Guilty pleas in starvation case welcome as long as defendants pay the right price

We're pleased that three adults have admitted their guilt in the confinement and starvation of two children.

Their guilty pleas have saved the thousands of dollars it would have taken to hold a trial and, more importantly, they spared the children the trauma of having to testify.

Those adults have yet to be sentenced. The grandmother, believed to be the one directly responsible for the abuse, faces anywhere from six to 70 years in prison, the mother, who claims she was unaware of the extent of the abuse, five to 55 years, and her husband two to 35 years.

Our hope above all is that the mother's sentence is long enough to ensure she will never again bear children. As for the grandmother, the crimes she admitted to are nothing short of evil and not a shred of evidence has been presented that suggests she should be shown any mercy. Nor has she shown any remorse.

A trial may have brought even greater visibility to the crimes of these adults and consequently the need for all of us to be vigilant for other children in abusive situations. So as the memory of this case fades, we should strive to keep the lessons learned in front of us.

And those lessons are important. Carson City may never seen another case as horrible as this - at least we hope not. But it's a certainty that hundreds of children in our midst will face other degrees of abuse, and many will carry on that behavior with their own children.

That's a cycle that must be broken and why it's important for all of us to do something for the children in our community. That may mean supporting community organizations that help children - there are several with dire financial needs.

Or, in extreme cases, it may mean following the example set by Sarah Koerner, who made the call to police that ended the children's imprisonment. In this case, hers was the only call police received. In the next, we hope there will be many.