Letters

People who back blue

Monday I met my son for lunch at a Little Rock restaurant. My son, a sergeant with the Pulaski County sheriff's office, was in uniform and on his lunch break. Toward the end of our meal, the waitress came to the table and told us that "a lady" had paid for our meal to show appreciation for the work police officers do. The lady was not named or pointed out to us, but we sent our sincere thanks back to her. Additionally, the lady didn't know I was retired from the Arkansas State Police, but she purchased my meal, too!

I worry about my son and his safety, and I have another son who is trying to become a police officer. Nowadays, with people actually targeting officers and murdering them, all the families and friends of officers are extremely worried about their safety. It was so nice to have someone we didn't even know to do such an unexpected and thoughtful thing for us. God bless her and all the other folks who back the blue.

LARRY GENTRY

Benton

Stand with the police

I wish that I could tell all the law enforcement officers in America that I stand with them. Not behind them, but with them.

If I ever witness a police officer needing assistance, I will offer my help without reservation even if it means putting my own life at risk. This is the least I can do for people who put their lives on the line every day for me.

FRANK LATIMER

Sherwood

To restore order there

When schoolchildren were prevented from going to school in Little Rock, President Ike promptly federalized the National Guard and restored order.

With much more serious situations in Florida, Texas and Louisiana, the governors could declare martial law and restore order but have not acted. It is now up to the president to take action to restore order in those states.

GEORGE W. McCLAIN

Little Rock

Crime pays for some

Two recent lawsuits may shed some light on the problems with policing in America. In one suit, minority police officers in New York City are suing their department for imposing arrest quotas on them. In another suit, the town of Jennings, Mo., agreed to pay $4.7 million in damages to those jailed for not paying fines. Not surprisingly, most of those jailed were minorities.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a study found that in a dozen towns in the St. Louis area, like Ferguson and Jennings, more money came from court fees and fines than from sales or property taxes. When a police department and the municipality it serves has to fund operations by imposing excessive fines and by artificially increasing arrests to justify their budgets, the poorest and weakest members of society pay, and these are disproportionately people of color. And the price is not just money, though they can ill-afford the money; they pay with prison sentences that make it difficult for them to get jobs, which adds to the cycle. Add to this our for-profit prisons and there is a clear profit motive for us to fine and jail our citizens. This is especially problematic in towns where the size of the police department has gotten too large.

Sadly, terror attacks also play into the dynamic by adding pressure to increase policing. If we are to have reform of our criminal justice system, we have to address issues of how we pay for police services and what the appropriate size of our police force should be. As Oscar Wilde reportedly said, "The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy." When it comes to law enforcement, the tendency of bureaucracy to grow may be at the root of some of our current problems.

KATHRYN CURTIN

Fayetteville

Wonders never cease

After watching Melania Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention, where her speechwriters lifted several sections from first lady Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention speech, I guess The Donald was right after all. Immigrants are indeed stealing stuff from hardworking Americans.

RICHARD MOORE

Little Rock

Very proud of Melania

Melania Trump delivered her speech with honesty, grace, generosity, good taste and compassion. She revealed herself to be extremely intelligent and a beautiful person both inside and out. Her love and respect for her husband, her family, and America are real and self-evident by her works. Those criticizing her speech are ridiculous, petty, and truly lacking in good taste and upbringing.

In The Green Hills of Africa, Ernest Hemingway wrote, "Some writers are only born to help another writer to write one sentence."

TERESA REYNOLDS

Little Rock

Capital punishment

I was thrilled to read the letter to the editor written by Judith Elane from Little Rock. What a beautiful statement regarding the use of the death penalty, and I quote: "Don't use me and my fellow victims' family members as an excuse for your apparent blood lust, Governor Hutchinson." Wow, if that is not a powerful declaration, I don't know what is.

Here is a woman who also belongs to even a larger group of people who are not asking for "an eye for an eye." Why is it that people still feel like the death of another person is somehow going to make them feel vindicated about a crime done to a loved one? I have to admit I have never been in that situation but I feel in my heart that revenge would never be the path I would take.

The death penalty is not a deterrent and it is more expensive than keeping the person in jail for life, the reason being that the person on death row can appeal and appeal, so they end up being on death row for years and years. And the solution is not to do away with the appeals because as we have seen over and over there are innocent people in jail who spend years behind bars before finally receiving their freedom.

Enlightened people who are asked if they would like to kill the person who killed their loved one almost universally answer that they don't want to descend to that level. So what are our government, state and nation doing, still taking the lives of citizens? We are one of the few industrialized countries that still commit legalized murder, 'cause let's face it, that is what it is. You can try to pretty it up by calling it capital punishment, but it is legalized murder.

LINDA BARNES

Prairie Grove

Delusions on display

It appears that Lord Asa and the rest of his Republican cohort are deluded enough to believe a dog's dropping really can be picked up by the clean end. There is nothing about Donald Trump that won't leave them soiled for years to come.

Can arrangement be made for desensitizing Leslie Rutledge to the sound of the name of Obama? That knee-jerk reaction of hers to sue the federal government for anything Barack Obama expresses an opinion on is getting old! She might need a sedative to keep her a little calmer while she hurries those prisoners off to the execution chamber. She seems so anxious to be the first woman attorney general in Arkansas to oversee their killing.

Maybe Lord Asa can appoint a study group to set the execution dates and in what order they should die. And of course he could select a Republican who has been defeated, pay him a third more and name him official executioner if Stacy Hurst doesn't want that job too.

Maybe the "first lady" can direct matters behind the scene for that as well.

KARL HANSEN

Hensley

C'mon, it's common!

I'm outraged that the Trump family is being accused of plagiarism. However, insiders say The Donald's acceptance speech will begin with "four score and seven years ago" ...

GARY USELTON

Benton

Editorial on 07/21/2016

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