LETTERS: Police officer acted far too fast in Tamir Rice shooting

Tamir Rice ruling

Regarding the ruling in the shooting death of Tamir Rice, Reuters reported the following: "A grand jury cleared two Cleveland police officers on Monday in the November 2014 fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was brandishing a toy gun in a park." The prosecutor said there was a lack of evidence indicating criminal activity.

The article went on to report the boy was pulling a toy gun from his pocket, but that the gun appeared to be the real thing, and the officer who shot the boy had told him to place his hands above his head.

It is remarkable that this shooting, together with the warning from the officer, took all of about two seconds. If there was no criminal activity on the part of the police, what do we call this action? Do we call it good police work? What is a good term for such action? Shoot first and ask questions later? Would you really accept the idea that a policeman is so good at his job that he can correctly size up a situation before his car has even come to a stop at the scene?

This shooting was a tragedy. The failure to indict the police officer might or might not be a tragedy. However, both officers involved were put on restricted duty and remain there. Allowing the shooting officer to keep his position with the Cleveland Police Department would be a further tragedy. No amount of claims of police bashing by conservatives will change the wrongness of the policeman's action.

Richard L. Strickland

North Las Vegas

Newspaper's fate

Freedom of the press is guaranteed by our forefathers in the First Amendment to the Constitution. It is that important. So, although I admire the Review-Journal's statement regarding the maintenance of its editorial and reporting independence in the face of the Adelson family's purchase of Las Vegas' only major newspaper, I question your power to do so ("We will continue to fight for your trust every day," Dec. 20 Review-Journal).

The secrecy surrounding this purchase is just the first evidence of the Adelsons' desire to control the content of the Review-Journal and advance Sheldon Adelson's very conservative views to its readership. Mr. Adelson is a very dominant personality whose "my way or the highway" mantra is well-known. He owns a newspaper in Israel that is distributed for free, with the clear purpose of influencing readers to support the political party and the leaders he supports. To me, that is a clear indication of the direction he will pursue with his family's ownership of the Review-Journal.

Newspapers are known to influence voters, and I'm certain that is Mr. Adelson's goal. Nevertheless, I will wait to see if your principles are a match for Mr. Adelson's determination.

Murray Goldman

Las Vegas

Fox News bashing

Fred Lokken, a political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College, warned that it's important for the Review-Journal to avoid "becoming the Fox News of the newspaper industry" ("Ownership under the microscope," Dec. 18 Review-Journal). Would this professor be equally concerned if there was danger of the R-J moving toward the left-leaning philosophies of The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC, CBS, NBC and ABC?

Mr. Lokken apparently is comfortable with the idea of a 100 percent left-leaning media. Included each day with the R-J is the Las Vegas Sun, with its extremely liberal tilt. Thus our newspaper is already "fair and balanced." But, as a conservative, I certainly wouldn't be unhappy if the R-J's editorial section tilted even a little more to the right.

And thank God for Fox News.

Eugene Langworthy

Mesquite