EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is a selection of the responses from readers of MDJOnline.com in reaction to recent MDJ stories.

Marietta may grant $30,000 to Theatre in the Square …

Unbelievable! — $20,000 from the DMDA. $10,000 from the Imlay Foundation. $30,000 from the City of Marietta. Who will Mike Russell go to with his handout when this money is wasted away?

Balance Sheet — Money spent on this black hole can’t be spent on something that actually benefits the county. Then, when we run out of money for the things that actually benefit the county, they impose more taxes, fees and fines to pay for the stuff that actually benefits the county. Ultimately, the taxpayers end up paying for it.

Rolling eyes — Using the concept of opportunity cost, the dollars wasted on the theater can be used to provide other services which are funded through other (taxpayer) means. Therefore, any dollars given by the city to the theater are funded by the taxpayers, even if through the hotel tax.

JB27 — That’s a solution!? Give a bailout? Good grief! After they rip through 30K, what's the plan?

Mary Ladd — The taxpayers of Marietta do not fund the theater. The money comes from the hotel/motel tax and car rental tax. Tourists fund this. 49,000 people attended the theater last year. Maybe y’all are missing something.

This is unreal — I am dropping my season tickets and won’t spend another dime in that place. Should have done it years ago.

Yep — Thunder, you are as transparent as they come. Act like you are going to do something and you were planning to give the money all along. What a joke.

Occupy — It sounds like the Theatre In The Square needs a visit from the Occupy kids.

Old Vet — This makes me so mad I could spit!

Anonymous — Marietta City Council got together and “decided” to give away $30,000 of our city tax dollars and they think they are a benevolent group of do-gooders!!!! This just reeks of offensive moves on the city council and mayor’s part. They could be in for a lawsuit on behalf of the city taxpayers. The Theatre on the Square IS NOT supposed to be city funded and IS NOT a City OWNED PROPERTY. I SMELL A LAWSUIT. Mayor have you been smoking something illegal.

SG68 — Good Luck with that. I think you can kiss your, or rather the city taxpayers, $30K goodbye.

VFP42 — I don’t voluntarily give money to people who pick my pocket, so I am not sure how this will help with ticket sales. If they want to sell tickets, they should sell tickets people want. Maybe they could put a few lottery ticket machines in that fancy new lobby.

Why wasn’t this — done years ago? Spin it anyway you want Thunder, but any money given to the Theater is a bailout.

So, Mike Russell — contacted Jan Russell at the Marietta Museum of History, (also under severe financial duress), about using the first floor for “theater camp”, not exactly the intended usage of the floor space when the museum signed a triple-net lease. Will part of the theater “grant” money be paid to the Marietta Museum of History too? Looks like a double bailout at the taxpayers expense.

Gimme a Break — It seems that for every discussion or vote recently, Councilman Philip Goldstein has to recuse himself and sit in the audience. Basically, it appears the Theatre will just sign the check over to Goldstein, or did the city go ahead and make it out to him?