Joshua Grimes did not get the punishment that I or most others would have gotten if we had committed the same crime as he did.

I was under the understanding that committing a crime with a firearm added five to seven years to the penalty for that crime.

One of the articles in the Gazette-Times at the time that this happened described Mr. Grimes as a "good boy." Well, "good boys" do not use human beings as targets.

Shooting Dennis Sanderson, a homeless person, is only worth community service and $41,421.06.

I wonder what the penalty would have been had Mr. Grimes had not been a "good boy" attending Oregon State University and, say, he had shot the mayor in the leg. I am sure that the outcome would have been very different.

After all, Mr. Grimes was an OSU "good boy" and Dennis Sanderson is just a homeless person; someone who didn't count to the judge, jury and the district attorney. Corvallis should hang its head in shame.

Michael Gordon Benge, Corvallis