Posted on 08/12/2005 10:24:20 AM PDT by Asphalt
That's my point--he's in charge of no such thing. Cops aren't there to protect anybody. They're there to punish lawbreakers after the fact.
Would you have any problem with the sheriff making the statement about other people (like the black man quote I referenced above?)
I do have problems with what he said. But I don't see it as a threat.
It might not be a veiled threat, the sheriff may know of credible comments from folks other than himself who want some harm to come to the young man. The sheriff cannot be responsible for this one citizen over all the others and may have received word of threats against the man from others. I'm sure a lot of people never want him to come back there. But I'm sure they were also hoping he'd be locked up for longer, probably why that legal loophole is now closed. Of course, he has an obligation as sheriff to follow up on those threats and to refrain from making such threats, that indeed would be inexcusable.
Come on. This is Arkansas, Clinton country. What do you expect, civilization?
Yes. Compared to the "Clinton Curve", this POS served a long time.
I was thinking the same thing. Not only did he survive serving a long time, but he will be alive at the time of his release, instead of heading directly to the hospital or morgue.
To those of you defending the sheriff's words, does that mean you wouldn't have a problem with that same sheriff saying, "Yeah, this black guy can move into our town if he wants. But we sure can't guarantee his safety." The sheriff may know that there are racists in the town that want to harm any black person coming into town. The accuracy of his statement is unquestionable. And yet, I believe that if a sheriff made this pronouncement, he would be subject to no end of criticism, including here on FR.
Is there a difference here? If so, what is it?
What seminary would have him? Has he been rehabilitated? Can he be? Has he expressed any remorse? And is the mom trying to tell potential threateners that he will be too far to get to in a reasonable drive. Does his college or seminary and the inhabitants of that lucky town know he's coming? What a shame, those 4 girls and the teacher should be preparing for another school year. Instead, he gets to go free and the town still suffers because of his actions.
Mitchell Wright, whose wife Shannon was the teacher who was killed, said he has tried to explain Johnson's release to his son, who was two at the time of his mother's death. "He's told me, 'I don't think it's right he gets to go home to his momma and I only get to see my momma on videos'," Mr Wright said.
Out of the mouths of babes.
Oh, I wasn't trying to defend the man. He never should have spoken like that. I was merely pointing out that threats could have been referred to him by others about the boy's release, and not actually be his own sentiments. I don't know if that's the case and he shouldn't have spoken about it all, even if just referring to threats by others. It certainly is despicable that the lawman in town would speak like that, about anybody.
Fair enough - I can't argue with that! Still, it's not like the sheriff was reporting that he received threats - he just said he can't protect the guy. If someone had received threats, went to the sheriff for protection, and the sheriff said that he wasn't able to protect them, what good would the sheriff be then? And what kind of confidence are we supposed to have in a sheriff who receives specific threats directed at someone but says he isn't capable of protecting him?
I see your point. We should all be colorblind here but I guess that just isn't realistic.
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