To the Editor:
I am appalled by the letter to the editor "Save the Boys." I can't believe that anyone would be afraid of these two boys committing suicide rather than take responsibility for their alleged involvement in this horrendous crime.
I have been following this story because my sister and her husband (Jim Zien, his piece was carried by your paper Feb. 2,) have been close friends of this couple for years. I know how deeply their deaths have affected their lives, their friends' lives, and the Zantops' children's and families' lives, all of whom they were in close contact with during this ordeal.
If someone wants to save the boys, look into what can enable two young people to carry out such a horrific act. Focus on saving other boys from becoming the kind of person who could do this.
Susan Waterman
To the Editor:
In regards to Mr. Moody's comments ('Save the Boys', 2/19): Yes, these "boys" are teenagers, but if guilty, they committed a brutal and heinous crime. It is possible that I am just tired of seeing so much support and concern spent on perpetrators of violence. The thought that this fragile treatment of criminals may be a long-term trend is quite disturbing. I hope that I'm not alone in feeling this way.
Erin Harrington
To the Editor:
Save the boys? The sentiment almost seems perverse. Of course, all living beings merit compassion, even those who have strayed as far from moral and legal rectitude as these two allegedly have done. Indeed, they must be treated fairly and guarded closely against suicide, but not because they are poor, frightened dears. We who knew, respected, and loved Half and Susanne Zantop deserve to know just why this appalling tragedy happened, and these accused boys appear to be our most probable source of that knowledge.
Beyond our personal grief lies a deep unrest, a sense that all is not well with a society that can hatch such horror in the midst of what most of us who live in the Upper Valley have seen fit to regard as one of Earth's safest havens. Perhaps by taking pains to save these boys, we might yet learn why there has been such trouble in Paradise and what we must do to ensure that there will be no more of it.
David Laing
