FPD got it terribly wrong
Fairbanks Four, FPD detectives? Just because you carry a badge don't make you right.
Trump event well done; not what liberal media portrayed
I am an Alaska voter who is fortunate enough to spend this winter in Arizona. I attended Donald Trump's presentation in Mesa, Arizona referenced in a Washington Post front-page article in the Dec. 18 Alaska Dispatch News.
Your readers need to know the reporter's views misrepresent what actually occurred. The crowd was three times as large as what was expected. It was a well-behaved, representative group of people that included mostly working class people of all races and heritages, as did Trump's entourage. They were there to show their support for Trump. They did that enthusiastically.
There were, at most, 20 hecklers who parked in the same parking lot and carried signs to antagonize the crowd. They were shepherded into a roped area outside the hanger, where they, for the most part were ignored.
The Trump supporters, for the most part, are fed up with the establishment GOP, and absolutely hate the Democratic Party. It is obvious where the liberal news media support lies. We will find out next November where the hearts of the American voters are.
Presumption of innocence is key in preventing injustice
The Alaska Innocence Project deserves much praise for its persistence and hard work in helping the Fairbanks Four obtain release after 18 years in prison for a crime they did not commit. Bill Oberly, the executive director for the AIP, was a prime-mover in this entire endeavor. The legal support and assistance provided by attorneys from Dorsey & Whitney, as well as the Alaska Office of Public Advocacy all helped make this important event possible. The determined support of the Alaska Native community through its unwavering belief in the innocence of these young men sustained the legal efforts. And all the people throughout Alaska who provided contributions and other support to AIP were critical in this result.
Hopefully, this case will make the people of Alaska sensitive to the likelihood there are other individuals now in prison even though legitimate questions exist about the evidence and proceedings that put them there. The presumption of innocence cannot be allowed to become simply a legal platitude — it is one of the key protections standing between the power of the state and unjust imprisonment of innocent people — like these four men.
Legislators spends more like pirates than drunken sailors
Sam Combs, in a Dec. 22 ADN commentary, likened the spending habits of Alaska's legislative majority to those of drunken sailors. As one who has spent some time on the high seas and occasionally over-celebrated my return to land, I'm highly insulted. After all, I only get to spend down my own bank account. The Senate and House majorities are both much more akin to a raping, pillaging and plundering band of pirates.
Mr. Combs and a long list of other credible sources have pointed out some of the fiscally irresponsible transgressions and regressions of the present legislative leadership cadre. They have consistently shown themselves to be either totally delusional or too self-interested, dishonest, deceptive and blindly doctrinaire to reasonably own up to the fiscal reality. Can't we please find a sufficient group of common-sense legislators, regardless of party affiliation, who will band together and throw the bums out?
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