Avenging a Friend’s Wanton Slaying
* Who killed Millie Wilson?
She was the most friendly student at the Arthur Murray Studio in Ventura. Quick to greet you and anxious to help a beginner with a dance step, she was a fixture at the school.
Yet, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, in broad daylight, in the parking lot of Poinsettia Shopping Center, she was gunned down by one of a group of young men who demanded her 1986 Ford. We who knew her could understand her reluctance to immediately yield to the threat of violence. She had been a Navy wife and was not easily intimidated. And the thought of being confronted by criminals in her community would have been incomprehensible to her.
We search to avenge this senseless slaughter by punishing the culprits. We, at the studio, are sponsoring a reward fund to that end. But that won’t bring back our Millie, nor will it restore the broken image of our peaceful and safe community.
The chances of such a wanton killing are 25 to 50 times greater in the United States than any other industrialized country. Millie was gunned down by the NRA and the greedy politicians who support it.
BERNARD LEHRER
Ventura
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
