I’m sure the story “Legacy of a Tragedy – The shooting of Karen Wood,” (BDN, Nov. 15-16) brought back memories for many Mainers.

I was a young mother of three when the shooting occurred. At the time I was appalled at those who would think Wood was responsible for being shot in her backyard. After reading the sidebar story (“In Hermon, gunshots still echo”), it seems some still believe that because Wood walked from her house with something white on her hands she was doing something dangerous. It is clear we haven’t learned anything from this tragedy. We may change the laws in the state, but we can’t change the misguided thinking of its residents.

As Paul Jacques stated in the story, “Someone ought to be able to run around in the woods buck naked or dressed in brown from head to toe, and they should not be subject to being shot.”

Too bad no one mentioned the shooting death of Jimmy Griffin in 2004, a year after the target identification while hunting law was enacted. Adam Nason, his shooter, only served 30 days in jail, three years probation and 300 hours of community service – no more than a slap on the wrist. How is that any more severe than the acquittal of Donald Rogerson? Granted, Griffin was a hunter killed by another hunter, but should that matter? When will every life in Maine become more important than a hunter’s right to, as the editorial “Tragedy and Tradition” said, relish “the joy of bagging a big buck”?

Deborah Parks

Presque Isle