Editor:

Once in a while we find the answer to a disturbing question like why do we have so many hungry children coming to school when we have so many people on food stamps? The answer was in the El Dorado Springs Sun last week when we see a woman in Nevada plead guilty and was sentenced to Federal Prison for exchanging methamphetamine and cash for SNAP food EBT cards. She would pay 50 cents on the dollar for whatever was left on the card then go to Wal-Mart and buy her groceries at a cut rate to herself. The good old American way. You profit yourself and the person who qualified for the benefits gets the cash for their alcohol, cigarettes or whatever else they couldn’t get over the counter and the children are left without the food that was meant for the family.

The disturbing thing to me is are the people who qualified for the food stamps also going to be charged and prosecuted for their part in the crime and a crime it is. You as a parent are denying your child an adequate diet in order to satisfy your own selfish interests. As a decent human being if you cannot provide food, shelter and clothing for your children then for God’s sake, practice birth control.

So many times I have heard it said “Oh they will eat when they get to school.” Where does one think the money comes from for the school breakfast and lunch program, The Tooth Fairy? There is no such thing as a freebie, somewhere down the line someone is paying the bill and the bum is getting a free ride.

Now I know this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the SNAP program goes and I hope that Tom Larson, the Acting U.S. Attorney or the Western District of Missouri, will charge and prosecute the remainder of the people involved in this case and perhaps send a message to others who are doing or thinking of doing the same thing.

Bud Olinger

El Dorado Springs

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