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I am responding to the Sept. 21 letter to the editor titled “Why persecute county clerk?

Even though Muhammad Ali’s reason for avoiding the draft was “religious beliefs,” he was not deferred from military service due to religious beliefs; his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court on the grounds that “the government had failed to properly specify why Ali’s application (for conscientious objector classification) had been denied, thereby requiring the conviction to be overturned.”

So, if it weren’t for the government’s miscue, Ali would have been drafted into the military or would have spent five years in a federal prison, which would have been the correct outcome.

That being said, I do not agree that anyone should be deferred from military service due to “religious beliefs” while other men and women with equally strong religious beliefs fight and die for their/our county. The fact is someone like Ali would never have been sent to a combat zone where his life would have been in danger. He would have served two years of light duty and been out to resume his career, while still remaining in good physical condition, which he did not, during his three-year-and-seven-month banishment from the ring.

Joe Louis, who was heavyweight champion at the time, is a perfect example of this, serving two years doing exhibitions and morale-boosting and then returning to boxing as champion.

As far as the Arkansas clerk, I agree with letter writer John C. Cordora’s assessment of her case; after all, issuing marriage licenses isn’t military service, not yet anyway.

Rick Allen

Wright Township