ZIMMERMAN TRIAL
Obama rightly talked about verdict and race
When I watched the president’s unscheduled news conference July 19, I was delighted. There was no teleprompter; his remarks were brief, and they were not political in any way. He had thought it out and realized that he had to address the puzzling verdict in Sanford, Fla.
What our president feared was another Rodney King occurrence, and the accompanying riots. But he also thought about the racial experiences in his own past, and those of millions of African Americans. He felt their anger and frustration.
It was his job to tell us what he thought of it all because he is our president. We would have been severely disappointed if he had done nothing — and rightly so.
FRANK W. GADBOIS, WARNER ROBINS
Do some groups think they’re above the law?
The recent “not guilty” verdict in the George Zimmerman trial has evoked strong emotions on both sides.
I believe it calls into question whether certain groups want to go by the established judicial system. Do certain groups think they are above the due process of the law, and therefore want to call in federal investigators because they lost?
ALTON POWELL, CHATTAHOOCHEE HILLS
IMMIGRATION
Congress must fulfill promise about border
There’s an old adage about two things you never want to see being made: sausage and legislation. Never has this been truer than in the current debate about “comprehensive” immigration legislation.
Under Ronald Reagan, the U.S. planned to give amnesty to the millions in our country illegally at that time, with a promise that our borders would be secured so that would never happen again. Only the amnesty part kicked in.
Now we are being given the same old song and dance about the millions of additional people here illegally. Congress needs to drop its current sausage-making approach to this serious problem and first fulfill its 30-year-old promises: Secure our borders, and enforce current immigration laws. Only after we accomplish that can we know what changes to immigration policy make sense.
LINDA EDMONDS, DECATUR
SMOKING
Better to just quit than complain about taxes
It was ridiculous to devote space to “Smoking tax puts burden on poor” (Metro, July 16).
Quite frankly, if people cease buying cigarettes, their health will improve and put money in their pockets to devote to other things — like good food, and improving their health with exercise and many other things.
Quitting will also decrease the strain on the public health system. Couldn’t you have found something more meaningful to devote this space to than this article? Getting people to quit smoking would have been a better use of the space.
LINDA NADSPAL, CANTON
