Reader wonders why he can't get hired when others can

Dear editor:

I have lived in Mountain Home for over 10 years. I moved here with my parents with the Air Force. Since then, they have moved to retire up north.

In 2006, when I was 18, I made a poor choice to joyride someone else's car and run from the cops. This landed me two felonies. Now, I'm not saying what I did isn't wrong, but how can the employers in this city say they absolutely will not hire me because of a mistake I made almost six years ago when they have registered sex offenders and drug addicts on their staffs?

I do not understand how they can hold my past against me but hire worse people.

I have an eight-month-old daughter that needs taken care of. Some people in this Mountain Home workforce have alcohol and drug habits to take care of. Why is that taking precedence over giving honest people trying to change their life a chance to be employed?

Another thing I have noticed is the amount of women employed in certain places versus the amount of men. Last I checked, was it not against the law to discriminate against employees based on age, disability, race, religion or sex?

This city's businesses are beginning to disgust me. Does one need to move out of town to be treated human and equal?

-- Joshua Wilson