In 1987, my neighbor was murdered. The convicted murderer served eight years of an original sentence of 47 years.

In 1990, Adam Bartlett, 39, a twice-convicted child beater, killed his three-week-old son Brandon and served less than half his sentence.

Last, who could forget the brutal murder of a local good Samaritan, Kristopher Kime, when he sacrificed his life to protect a woman during Mardi Gras in 2001?

The convicted black young sociopath, Jerrell Thomas, was given a reduced sentence from second-degree murder to manslaughter. While Seattle's minority sensitive leadership weighed the political fallout of law enforcement, the Seattle Police stood by and watched Mr. Kime die.

To make the outrage worse, if possible, Thomas is scheduled for release by 2011. This inane ruling, like so many others, was based on a 2002 State Supreme Court ruling that an unintended death resulting from an assault can be re-filed as a lesser manslaughter charge.

If the police are unable to protect the innocent and the courts cannot impose justice for the victims, then who will protect us?

Does one seriously think that an extra $100 per year property tax hike/levy lid lift (see story on page one) will reduce crime? More police officers, better technology or building a substation is a cosmetic treatment for a disorder called misguided compassion.

Located on page 5 was 'old news' that discussed the retrial and subsequent shorter sentence for Kris Kime's killer. I have two final remarks.

If more money is the answer in solving the crime problem, then Dave, Brandon and Kris were definitely short-changed. And if money is the price of freedom, then whose freedom are we paying for?

Bob Ross

Normandy Park