Martin, Zimmerman families wind up on losing end
To the editor:
No matter who was following whom, George Zimmerman had every right to defend and save his own life when he was being hit in the face repeatedly and had his skull slammed into concrete repeatedly by Trayvon Martin. If Mr. Martin was afraid of Mr. Zimmerman following him, he should have gone to his father’s fiancee’s residence instead of starting a physical altercation. Therefore, it doesn’t matter who was following whom; it matters who started a fight.
Mr. Zimmerman’s life is basically as over as Mr. Martin’s, as Mr. Zimmerman will have great difficulty finding employment, and friends will be afraid to be around him due to threats against him. Mr. Zimmerman lost more than a year of his life before this justified verdict.
Trayvon Martin’s family members are justified in their grief and loss, but both the Martin and Zimmerman families are on the losing end. The only winners in this case are, and will continue to be, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
BRUCE ALEXANDER
LAS VEGAS
True photo
To the editor:
One of the problems people have understanding the George Zimmerman acquittal is the constant showing of Trayvon Martin as a smiling 12-year-old (“Not guilty,” Sunday Review-Journal). How about a picture of Mr. Martin in the days before his death? Was he still a cherubic 12-year-old, or did he look more like a tattooed, teenage gang banger? Would all this righteous indignation be on display if we saw what Mr. Martin really looked like?
We know from testimony that Mr. Martin identified Mr. Zimmerman with a racial slur that night, just before the incident. I’ve seen photos identified as being of Mr. Martin in other publications and on the Internet, and if accurate, he was no cherub. It should be politically OK to show current pictures of Mr. Martin, because even President Barack Obama said that if he had a son, that son would look like Mr. Martin.
So how about a front-page shot of the real Trayvon Martin? Or how about pictures of Mr. Zimmerman as a smiling 12-year-old?
MICHAEL DUNEGAN
LAS VEGAS
Learn from tragedy
To the editor:
The George Zimmerman trial is over. He was found not guilty of either second-degree murder or manslaughter, but not everyone is satisfied with the verdict. It is what it is, a tragedy for all involved.
And like so many tragedies, there are lessons that can be learned. If Mr. Zimmerman had followed the suggestions of the 911 operator, if Mr. Martin hadn’t been so furtive in his movements, if either man had just simply walked away from the confrontation, then none of this would have happened.
Specifically for neighborhood watch volunteers, they must learn that when they confront a person, that person might attack them, and they might be in a fight for their life, or that person could be armed.
As for the attacker, he must be mindful that the person he’s attacking might be armed, as Mr. Zimmerman was in this case.
And for those people who believe that Mr. Zimmerman was wrong in pulling his gun and shooting Mr. Martin, I ask you this: If you were punched in the face, knocked to the ground with your attacker sitting on you, beating the crap out of you, if you could get to your legally carried gun, would you shoot the attacker to get him off?
Most everyone would say yes and do exactly what Mr. Zimmerman did.
BILL WILDERMAN
LAS VEGAS
Get over it
To the editor:
Some protesters in California are now burning the American flag in protest of the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Protests are taking place in numerous cities in the United States. Are these also being funded by the Justice Department?
It all reminds me of when people burned flags and rioted after the O.J. Simpson acquittal. Oh wait, that never happened. Mr. Zimmerman was acquitted by a jury that heard almost all the pertinent facts. The jury didn’t hear the facts held back by the prosecution that favored the defendant. A whistle-blower who was fired from the prosecutor’s office brought out this travesty.
Now U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wants to get involved. Mr. Holder will sidestep the concept of double jeopardy to consider prosecuting Mr. Zimmerman on civil rights charges (“AG vows further investigation,” Tuesday Review-Journal). The man was acquitted.
My advice to everybody is to get over it. This never should have gotten further than a footnote in the local newspaper.
It’s too bad it happened, but there certainly are more important issues if we want to protest something. Without much effort, I can think of at least five regarding the current administration’s behavior.
JERRY PATCHMAN
LAS VEGAS
Gas tax
To the editor:
First, traffic officials put in the yellow blinking arrows for left-hand turns at stoplights. How much money did that equipment and manpower cost the taxpayers? Then they put up metal cacti in the center of many roads, and they want to paint the bike lanes green. Now they want to up the fuel tax to fix our roads (Wednesday Review-Journal)?
I believe the above projects should’ve been scrapped, with the money then spent to get the roads fixed. I don’t know if the Nevada Department of Transportation or Clark County Public Works or the Regional Transportation Commission came up with these stupid projects to save some employee’s job, or what those entities were thinking. I’m sure they will say these projects were planned long before the downfall of our economy, which has been going on for several years. However, if our family were planning a vacation and we lost our jobs, we would drop the vacation, even though we might lose some money on airline tickets.
Someone should investigate what’s going on with this. Someone has their hands in the taxpayers’ wallets.
DENISE MEHOCIC
LAS VEGAS
