Let’s ensure this doesn’t happen again
The many expressions of love and compassion shown by the greater Puget Sound community, and by those from across the country and Canada, following the recent slaying of the four police officers in Lakewood, show the deep respect we have for those who enforce the laws of the land [“Two weeks after killing, community reclaims cafe,” NWSunday, Dec. 13].
The memorial service itself was an impressive display of community, sympathy, solidarity, tenderness and love in action.
Here are a few suggestions that, if implemented, might prevent such horror in the future: Increase taxes so that every police department in every community is fully funded every year. Enforce and enact gun-control laws that keep guns out of the hands of those who cannot handle them. Ensure that those with mental illnesses get proper treatment when needed, as long as needed, and include in that treatment a healthy dose of love and a sense of worth. Improve our criminal-justice system so that our jails are not overflowing with those whose crimes hurt no one, and keep locked up those who really do pose a threat to others.
All this takes money, that’s for sure. But what is the cost to a community of one dead police officer, let alone four?
— Jim Rettig, Woodinville
Huckabee and the difference between commuted and released
What part of commuted, but not released, don’t readers understand [“Excuses, excuses, excuses,” Opinion, Northwest Voices, Dec. 11]?
It appears that those who wrote blaming former Gov. Mike Huckabee for the release of cop killer Maurice Clemmons were way off base. Also, it was nine years ago when then-Gov. Huckabee commuted — not released — Clemmons. Clemmons’ sentence was commuted from 100-plus years to 45-plus years.
It was the Arkansas courts that released him, and it was a Pierce County judge who set Clemmons free.
Maybe those who want to play the blame game should get their facts straight before they play the blame game. I also saw Fox News blaming Huckabee for the deaths of these fine, hardworking officers.
Once and for all, it was Clemmons who pulled the trigger. So don’t let him off the hook.
— Pat Gee, Federal Way