Editor:
While I don’t have the legal expertise of Kent Steele for whom I have great respect, and I know this would probably not meet any legal standard in sentencing the Cranston Fire arsonist, but I think there is something else to consider, aside from the arsonist’s specific intent to burn structures.
What about the loss of trees, bushes and shrubs that make up our wildlands? What about the loss of habitat for the many creatures who lived in the wildland area around Idyllwild? It is a devasting loss for all of us, whether we are man or beast of vegetation.
The arsonist should have been sentenced to far greater than 12-plus year — perhaps a lifetime — as the loss of the beauty of the area around us to fire will not be regained during my lifetime.
Janet Goldberg
Idyllwild
