
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 6, 1993                   TAG: 9308060327
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

A SENTENCE SHOULD MEAN WHAT IT SAYS

I WOULD like to ask Judge Weckstein what the point was in setting Leonard Gibson's sentence at life plus 12 years. If he's going to reduce the sentence to 29 years so he can be out in 6 to 8 years, why did he not just give the man 6 years to start with?

Sentencing for crimes should fit the crime, and when set, they should be firm. In only 6 years, before his second victim is a teen-ager, Gibson will be free to select his next victim. The little girl he victimized will perhaps carry scars for the rest of her life. Will she have to be afraid he may show up in her life in the future?

I believe that with the organizations we have in the valley that offer counseling like the M.H.S. Adult Counseling and the Pastoral Counseling Center, Gibson could have continued counseling. How could he voluntarily stop counseling in prison? Why wasn't it required? Gibson is where he is because he could not/would not control himself. Since this is his second conviction and it's obvious that self-control on his part is out of the question, let's leave him where he is and avoid his having a third young victim.

GLENNA RICHARDSON SALEM

by CNB