{"id":142193,"date":"2010-01-05T19:45:46","date_gmt":"2010-01-06T00:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2010707919_perugiapark.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-01-05T19:45:46","modified_gmt":"2010-01-06T00:45:46","slug":"perugia-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/142193","title":{"rendered":"Perugia Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overly sympathetic for hometown girl<\/strong><\/p>\n

Editor, The Times:<\/p>\n

In all fairness, I do not believe the following statement made in [\u201cA trying time to name a park after Perugia,\u201d Opinion, Jan. 5] is justified: \u201cYet all of that does not smooth legitimately bad feelings about the trial of Knox, who is either innocent or did not get a fair trial that proved her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are all sympathetic to a hometown girl who ran up against the law during her studies abroad. But her origins in Seattle do not change the fact that a jury of her peers heard all the evidence and concluded \u201cbeyond a reasonable doubt\u201d that she should be held responsible for her roommate\u2019s death. We all wish her good fortune in her legal appeals but justice is not served well by misplaced hometown bias in your publication.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Joe Dray, Edmonds<\/em><\/p>\n

Rename is a disappointment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The flap over Perugia Park\u2019s name reminds me of a few years ago when many of our brighter wits wanted to rename French fries to Freedom fries. Isn\u2019t this just about the same? I thought Seattle was a city of intelligent, caring people. Now I find out that we like jumping on the bandwagon just like everyone else. What a disappointment!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Miller, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Maybe Perugia should reject Seattle as sister city<\/strong><\/p>\n

I totally agree with Mike James, the president of the Seattle-Perugia Sister City Association, and Mayor Boccali of Perugia. It is totally ridiculous to let the outcome of a criminal trial \u2014 just because the crime took place in Perugia \u2014 influence the decision to name a park in Seattle.<\/p>\n

Following this reasoning maybe Perugia should reject Seattle as a sister city for the injuring of 30 Italian prisoners of war by American servicemen at Fort Lawton in August of 1944 and the death of Pvt. Guglielmo Olivotto.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rod McNae, Freeland<\/em><\/p>\n

Name it after the deceased<\/strong><\/p>\n

Name it Meredith Kercher Park. Surely we should give serious consideration to naming the park after the unfortunate young woman who lost her life in Perugia. Just think how Meredith Kercher\u2019s family and loved ones would be overwhelmed with gratitude and appreciation by our unselfish act of naming the new park in her memory. The Kerchers would recognize the great sacrifice the people of Seattle made in honoring Meredith.<\/p>\n

I am sure that the Kerchers would be so overwhelmed and pleased with this magnanimous gesture on our part that they would immediately throw their support behind [Seattle Preparatory School president] Kent Hickey\u2019s Amanda Knox Legal Defense Fund. To seal the deal Hickey could promise the Kerchers that a portion of the funds collected would be used to pay off Knox\u2019s share of the $9 million in civil damages issued to her family by the misguided Italian court.<\/p>\n

Let us not forget that Knox is where she is because Meredith is no longer with us.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Stephen Finn, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Seattle Prep and Knox<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am not sure why Nicole Brodeur thinks she has to pontificate about something a private organization is doing [\u201cPrep\u2019s Misguided Lesson,\u201d NWTuesday, Jan. 5]. I think she has chosen the wrong forum. I certainly agree that she has every right and privilege to have and share her opinions, but why this organization on this issue?<\/p>\n

I think it would have been more appropriate for her to express her opinions about Amanda Knox in relation to the city park naming decision. Does she have an ax to grind about Seattle Prep? I suggest that Nicole address public concerns in this forum and share her private concerns about a private organization in another.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ken Schuh, Spokane<\/em><\/p>\n

Seattle Prep does help other communities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicole Brodeur criticizes Seattle Prep\u2019s support for alumna Amanda Knox and asks: \u201cWhy not raise money for a food bank?\u201d It\u2019s not either\/or.<\/p>\n

Seattle Prep regularly collects money and food for food banks, but it does even better: It teaches all students in the ways of Jesus\u2019 mandate to help the poor. <\/span><\/p>\n

All sophomores at the school serve brothers and sisters in our community in evening and daytime settings as part of a retreat. All juniors enter into yearlong relationships serving the marginalized among us with the explicit intent that the relationship will be ongoing after the assignment is finished.<\/p>\n

These experiences are transformative for students and have ripple effects in families and communities. Yes, the Seattle Prep community is reaching out to Amanda Knox\u2019s family and this outreach is making headlines. But it is only one among hundreds of outreach efforts during the school year.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Liz Tidyman, Bellevue<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overly sympathetic for hometown girl Editor, The Times: In all fairness, I do not believe the following statement made in [\u201cA trying time to name a park after Perugia,\u201d Opinion, Jan. 5] is justified: \u201cYet all of that does not smooth legitimately bad feelings about the trial of Knox, who is either innocent or did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}