START HELPING INSTEAD OF LOCKING THEM UP

Oppressive - "unreasonably burdensome or severe" - Webster's (c)
2000.

I grew up in this area as a child and see it again now as an adult,
and here are my thoughts on the latest drug crackdowns in our
community and our schools.

Our economy in Lincoln County is based on tourism, which is our tree
of prosperity, but also our roots of never-ending demise.

Parents work brutal double shifts at restaurants, 12-hour days at
privately owned businesses, and are still expected to volunteer or
'put in' to the community.

Well, where's the time that needs to be spent with their
children?

Kids have to experience a lot of life's turmoils on their own here in
Lincoln County due to the above - parents lack of time. Drugs are
something everyone has to deal with in their life.

Whether it's alcohol, pot, coke, or prescription drugs we all at one
point must deal with the self-control issue of handling it properly.
That is to avoid prolonged habitual abuse of said items.

To bust the meth labs is positive, so is printing about it to make the
community aware.

But, to bust and prosecute fully, kids in our schools, and print about
it, is totally unacceptable.

Almost as absurd as drug dogs wandering through the
school.

To do these things just further fuels a resentment kids have for our
laws. You're an idiot if you think costing a kid his future for a
normal semi-skilled job or college acceptance, and putting him/her in
jail is going to educate them to a lawful life style.

They'll do time, resent their community, and make better drug
connections in jail. They'll come out not rehabilitated, but confused,
angry, and more of a burden on their community than before.

If you want a future of drug-crazed, society-hating revolutionaries,
let the high school and the local police keep up their 'good work.'
Oppressive.

Whatever happened to education, fear without total prosecution, and
when all is lost, rehabilitation? It works in other countries and has
for decades.

Open up and help people and kids, instead of locking them away, and
ruining their future.

Josh Coulter