A good letter

I liked the following letter to the editor on a Kansas website:

With open arms

I am waiting for the day that some business in Wichita puts up a sign that says "Permit-holding concealed-carry customers are welcome. People coming to do harm in this store are warned that our customers may be armed."

That store will get my business even if it isn't selling anything I need.

LOREN MARTINDALE

Wichita




California: Clerk shoots robber dead, chase closes I-10: "A convenience store robbery-gone-wrong ended with one suspect dead and westbound Interstate 10 traffic backed up for nearly two hours Friday. Three armed suspects entered the Y and M Market in the 1500 block of Second Street in Coachella about 11:30 a.m., according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. That's when they encountered something they may not have expected. "The store clerk armed himself and shot one of the suspects," Sheriff's Deputy Herlinda Valenzuela said. It wasn't immediately clear what type of weapons the suspects had or how many times the man was shot... The sheriff's department is investigating the incident as a homicide, but the employee has not been charged. The other two suspects fled the scene in a small sport utility vehicle, which may have been a green GMC Jimmy, Valenzuela said. The suspect vehicle collided with another one near Tyler Street and Avenue 50. The second vehicle followed the suspects onto I-10 and confronted them in an area between Cook and Washington streets. Authorities arrived at the scene and shut down all westbound lanes until about 1:45 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol. The two men were arrested on unspecified charges and their names, ages and residences have not been released."


Alabama: Officer killed man in self-defense: "A Tuscaloosa Police officer was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed Jeremy Whitson in October, a grand jury found. The officer, whose name has not been released, shot Whitson after a chase at Ski Lodge Apartments. Grand jury members heard testimony that Whitson punched the officer in the face and threatened to kill him. "Mr. Whitson was much bigger and one of the witnesses also demonstrated that he saw Mr. Whitson on top of the officer on the ground and repeatedly striking him with closed fists," the written report from the grand jury stated. "Other witnesses also described this as a very severe beating of the officer by Mr. Whitson. Due to the beating, the officer felt like he was going to lose consciousness and therefore he was at risk of having his gun taken from him and used to shoot him." Lukata Mjumbe, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, who has acted as a spokesman for Whitson's family, said that he and the family were disappointed and disturbed by the report, but not surprised. Mjumbe said he heard witness statements that didn't show up in the grand jury report. "There is so much left out that wasn't considered in making this particular judgment. They found it necessary to talk about [Whitson's] writ for a child abuse charge and said he'd been smoking marijuana, but there's no information about the officer's record"