taken into account. “We knew there was potential for him to get what he got, but we were thinking along the lines of a short prison sentence and a long probation. I just feel slighted by the court system. There are other cases where there’s the exact same charges and the other person got nine months in jail [and] five years’ probation. It seems like there’s no equality at all.” She’s now looking for a way to get the justice system to reopen the case and reconsider the ruling.
Mixed messages
One of the purposes of Asheville GO, notes Leroy, is to present alternatives to incarceration for those who want to change their lives; sentences such as the one dished out to Peterson, Leroy maintains, undermine that work. “When we interviewed Stu, he so clearly recognized he’d made mistakes, but he wanted to do something different,” remembers Leroy. “He really dug deep and overcame his own fears; he has tremendous leadership potential.” GO member Jamison Dickerson also feels the ruling sends the wrong message to those in Peterson’s situation. “You can pull up countless instances where someone’s done something and hasn’t really tried to right their wrongs,” says Dickerson. “It sends a mixed message when you have someone who’s worked so hard to change the outcome of their life, and it’s like it didn’t matter. When you’re dealing with disadvantaged youth, the lesson doesn’t hit until you learn the lesson or you’ve been around someone
who’s experienced it, who has that credibility. Stu is a very valuable person in that respect, because he’s been [down] that road, and he’s changed.” By coincidence, just after sentencing Peterson, Judge Downs heard the case of Charles Alexander Diez, the former Asheville firefighter who fired on cyclist Alan Simons in July. At the time, Simons was walking away from a confrontation started by Diez, who narrowly missed shooting the cyclist in the head. In court, Diez claimed it was a “warning shot.” After hearing testimony about Diez’s good character from former colleagues, Downs suspended most of the defendant’s 15- to 27-month sentence. He will spend four months in prison. Leroy, meanwhile, feels Peterson’s sentence doesn’t do justice to the contribution he was making and could have continued to make. “There’s a void in this community,” says Leroy. “There was no one who had the life experience he had, with the sort of involvement in gang activity, that could speak to young people, that related to them. He had the potential to play a role that nobody else has yet played.” Peterson’s former co-workers also fear what prison may do to him. “If he stays for the duration of his sentence, he’s going to be a different person,” Dickerson predicts. X
3AFELY #ONTROL 9OUR 0ETgS !LLERGIES Pets often develop allergies to things in the environment, just like people do. But in pets, symptoms usually involve the skin, not the respiratory system. This is because the mast cells that cause the problems are located in dog and cat skin while they are in our nasal passages. When mast cells get irritated, they release histamine granules that cause redness, inflammation, and swelling. There are many ways to safely control allergies in pets to give them the relief they need.
David Forbes can be reached at dforbes@ mountainx.com, or at 251-1333, ext. 137.
FURNITURE | GARDEN SCULPTURE | JEWELRY | CERAMICS | GLASS Located Next to The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC 828-253-7651
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mountainx.com • DECEMBER 2 - DECEMBER 8, 2009 15