Painful Lessons in Rat-Bite Case
* What will six years in prison do for Steven and Kathyleen Giguere (“Couple Get 6 Years Each in Baby’s Rat-Bite Death,” Aug. 11)?
Will they learn skills so they can get jobs in the year 2000? Will they learn how to apply for a job? Will they learn the basic economics of living: making and sticking to a budget, finding and caring for a home, purchasing and preparing nutritious food, how to file an income tax report, how to buy a car and insurance for it? Will they learn how to be parents? Will they learn the difference between a child and a pet? Will they learn not to have children until they are financially and emotionally mature enough to care for them?
What will the six years of prison for the Gigueres do for society?
JOYCE WILDER-JONES
Placentia
* The judge’s anguish about this tragic case points up the ambivalence in our society about intervening to protect a child. There are laws that allow--and restrict--the removal of a child.
I hope Judge Kazaharu Makino has the opportunity to serve on the Juvenile Court bench.
MARTHA KILLEFER
Newport Beach
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