Was Disability Decision Correct?
If you were headed to prison for having had sex with a retarded woman you had befriended on the job, you’d be stressed, wouldn’t you?
But you probably wouldn’t be getting a disability pension worth 50 percent of your former salary.
Ex-Spokane police Sgt. William Gentry will, thanks to last week’s 4-2 vote by the Spokane Police Pension Board.
A month earlier, the board had rejected Gentry’s application for a disability pension, which he claimed was due him because of stress and depression over work and family problems.
Gentry appealed to the state Board of Retirement Systems, and the state told the city to reconsider.
City Councilman Orville Barnes, who changed his vote between April and May, said turning Gentry down would have felt good but would have invited a drawn-out lawsuit.
What about it? Should the city have taken its chances in court?
Readers’ responses will appear here Thursday.
Political role reversal
Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey want to end the $2.5 million Civilian Marksmanship Program - not because the federal government has no business subsidizing civilian marksmanship but because those being subsidized may be militia members.
For once, the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates have found a government program they want to preserve. They even want to return to the days when the federal program not only provided firearms training for civilians but also provided free ammunition.
Let’s see. … Conservatives for federal overreaching, liberals for reining it in. Is it just me, or is there a paradox here?
The legacy of Nuremberg
As a counterintelligence officer during the U.S.-led invasion of Haiti, Army Capt. Lawrence Rockwood heard reports of human-rights atrocities at the Haitian National Penitentiary.
His superiors were disinterested, so Rockwood defied orders and visited the prison personally. Subsequent investigations justified his concerns.
As a reward, he is being court-martialed for disobeying orders. He could go to prison himself.
Should military law make exceptions for such cases, or should Rockwood blindly have obeyed the brass and told his nagging conscience: “I was just following orders”?
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