THE KILLING IS LOCAL TOO

The headlines have been grim. Death is hard to fathom, ever more so when the life snuffed out is that of a child. It is easy to point fingers when those deaths occur far away or when a mother goes berserk in South Carolina. How could it have happened? It couldn't happen here.

But it has -- more times than we care to remember in recent months. On Nov. 2, a 3-year-old boy was beaten to death in Cape Girardeau. The mother and her boyfriend have been charged. The child died from a severe blow to the stomach, but his body told a history of abuse.

On Nov. 7, an Iron County man was charged with beating his girlfriend's 2-year-old to death.

In June, a 2-year-old girl died violently in her Delta home. A family friend, Samuel Denny, awaits trial for the child's murder and rape.

Help came too late for these children or these families. But it isn't too late for many other families in crisis.

Relatives, neighbors and friends need to open their eyes and ears to become advocates for children in trouble. Silence can be an unwitting accomplice to deadly abuse.