ROTC weapon incident shows ignorance of law

ROTC weapon incidentshows ignorance of law
EDITOR:
What a difference two blocks and four hours make! That is the approximate distance and amount of time that separated the 75-plus participants of the Youngstown Defense Walk and Joseph Wilhelm, the YSU ROTC cadet who faced the drawn weapons of the Youngstown Police Department for being suspected of doing the very same thing -- breaking no law at all.
The Ohio Supreme Court recently (Sept. 24, 2003) ruled that Ohio's law banning concealed weapons is constitutional because citizens can LEGALLY carry firearms that are not concealed.
The ban on concealed carry is not a prohibition on bearing arms but simply a restriction on how it may be done. Participants in the defense walk intended to educate the population in a display of just this fact.
This was done with law enforcement's knowledge, presence and even the signature of the police chief himself on the required parade permit I obtained to hold the event. This was not a permit granting the right for the presence of firearms, but instead the fact that we would be an assemblage.
A short time and distance later Wilhelm was certainly not an assemblage. He would not have been breaking the law if he were doing what police suspected him of. Yet the same police department confronted Wilhelm, weapons drawn because they suspected that the stick he carried was a shotgun. It is often said that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it, but what if those ignorant of the law are the police? There should certainly be no excuse, and no threat to a person's safety.
The Ohio Supreme Court clearly pointed out that Ohioans have the legal right to carry weapons. The Youngstown police, or at least the police chief, knew this was legal. He signed the parade permit for the defense walk, he witnessed and videotaped the event himself (standard procedure, he says) and no one was arrested.
Yet in the article on the Wilhelm incident, YSU and YPD chiefs are quoted as saying their officers acted appropriately. This is nonsense. Since when is it appropriate for an officer of the law to draw a gun on a citizen not even suspected of breaking the law simply because of that officer's ignorance of the law?
RICK KALEDA
Youngstown
XThe writer was coordinator of the Youngstown Defense Walk, is an NRA certified instructor and is the Mahoning County coordinator of Ohioans for Concealed Carry.
Koliser family also needsour thoughts and prayers
EDITOR:
Martin Koliser Jr. acted in a very cruel manner in the killing of Officer Mike Hartzell. My sympathies to the Hartzell family and I do not mean any disrespect to the Hartzell family with the following letter.
The news media constantly covered this case right through to the sentencing Friday morning via live broadcast. The news media interviewed the Hartzell family numerous times and extended their sympathies each time and to the Youngstown Police Department.
What about the Koliser family? Are they not losing a son? I'm sure they did not raise their son to be a killer. My heart goes out to them also.
Because Koliser killed a police officer he got the death penalty. What about other murderers who get three, five, eight or 15 years for the killings they have done. No death sentences for them. Don't the families of these victims deserve the some justice?
Seven years ago my nephew and his girlfriend were murdered in their home in front of their two children. Since my sister would not let their 4-year-old son testify, their murderer got life without parole. When incidents like this happen, there are always two families that always share the heartache, not just the victims' family.
These families will live with this forever and it does not get any easier as the years go on just because one murderer got a death sentence and the other murderer got a life sentence without parole.
LINDA SCOTT
Youngstown