Letters to the editor Sept. 24

There was no justice in Stockley verdict

There is no justice!

I watched the news on Friday and it was the biggest hoax in the last 20 years! Anthony Lamar Smith was murdered by a policeman! The very people that have sworn to serve and protect the general public.

This judge that released this officer and found him not guilty is just like cases that happened in the 60s. The governor of Missouri knew that judge was going to find Stockley not guilty; that was why he brought in the National Guard three days before the judge said he decided Stockley was not guilty.

What are they going to do if a black officer shoots and kills a white man? There still remain two sets of rules. With cops, blacks are considered guilty before a trial! A white man doesn’t even go to trial or even been to jail! 2017 and there’s still no justice for all. There need some changes made.

Why are we giving money to victims?

Jason Stockley was not guilty. Did I think the judge made the right decision? No. Did the protesters get the verdict changed? No. Will this happen again? Probably. But what I don’t understand is why the city of St. Louis pays the survivors off? Allegedly, the child of Anthony Lamar Smith received over $900,000 in 2013. The parents of Michael Brown allegedly received in access of $1 million. Is this the money these victims would have supposedly made in their lifetime had they not been killed? I highly doubt it. When does it end? When are we as a country going to finally say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?

Duebbert knows the law

Responding to the caller about Judge Ronald Duebbert’s appearance before a grand jury.

I quote from the Illinois grand jury guide: “The Constitution of this State provides that no person shall be forced to give testimony that would implicate that person in a criminal offense. On occasion, therefore, a witness before the grand jury may refuse to testify on the grounds that the testimony would incriminate him or her. ... Unlike many governmental bodies whose actions must be taken openly and their deliberations conducted openly, the grand jury conducts its proceedings in the strictest secrecy. No one but the Prosecutor, a stenographic reporter, the witnesses, or other persons authorized by the Court or by law are allowed to be present in the jury room. In furtherance of justice and upon grounds of public policy, the law requires that the proceedings of grand juries shall be regarded as privileged communications. The secrets of the grand jury room shall not be revealed, except by the Prosecutor solely in the performance of his or her duties, when the Court directs otherwise in the interest of justice, or when a law authorizes the disclosure. As a grand juror, therefore, you should adhere strictly to this rule of secrecy.”

Judge Duebbert taught law at the University of Illinois and is admitted to the Illinois State Bar, so I’m sure he knows the law more than you. It’s called due process.

The burden of proof of climate change

Ronald Trimmer posts the question to me about how to reduce carbon emissions. As the burden of proof of climate change lies with the advocates of the theory, so does the solution. Which brings us back to our first exchange within these pages when he advocated a tax on carbon producers with the money divided among the people.

So many of the so-called solutions to climate change come from people with an anti-free market agenda where the government has control over the means of production, distribution and consumption.

As such their motives are suspect.

Dishing out some kudos

Kudos to “the Colonel” Lee Pitzer for 26 years of Air Force service;

Kudos to the GOP senators who voted “No” to the health care plan. Likewise to Hillary Clinton and Dick Durbin.

There needs to be a new health plan!

Prez Donald Trump does his best to lead (in my opinion) without support from some of the GOP senators.

I wear the label “Trumpster” like a badge of honor: Proudly.

I understand illegals want a better life for their children.

My grandchildren have left Illinois because they too wanted a better life.

Twenty thousand Illinois citizens are on the list for Medicaid. But the illegals are the priority. Thanks to Gov. Bruce Rauner.

A few thoughts about the moon

In a college course a lady professor said, “Joseph, Joseph, you should write what you see.” She like a mockingbird always said twice. I thought really my school teacher said the same thing. Well then the moon is about all I saw. My sister would say, “Come look at the moon.”

I asked Dad, “Why does it follow me?” And Grandpa said, “It was so big now it’s little.” What does it weigh, and why Albert asked if it was only there when a mouse saw it? Well Dad put out his pipe and went to bed, my composition was due?

It’s there alright, we couldn’t have dreamed we’d go there. I couldn’t have dreamed a guy like me would get a couple of paychecks on that project. It spurted en economy.

Well Albert said that in defiance of quantum theory, really Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and it don’t weigh nothing where it’s at, unless here on a Wal-Mart scale big enough, it’s 75 mill mill mill metric tonnes. Shouldn’t that be quintillion or something?

I still ask. Some say it came later. Later than what? From where? What was it like without it? Was there seasons? How in the world or universe does it spin so perfect to show one face? And orbit so perfect around a common barycenter? Was it luck it found us? Would the Earth orbit farther out without it? If two what? And that precession thing? Better wait on that.

Joe Fontana, Roxana

A response to Mr. Pitzer

To Lee Pitzer,

In God we trust, buddy.

Expressing my moral compass

Printed in the upper left-hand corner of the page is “Opinion.” As Lee Pitzer writes, “for a general and dissimilar readership, with wide ranging views on politics and religion.” Yes, we are all of that.

Bible and moral solutions are dissimilar to the world’s. But should we limit free speech because it offends you? A letter writer expressed his opinion that the Constitution was his moral compass. Am I to be denied the right to express my opinion of my moral compass?

Lee, “Great peace have they who love the law, and nothing shall offend them.” Psalms 119:165. “The law is truth.” Psalms 119:145. “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.”

Consider “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the words of the Lord shall not pass away.”

Consider, Jesus said: “that each of us will give account in the day of judgment for every idle word that we speak. By our words we shall be justified, and by our words we shall be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37

May God bless you!

This story was originally published September 23, 2017 at 6:42 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor Sept. 24."