What's in a Name?

We receive numerous e-mails each day. Many are in thanks for covering a specific subject, and some ask us to continue to follow up on a specific story. If we have any new readers joining us today, let us stress we do not do articles on anyone who is not a public personage, usually meaning having been arrested or still in the state or federal legal system. This designation can also include elected officials and those who thrust themselves in the public domain by holding news conferences or sponsoring public campaigns concerning certain issues.

A few years ago, a young area woman was brutally murdered. The victim’s aunt contacted us and requested we publish as much as we could on the crime. At a later date, the victim’s father contacted us asking that we not link these blogs to his Facebook cause page. We certainly honored his request, but until we discussed the issue with the gentleman, we were unaware he and the aunt were at odds on the matter. Our opinion was the father’s wishes should come first.

Now a slightly similar case has arisen. We recently did a blog on “Landon’s Law” which we wholeheartely support. We also support the prosecution of the one responsible for Landon Letsinger’s death. We do find this case slightly similar to the incident involving John Clark Burns Jr. who is currently indicted in Tennesse in the vehicular homicide death of Brittany Underwood.

We made the comment that a member of Landon’s family had supported Burns. We have been contacted by the Letsinger family and wish to clarify that this person is not a member of the immediate family. We had assumed the person in question was Landon’s uncle when in reality he was much farther removed. We are happy to make that correction and apologize for our error.

We plan to do a more in depth blog on John Clark Burns Jr.s’ legal problems at a later date.

Shoalanda

Landon's Law

“Landon’s Law” is designed to prevent deaths related to certain illicit drugs. The law named for Muscle Shoals resident Landon Letsinger will not prevent all such deaths. In fact, if it had been in effect last year, there’s no guarantee it would have even prevented Landon’s.

The person responsible for Landon’s death is known to authorities. We have his name, but we are not going to publish it until legal charges are brought against the young man. We hope such charges are forthcoming. Just as with William Harold Kimbrough III, if you provide drugs that kill, you should have to suffer the consequences.

Unlike Kimbrough’s victims, Landon thought he was taking something relatively harmless. We hope none of our readers will ever fall victim to what killed Landon, and the best way to prevent this is not to do drugs in the first place.

The second best preventative? At the time of Landon’s death, Pen-N-Sword published an article that contained this bit of advice on hallucinogenic drugs: If it’s bitter, it’s a spitter. No one who provides you with such drugs is your friend. Remember that.

Oh, and back to the young man who gave Landon the drugs. When he is charged, it may be as a juvenile. Authorities may not make his name public, but as we have said before, if someone is old enough to do the crime, he’s old enough to have his name published, so you can expect to see it here.

Landon’s family lives each day with the knowledge of what this young man did…and didn’t do. Let’s hope justice, while not swift in this case, will at least be sure.

*****

Not long after Landon’s death and after some members of Landon’s family asked if we could help, a young woman was killed by a drunk driver. We blogged on her death before the young man was actually arrested (a warrant had already been sworn out, but the driver was still in hospital). One who defended this young man was, to our surprise, a member of Landon’s family.

The difference in the two cases is that John Clark Burns Jr. was known to his victim’s family, but there is no difference in the pain that both Landon’s family and Brittany Underwood’s family feels. Both families deserve justice.



Shoalanda