For many years, one thing Marion County has spared no expense in purchasing products and services designed to detect whenever someone adds a shed, a carport, a swimming pool, or anything else that might increase taxes on any piece of property in the county.

It seems all the county needed was a subscription to this newspaper — or a rule requiring employes to keep their eyes open.

For 31/2 years, one of the few new business buildings erected in the county seat has escaped property taxes by continuing to be classified as vacant land.

Neighboring properties like Ampride convenience store, nowhere near as big and in nowhere near as good of condition, paid $17, 165.14 in property taxes over the past three years. Diamond H Fitness Center across the road paid only $1,434.48.

It wasn’t even government that discovered that Diamond H, which also has a parking lot that defies city zoning, was paying less than 8 cents on the dollar of what it owed.

There’s plenty of blame to go around.

The City of Marion apparently neglected to send Marion County a copy of a building permit.

County employees failed to notice a construction project prominently mentioned in the newspaper and easily detectable to anyone driving on Main St. It wasn’t as if much other commercial construction in Marion occurred during most of those 31/2 years. The county’s deputy appraiser even became a member of the center after it opened

One wonders how many other $15,000 mistakes have been made — just as one wonders what’s going to happen when the owner of hogs killed, apparently with permission of law enforcement, for supposedly being feral are determined legally not to be feral because it ‘s obvious who their owner was.

Damage the pigs caused to a cemetery is inexcusable and should be prosecuted. But once again local officials aren’t exactly inspiring confidence in their competency.

— ERIC MEYER