CROSSLIN, ROHM WERE TRUE HEROES

Editor,

I must take exception to your Thursday editorial, "Duo precipitated deadly
standoff."

In your editorial, you state: "But another feature of democracy, one
conveniently forgotten by Crosslin and many like-minded people, is that we
are a nation of laws supported by the majority." You go on to say: "The
sale and possession of marijuana is illegal." This is incorrect. Regardless
of the feelings of the majority, all laws must meet the requirements of our
Constitution and Bill of Rights. Nowhere in these writings is the
government authorized to curtail our freedom regarding that which we ingest.

If you are still in doubt, consider for a moment that the "noble
experiment," the prohibition of alcohol, required a constitutional
amendment. Another amendment was required to repeal that disaster. How is
it possible that alcohol prohibition required an amendment to the
Constitution while marijuana prohibition does not? The simple truth is that
it is not possible.

So, it is the government that is operating outside the law, while Mr.
Crosslin and Mr. Rohm died fighting to protect their land from thieves in
the guise of lawmen. This, in my view, makes them not victims, but heroes.

Leroy Casterline
Fort Collins, Colo.