Advantage goes to officers
Re: “Officers spoke to man before fatal shots — Video shows authorities spoke to suspect for nearly an hour prior to his death,” Tuesday Metro & Business story.
Regardless of the circumstances, it’s always tragic when a police encounter with a person in crisis ends in the death of that person. Cody Watkins was thought to have committed family violence and was living in a tent in a wooded area. He was armed with a knife and refused the repeated orders of three officers to drop it and leave the tent.
The story says that Watkins crawled out of the tent opening still holding the knife, according to a body cam. Two of the officers then fired multiple rounds at Watkins, inflicting fatal wounds. In his statement, Dallas Police Chief Eddie García said Watkins charged out of the tent entrance with the knife.
So which is it? Did he crawl or charge out of the tent? There’s a big difference.
The scenario that unfolded was three officers with guns vs. one troubled man with a knife. Advantage, officers. I’ve often wished police departments had a “shoot to disable” option in their training. It could be used when officers do have the advantage, their lives are not immediately threatened, and other methods to subdue a person have failed. In such instances, “shoot to kill” appears to be overkill.
Fred R. Neary, Far North Dallas
Political courage
Re: “Obama should tell Biden the truth,” by Talmage Boston, Tuesday Opinion.
I think Boston has a lot of nerve talking about Obama’s having the courage to tell President Joe Biden to step down.
For the record, I agree that Biden should step down. He had an excellent four years as president, and I appreciate his service to this country, but it is time to pass the torch.
What I find appalling is that Boston doesn’t mention the lack of courage from the Republican Party since 2016 in standing up to Donald Trump. Trump, a convicted felon, is running for president of the United States, and who in the Republican Party has shown the courage to say that he is unfit to be president?
I have a suggestion for Boston’s next book on presidential history: Chapter One should be the moral surrender of the Republican Party to Donald Trump.
Betsy Crawford, University Park
The lesson from LBJ
Re: “Texan wants Biden to quit,” Wednesday news story.
The article about U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s call for Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race ends with a history lesson about the nobility of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s withdrawal from the 1968 election. The full history was not presented.
With LBJ’s withdrawal in March 1968, the Democratic Party was thrown into chaos, and Nixon was elected. Does LBJ’s withdrawal look like it was a good idea? A Biden withdrawal a month out from the convention would be even more chaotic, almost certainly guaranteeing a Trump victory.
Margo Ways, Denton
Five-letter words
Call me old, stupid or un-American. I don’t care. On Independence Day, I sat at my kitchen table reading an actual newspaper, and it occurred to me what is wrong with America: It is two five-letter words: greed and power.
Examples among Business section headlines on July 4 are: 1) “GM to pay $146 million in federal penalties.” Speaks to itself due to corporate greed and government (term used loosely) stupidity and overreach.
2) “Dallas approves Knox Project: Plan will add further density to neighborhood with three towers of varying sizes and uses.” Why? Do we really need this? No. Greed and power.
3) “Prosper Arts District about legacy.” What? This is a 35-acre site with three hotels, hundreds of dwellings, extensive retail and creative office space to be developed by a tech entrepreneur whose only idea of prosper is to further rape the land and to make millions of dollars.
4) “New homes part of mixed use plan” (in Grayson county near the community of Dorchester). The 678-acre property is expected to hold 2,156 homes plus the usual amenities. Sherman is about to be part of the DFW metroglut. Again, greed and power.
What a great example the U.S. government has established. I don’t care who wins the presidential election. I do not think anything or anybody can save us now but God Almighty — not more concrete expansion, bitcoin mining or AI computer nonsense using precious electricity that people need merely to survive.
I pray my children and grandchildren will have the opportunity to celebrate a true day of independence next year. In the famous words of radio personality Earl Pitts, “Wake up, America.”
Randy Norris, Mesquite
Officer’s work ethic
Re: “Overtime pay tops $140M,” June 30 news story.
I usually don’t follow city of Dallas articles because I live in the suburbs; however, the article on overtime pay caught my attention. How is it that Dallas has paid out $140 million in overtime pay? The article cites “demand and fewer staff.”
I’m impressed with one employee who took advantage of those facts and managed to make himself more than $300,000, with more than half of that in overtime pay. Sgt. Robert Salone decided to “just work” and make that extra money.
I’m a former human resources manager whose job involved recruitment. One of the first things I looked for in an applicant was work ethic, a quality I could usually detect in the first few minutes of the interview. That was always a deciding factor for me. My philosophy was, if you have the work ethic, we can work with you. Otherwise; the candidate was tabled.
Kudos to Sgt. Salone. Your hard work and determination have rewarded you well. Dallas is lucky to have you as an employee.
Kay Wrobel, Plano
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