A good deal of public finger pointing has gone on since the Alabama Examiners of Public Accounts released a report about $30,000 missing from the Selma municipal court receipts.

Speculation over who did what and why is good grist for the gossip mill, but does little to take care of the issue.

And, after all, it is the issue — how the money went missing, why the city had 12 issues in the audit that left gaps in financial accounting — that should stand head-and-shoulders above any name calling.

Mayor George Evans and other elected city officials, former and present, attended a meeting called by the examiner’s office to go over these facts some seven months ago. The examiner’s office representatives told the city to keep the facts quiet until the investigation ended.

That’s what happened last week.

Monday night during a Selma City Council work session, Evans said remedies for all 12 weaknesses found by the state examiner’s office are in place.

That’s the answer; Not whose administration or what employee caused the debacle.

But as a reminder, it was Evans who wanted the independent audit and who stands to take the most flack from this particular audit because he’s the officeholder.

Evans isn’t dodging any bullets. He is standing up and taking the issue straight on by seeing the implementation of checks and balances in the municipal court system through to fruition.

That’s about as much as a public official can do or that we, the taxpayer, can expect.