Family put all law-abiding citizens in danger

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s disdain for the separation of church and state has come back to bite him, as well it should [“Political death blow for Huckabee?,” News, Dec. 1].

I wish Huckabee would stop exhibiting his capacity for forgiveness and Christian charity by inflicting vicious criminals on the rest of society.

The friends and family of Maurice Clemmons were doing everything they could to keep a person who had just murdered four police officers in cold blood back out on the streets to potentially kill again.

If prosecutors can prove these people in fact lent assistance to this killer, they deserve serious punishment for their crimes. I have no idea how these people can justify their actions. They put every law-abiding citizen in danger, and should be called to account.

— Steve Alberts, Vashon

Lone officer a hero, could have been another victim

As a former police officer, I and many others insist that every single individual who assisted Maurice Clemmons after he gunned down four officers in Lakewood be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law [“Those who aided cop killer deserve full weight of the law,” Opinion, Lynne K. Varner editorial column, Dec. 2].

I understand three or more people who helped Clemmons have been arrested for rendering criminal assistance in Pierce County. I believe that charge is insufficient on its face.

Everyone involved should be charged as an accomplice in this case with appropriate sentences varying from the death penalty to life in prison, as an example to everyone.

There is no excuse whatsoever for anyone helping Clemmons after what he did was plastered all over every TV screen in Puget Sound.

What about the Seattle police officer who single-handedly took on Clemmons? He was working alone without backup and could have met the same fate as the officers in Lakewood. If he had been killed, his murder would have also been on the backs of the friends and neighbors of Clemmons who helped him escape after the shooting.

— Bob Clark, Monroe