On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the controversial sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.
The imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean had sparked outcry from critics who said the men were just doing their jobs and were punished too harshly. They had been sentenced to 11-and 12-year sentences, respectively.
Their sentences will now expire on March 20 of this year.
Ramos and Compean were sentenced in connection with the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who was shot in the buttocks while trying to flee along the Texas border. He admitted smuggling several hundred pounds of marijuana on the day he was shot and pleaded guilty last year to drug charges related to two other smuggling attempts.
After following this case for more than a year, It is my strong belief that these men were just doing their jobs and received an unjust punishment.
Although their were many critics as well as organizations urging President to commute or pardon these men I call "American Heroes," I felt the citizens  throughout North Carolina needed to be educated on this unjust case. I am very grateful to all the citizens who responded to my articles over the past year. It is my belief that citizens throughout North Carolina played a vital roll participating in a letter-writing campaign to the President of the United States to express our disgust of this case as well as reenergize the Ramos-Compean issue.
Many thanks to the well managed, unbiased newspapers for publishing all my articles involving this case over the past year, even though not all may have agreed with me on my position.
God deserves all the praise, for without his love,guidence and strength placed upon so many throughout this great country, these border patrol agents would not have received the outpouring of support that they have recieved,and would probably have remained incarcerated for 11-12 years.

Jeff Gerber
Monroe,NC
704-564-0065