WORTHY OF PRAISE

Our view: When the police take down a target worthy of the disgust society
has for the illegal drug trade, then the police deserve praise.

America never fully embraced the metric system, so when we hear about
something measured in kilograms, for example, it's only natural for most of
us to just shrug our shoulders.

How much is a kilo? Who knows. And, more to the point, who cares?

But drug dealers aren't shy about using the metric system, and when they
move large quantities of cocaine, they pack them in kilogram- sized blocks.

On Monday, law enforcement officials announced that a Danville man had been
convicted in federal court of bringing 125 kilograms of cocaine into this
community. For those who don't know it, a kilogram is slightly more than
2.2 pounds, which means Robert "Mosquito" Kennedy Jr. of 869 Stokes St. is
responsible for bringing more than 275 pounds of cocaine here, a staggering
amount. Kennedy faces 20 years to life in prison when he sentenced.

"This drug bust ranks up near the top for as much cocaine as he (Kennedy)
was moving," Danville Police Chief T. Neal Morris said. "(There were) 125
kilograms coming into Danville, that is large even on the federal level."

The Kennedy conviction was the culmination of a local, state and federal
effort that includes Kennedy forfeiting 46 tracts of city property worth
about $700,000, as well as several vehicles.

"This will have an impact on several levels," Morris said. "Those people
who accumulate enough wealth that they become notorious in the community
are a bad influence, especially to the young people who are impressionable."

That fight continues. Kennedy was arrested long before his trial, and it's
reasonable to assume someone else has either already taken his place or is
trying to do so right now.

In the past, we've been critical of local law enforcement for arresting
street-level dealers, the kind of people who sell a few plastic bags of
drugs at a time. Almost a year ago, we called those kinds of arrests,
"fishing for minnows."

Kennedy's case, which took more than three years of work, is the kind of
result that most people want to see - and see more of.

When the police take down a target worthy of the disgust society has for
the illegal drug trade, then the police deserve praise. This is certainly
one of those times.