What they're saying …

Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Missouri newspapers:

March 12

Springfield News-Leader, on theft of

metals:

Last fall, we urged Missouri lawmakers to get behind a law that would cut down on rampant theft of copper and other precious metals.

At the time, Springfield had been experiencing a rash of such thefts.

Such thefts in Springfield have declined because of the arrest of one significant suspect. And the Senate is poised to approve a bill that would put a dent in metal thefts.

The bill would make it a class D felony in Missouri to steal wiring or plumbing material that contains metal. More significantly, it would require scrap buyers to obtain and keep photo IDs from those selling more than $50 of copper or aluminum.

Much like Missouri's crackdown on meth dealers -- which was aided by tracking purchases of pseudoephedrine -- this legislation will make it harder for potential thieves to sell their stolen goods.

For those thieves who don't read the paper or pay attention to the legislature, police will have an easier time catching them. Others will be discouraged from selling stolen goods, knowing that the law now requires them to be tracked.

This is good, proactive legislation that mirrors other attempts throughout the nation to limit this new trend of precious metal theft.

From individual consumers, who are seeing their catalytic converters stolen off their vehicles, to large contractors and utility companies, which are losing millions of dollars in stolen work-site material, this trend is hurting Americans economically. The bill is hardly a cure-all, but it follows sensible policies similar to those followed by pawnshops to limit the sales of stolen goods.

Missouri lawmakers should pass Senate Bill 1034 and protect consumers and businesses from theft.

March 11

St. Joseph News-Press, on money for rural sheriff deputies:

Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey makes about as good an argument as anyone can for the state to come up with money for rural sheriff deputies.

Those deputies make some of the lowest wages anywhere in law enforcement. That leaves Sheriff Espey with the endless job of replacing deputies who can find better paychecks at the highway patrol, the local university or even the St. Joseph Police Department. ...

One state senator is back with another pitch to get the state involved in the sheriff's problem and get you involved in subsidizing small sheriff's departments around the state.

Sen. John Griesheimer, who represents an eastern Missouri district, is backing a bill that would earmark funds from counties' civil service process fees for improved deputy salaries. Under the legislation, Missouri sheriffs would receive an additional $10 fee collected for serving civil summons, writs, subpoenas or other court orders. The funds would be deposited into a ''deputy sheriff salary supplementation fund'' to raise pay and benefits.

Sounds like a simple cure for the headaches of many rural county sheriffs. We see a couple of critical problems with the senator's plan.

First, we are reluctant to put a reward on any law enforcement department that might put a higher premium on making money than delivering justice. We wouldn't want deputies to dedicate more energy into serving warrants, for example, than tracking down meth dealers.

We also are wary of the state getting involved in the complicated process of setting law enforcement salaries across the state. We can see the Highway Patrol returning to the General Assembly with the argument that its troopers' starting pay needs to be higher than a deputy in a small county where the risks are much lower.

March 11

The Examiner, on weather safety:

Two years ago, Missouri set a record with 102 tornadoes, more than triple the average, which is 30. The highest number in any month that year was 57, in March.

So the days that bring the earliest stirrings of spring also bring a good time to consider how to respond to the severe weather that is sure to come sooner or later. This is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Missouri, and it includes this afternoon's statewide tornado drill.

Most of Missouri's tornadoes occur between now and the end of June, so it's a good idea to have a plan and know what to look and listen for.

The good news is that a wealth of information is readily available. The best place to start is the Web site of the American Red Cross -- www.redcross.org -- with information on emergency preparedness generally and tornadoes specifically.

It's also a good idea to invest a few dollars in a weather radio, which receives alerts, warnings and forecasts directly from the National Weather Service. And have a plan: Know the best place in your home and business to ride out a bad storm.

Take heart in this: Our schools generally have excellent emergency response plans in place. Our businesses would do well to borrow a few ideas from these plans.

Severe weather takes other forms, and Missouri gets its share of that too. Flooding, lightning, high winds and high heat take lives every year.

The best answer to each is common sense and some degree of prudence. Avoid danger -- the storm always passes.

March 11

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on illegal

immigrants:

Missouri legislators last week learned what federal immigration agents have known for years: It's tough to crack down on illegal immigrants without stepping on the delicate toes of legitimate employers.

The Legislature is considering several bills (Senate Bills 751, 858, 927, 1186 and 1255) that would crack down in various ways on illegal immigrants and the employers who hire them. Under the proposed bills, business licenses could be revoked. One bill would make it a misdemeanor for employers to accept state loans or tax breaks while employing illegal immigrants. ...

That brought howls from employers, led by the state construction contractors lobby. They say that with false IDs commonly available. Good employers worry that they may be falsely accused. What's more, if penalties are too draconian, employers may avoid hiring any applicant with brown skin or foreign accents, citizens or not.

Still it's very hard to criminally convict employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, unless they hire them by the dozens or an insider confesses. Their personnel offices can pull out copies of phony green cards and U.S. birth certificates, and they all look legitimate.

In other words, there's no easy solution.

Some of the bills under consideration would let employers off the hook if they participate in the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify system. That Internet-based system combines federal immigration and U.S. Social Security records. Employers can punch in an applicant's data and get an answer in seconds.

But E-Verify has accuracy problems. It rejects 10 percent of naturalized citizens, according to the National Immigration Law Center. ...

Eventually, E-Verify may become a reliable tool for ferreting out illegal immigrants in the work force. But it's not there yet. In the meantime, why is the state bothering with a relatively minor problem that properly belongs to the federal government? ...

But after hearing complaints from business, legislators are busy extracting the teeth from the bills.

For instance, the big fines are gone from the latest versions.

As we've said before, individual states can't solve the immigration mess. Until Washington develops a reliable system for telling legal immigrants from illegal ones, the state's clumsy efforts only will make things worse.