Here are some things I just don't get.

I was perusing the court news in our newspaper the other day.

I read about guy who was sentenced for possession of child pornography.

He got sentenced to two years with six months suspended.

My reporter said the court file noted that the guy invited a couple teenagers (under 18) to have sex at his home.

He videotaped them and himself as he watched and (how do I put this delicately) touched himself.

Then I read about the guy who sold a half gram of cocaine. (That's like 1/56th of an ounce.)

He got four years.

Now, I don't know if these guys were repeat offenders or not or if there were mitigating or aggravating circumstances or what.

But over the years in watching our court news, it seems as if people who molest or exploit kids or beat their wives seem to get lighter sentences than people who possess or sell small amounts of drugs.

I don't get that.

Don't misunderstand. I am not trying to say that it's OK to possess or sell drugs. It's against the law.

And I understand that society pays a certain price for that behavior. Certainly, drugs wreak a certain amount of havoc on our culture and certainly, a drug-free America would be an improved America.

But the bottom line is that drugs are sold because somebody wants to get high. There are generally no unwilling participants.

But sex crimes have victims. Sometimes there are physical victims. In every case there are psychological victims. And there are plenty of unwilling participants.

I just think people who commit sex crimes should be adjudicated at least as harshly as minor drug offenders.

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I was looking over the conceptual design construction costs of the new facilities planned for Warsaw Community High School.

It's a pretty impressive list.

Again, I don't want to be misunderstood. I don't begrudge any school system adequate facilities.

But it just seems awfully expensive to build school stuff these days.

I was looking over some the costs and the concession stands at the athletic fields really struck me.

The home concession stand with public restroom is slated to cost $472,780. The visitor concession stand with public restroom is slated to cost $295,900.

OK, that seems like a lot.

That's almost three quarters of a million dollars in concession stands.

I understand there are different building codes to be followed for public facilities, but wow.

I called one of my friends who is a contractor and asked what kind of house he would build me for $475,000.

He said a very nice one. A very nice one, indeed.

It would have around 4,000 square feet and all the stuff inside would be really nice.

Corian counter tops, solid wood cabinets and hardwood floors, $40-a-yard carpet, Subzero appliances. You get the picture.

He said a house like that runs about $120 a square foot.

Now, you can build a house for $65 a square foot. But it would have veneer cabinets and $12-dollar-a-yard carpet.

If you could live with the downgrades, you could build a very nice 7,300-square-foot house for the cost of the big concession stand.

Maybe they're really big concession stands.

Ticket booth No. 1 is a paltry $26,900 and ticket booth No. 2 is a lousy $17,160.

The soccer locker building is $549,220. The soccer storage building is $92,510. The softball building is $92,510, too.

All in all, the new and improved athletic facilities and performing arts center will cost around $26 million.

But these numbers don't seem to faze most people, so maybe I'm just naive when it comes to school construction. Maybe these are really bargains and I'm just too dumb to see it.

But for whatever reason, I just don't get it.

****

In addition to the athletic and performing arts stuff, which is already approved, the school corporation also is considering building a couple new elementary schools and closing four others.

That's going to cost around $30 million.

All along there have been school patrons who have voiced opposition and now they're organizing a remonstrance to try to stop the elementary proposal.

They cite a weak economy and uncertainty over property taxes. They also don't like the idea of closing smaller schools in their communities.

I really wish it hadn't come to this. Now it's a competition of sorts - a turf war. The school corporation and the patrons will compete to see who can get the most certifiable signatures.

My guess is that the school will prevail in the end.

But there certainly will be plenty of enmity and us- against-them sentiment along the way and I think that's unfortunate.

I have seen these things play out before in other communities. There have been remonstrances that raged on for more than a decade.

I don't see that happening here, but it's too bad there couldn't have been some sort of compromise.

I truly believe both sides believe they have the best interest of the students in mind.

But I guess I don't get why a school corporation would forge ahead with a plan when they know a significant number of taxpayers are dead set against it. [[In-content Ad]]