Letters to the editor Dec. 12

Subway chokehold case

Daniel Penny is a 26 year-old former Marine who stopped an aggressive, mentally disturbed, 30 year-old, homeless Black man, Jordan Neely, who was threatening both Black and White passengers on a New York subway.  He put the man in a choke hold and was aided by two fellow passengers, one Black and one White. Mr. Neely subsequently died.  

Penny fully cooperated with police and no charges were filed initially until the woke, liberal BLM-type mob stimulated Alvin Bragg to file charges against Penny for manslaughter (up to 15 years) and negligent homicide (up to four years). The two “accomplices” weren’t charged.  

Bragg incidentally is the same Black attorney general who persecuted (not prosecuted) President-elect Donald Trump on bogus charges which most honest legal scholars feel were political lawfare to sway November’s election.  

The jury hung on the manslaughter charge, but the judge instructed them to go back after a weekend and deliberate on the lesser charge. Hopefully all charges will soon be dropped.

Does anyone with a lick of sense not see the deleterious effect a guilty verdict will have on victims of witnessed violent crimes? What well-meaning citizen would put their future at stake to save a victim if the reward is prosecution by a liberal Black-activist prosecutor? I certainly no longer would.  

Of course Flathead County is not Manhattan and I feel confident that such charges would never have been filed here and our juries would never convict a Good Samaritan.  

And let’s hope that Neely’s father (who crawled out from under a rock, never helping his son before) and his shyster lawyer who filed a separate lawsuit against Penny wind up with nothing.

— David Myerowitz, Columbia Falls

[Editor’s Note: Daniel Penny was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide on Dec. 10.]

Gang activity

Several weeks ago, Fox News was hot with information that the criminal terrorist group Tren de Aregua had infiltrated 16 states, including Montana.

I have not seen anything from the Associated Press on this information. Are they censuring the news? As a citizen of this state, I should have the right to know if these criminals are in the community.

I called two Montana state departments and received nothing. Zilch. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask our county officers to come to the front and let us know if these terrorists are in our community.

I know that I have increased my security, along with my amount of personal protection.

— Don Slaybaugh, Whitefish

[Editor’s note: Fox News referenced a New York Post report that cited a Homeland Security internal memo on the presence of Tren de Aregua in western states, including Montana and Wyoming.]