MECH'VILLE SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS WARRANTED

Kudos to the Mechanicville Police Department for its response to
students doing and dealing drugs and cigarettes to underage youth in
our community.

As a proud American, and a person who I feel represents small-town
America (also a grandmother), I applaud the quick thinking of our law
enforcement agency for using tax dollars to deter crime at its roots,
the teen community.

I, for one, would appreciate a camera that is trained on that school
route at all times, considering that most of the students who go to
the high school and junior high take that route. Parents won the right
to have the stairs installed with our tax dollars, and now we would
like the right to turn our computers on in the morning and plug in to
the stair route, to see if they're shoveled in the winter, and to see
if dealers are hanging out.

Our children have a right to approach their school without being
coaxed into trying cigarettes or pot. School is supposed to be a safe
haven, and the route there also. Let's not be convinced by law-
breaking students, their parents or the media that we have done
anything wrong.

Let's not forget that a few years ago two of our town's children were
molested on a commonly used school route. Maybe a camera could have
prevented this.

We don't need the American Civil Liberties Union in our town; these
are not family-friendly people.

It's time to take our communities back from small-time drug dealers,
and let the ACLU know that we are in favor of safety first for our
children. Please call your local law keepers and let them know that
they did the right thing. Let's not have the only calls they get be
from the negative elements of life.

Louise Brady,
Mechanicville