LETTERS

Sunday, August 2, 1998


Weston not a 'suspect'

I am tired of the media calling a person a "suspect" when he shoots people in a public place in front of several witnesses - and is captured on the spot. A presumption of innocence is fine. But Russell Weston Jr. is not "suspected" or "alleged" to have done anything. He is the man who killed two officers at the U.S. Capitol and was captured on the scene.

The Unabomber and O.J. Simpson were "suspects." Mr. Weston is a "perpetrator."

Let's give up this politically correct "suspect" characterization where it is obviously inaccurate and inappropriate. If, in a drunken stupor, I ram my vehicle into a Starbucks and sit there smiling while the police arrest me, the weasel-word media might report that "The suspect, Mr. Rhodes, who allegedly drove his truck into the side of a Starbucks, has been arrested pending further investigation." See, these are not difficult calls to make.

RICHARD C. RHODES, Honey Grove, Texas

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Richard Rhodes

08/03/98