ANOTHER MISGUIDED BATTLE IN DRUG WAR

Editor,

I have been following from afar the saga of the Rainbow Farm for years. It
seems to me there were never any problems until the authorities tried to
create one. Vandalia has been home to many peaceful gatherings of folks who
hold political ideas which are different to those of the law enforcement
community. This made Rainbow Farm a target for reverse sting operations and
lengthy privacy-invading investigations by local and federal police.

These investigations no doubt came at the expense of police protection for
the local citizenry. Law enforcement authorities claim they have spent two
years investigating the use of marijuana at the campground. All the while,
they could have been solving and preventing violent and destructive personal
and property crimes. This is just another shining example of the misguided
priorities of the war on drugs and its devastating effect.

If people were violating the law, the police should arrest or detain those
people. Using the principle of the police, apartment building owners would
be arrested all the time when their tenants smoke marijuana.

Campground owner Grover T. Crosslin simply wanted to be left alone and was
providing a place for like-minded people to engage in their form of freedom.

Scott Bledsoe, Orange Park, Fla.