Dear Editor: I was appalled when I read the newspaper article in The Rockdale News (5/15/10, "Shooter on a downward spiral") stating that the estranged wife of Terry Lewis Brown thinks Brown's life's stresses of losing his job and having his car repossessed, which made it difficult for him to report to his probation officer for prior offenses, drove him to commit this horrific crime. Have all of us who encountered "life stresses" found it necessary to harm someone? Brown shot and killed Deputy Mahaffey when he was, along with other deputies, serving an arrest warrant on Brown for rape, aggravated assault and kidnapping. Are we to feel sorry for a despicable human with a history of unlawful behavior who murdered Deputy Brian Mahaffey?

Have we as a society lost our moral compass by being "politically correct"? Is it so important to be "politically correct" that our television media and newspapers feel it necessary to show empathy for a person or country no matter how horrendous their actions? What are we teaching our children? Most importantly, why are we accepting this as correct? Have we become conditioned to the acceptance of "incorrectness"?

Many of you witnessed the outpouring of grief from Rockdale County residents and from people all over the state, old and young, rich and poor, Asian, black, Hispanic, and white. They were there out of respect for the Mahaffey family and for a young man who lost his life serving us. They were expressing their grief for the loss of a good, honorable man.

In the future, I refuse to be influenced by "political correctness." I do not feel any remorse for Brown. In my view the world is better without him. Your views need to be voiced and the truth needs to be paramount in all areas, before we are smothered by "incorrectness."

Fran Jones
Conyers