Stolen guns
Technology might help solve thefts
After hearing about police cruisers being broken into and guns being stolen, perhaps to be pawned, perhaps to be used against officers and citizens, an idea presented itself. Are guns currently being manufactured with an embedded tracking chip?
I know this is being done with pets by vets, and it seems that this might help law enforcement with the aforementioned problem.
SCOTT WHITAKER, HAPEVILLE
Zealous prosecutors can’t trump rights
It was outrageous for a prosecutor to ask the judge to compel former Atlanta school superintendent Beverly Hall to attend her racketeering trial via Skype when she is bedridden with late-stage breast cancer. (“Beverly Hall won’t face trial next month in Atlanta cheating case,” News, July 11.) Georgia defines competency to stand trial in part as “whether the accused is capable of rendering to counsel assistance in providing a proper defense.” Given the complexities of the case, the time that has elapsed and the medications often administered to people in the late stages of cancer, it seems impossible Hall could meet this standard. Subjecting a terminally ill person to a lengthy trial is inhumane, something our Constitution does not allow.
The prosecution has consistently been overzealous in its prosecution of Hall, while the business leaders who anointed her and the school board members who served as her bosses go about their lives claiming they didn’t know. Meanwhile, public policy marches forward with continued faith in standardized testing as a tool to get the reading and math skills of our students on par with Finland.
PATTI GHEZZI, AVONDALE ESTATES
Wrong country caring for migrant kids
Yes, we are a nation of immigrants. We also offer asylum and refugee status. We have a process by which immigrants may obtain legal status and even citizenship.
What we have on our border with Mexico is the result of a strategy by Mexico to pass on their duty to provide for, or reject, these people to the United States. We have no obligation to accept or care for these people. Yes, we should offer to assist Mexico through the International Red Cross in caring for them. I pray that common sense will prevail and we will stop this illegal intrusion on our sovereignty and our legendary generosity before we become incapable of both.
WILLIAM FLETCHER, PEACHTREE CITY
Bookman right on primary voting
Hurrah for Jay Bookman’s Wednesday editorial! I, too, am a liberal Democrat who has lived in Republican Congressional and state legislative districts. I regularly vote in Republican primaries.
Except for statewide offices, voting in the general election in November is a waste of time in one-party districts where the dominant-party primary winners run either unopposed or against token opposition.
If the politicians can gerrymander voting districts to overwhelmingly favor one political party, then voters have the right, and the duty, to vote in whichever primary election will give them the most efficient voice in choosing their elected officials.
BILL GEIDL, DACULA
No place for KKK today
On July 14, the Ku Klux Klan, a terror group with a history of violence and murder, distributed flyers seeking new members in our neighborhood. This group of so-called followers of Christ seeks to resurrect a dark and horrible past by spewing racial hatred and bile. Although the KKK and its views have been relegated to the dustbin of Georgia’s history, even an old, mangy dog can bite. By distributing flyers, this group has gained the modicum of the publicity it craves, which necessitates a public response rejecting this group and its agenda. The KKK is not welcome in Cabbagetown, Candler Park or anywhere in Georgia. We are a State too busy to hate.
BRET WILLIAMS, ATLANTA
