deserve to leave this earth in the way she did? I think not. Nobody deserves that.

There are people who do not believe in capital punishment or the death penalty, which is their First Amendment and they have every right to do so. I understand that taking a life would not bring back another life, but I would like to look that person in the eye and ask them to put themselves into the shoes of a family who has lost a loved one in such a horrifying way and see what their thoughts would be.

I have a petty good Friend of mine who was a carpenter who walked this earth some 2,000 years ago ( I hope everybody knows him as well) who said all men should love and forgive others, but just like going up against the South Panola defense, it would be a mighty  hard thing to do.

To the person or persons who did this and who will hopefully be apprehended very soon, may God have mercy on your soul, dude.

 And finally, anyone who knows me knows I can talk it up with just about anybody and not be afraid to say what I think if I know I am right about it.

But to the Chambers family I would be at a loss for words because I never could dream of what you folks are  going through.

Stay strong and God bless!