Letters | 3-13-15

What is justice?

The recent letter from Mr. Saunders of Captain Cook calling our system of justice as questionable is yet again, another example of the strange musings emanating from our weird anti-everything government subculture.

He seems to believe that an individual caught on video assaulting another diver is simply protecting himself. No rational person can watch the video and believe that the aquarium fisherman was anything else but guilty of assault. He was in no danger. He was only being observed when he aggressively swam over to the observer and ripped her regulator out. A less experienced diver may have perished from his unwarranted action.

The writer refers to the observers as “tree hugging morons.” Why? Because they are concerned about the degradation of our reefs? His proof that there is a healthy population of yellow tangs can be summed up as “Look Ethel at all them purty yellow fish, must be a jillion of um. Woo Hoo Zeke, I’ll bet them’s right tasty, too.” Or something like that. Which leads us to his second example of our horrid judicial system.

Tragically, in Alabama, a 15-year-old football player committed suicide after being expelled from school for streaking during a high school football game. He was not arrested and no criminal charges had been filed against him, although he could have been charged with indecent exposure. Mr. Saunders’ letter was not factual, it seems that he is reaching for straws to prove a particularly slanted point of view. Is justice always administered well and wisely? Of course not. But, our imperfect system is still the best in the world.

Although, I agree it was unjust in the aquarium diver’s case. All he got was a suspended sentence. He won’t spend a day in jail and is probably, as you read this, busily raping our invaluable coral reefs for a few bucks. Now, that’s an injustice.

Gary Hattenburg

Kailua-Kona