DONATIONS BOOST THE WAR ON DRUGS

The recent donation of $30,000 to Crime Stoppers will put more eyes
on drug dealers in Sheboygan County.

The money comes from a businessperson in Sheboygan County who wishes
to remain anonymous, according to Lt. James Veeser of the Sheboygan
Police Department. The donor indicated that the money should be used
to reward those who offer information on drug dealers in Sheboygan County.

Crime Stoppers is also getting more help form Lamar Outdoor
Advertising, which said it would donate space on five billboards
around the county and print up posters to advertise Crime Stoppers
and its toll-free number. Lamar said it will charge only a nominal
cost for production work.

Crime Stoppers is countywide tip line that people can call with
information to help law enforcement solve crimes of all kinds.
Callers remain anonymous and are eligible for monetary rewards. Since
it was started in 1999, Crime Stoppers has received 225 tips and paid
out about $5,000 in cash, according to Penny Weber, treasurer for the
organization.

And, it's not just the money.

Many of those who have called Crime Stoppers over the years have
refused to take the cash. This shows that they are mainly interested
in doing their best to get criminals off the streets.

Crime Stoppers is truly a grassroots organization. The group's board
of directors is made up of ordinary citizens and it determines the
amount of reward payment based on the value of information. Crime
Stoppers operates solely on donations and fundraisers and uses no
money from government sources.

These most recent civic-minded donations come at a time of a growing
drug problem in Sheboygan County.

And, it's not just the sale of drugs such as crack cocaine and
marijuana that plagues Sheboygan County. It's also the manufacture of
methamphetamine, as evidenced by the raids on several home labs in
the county over the last couple of years.

While law enforcement continues to do an outstanding job of
investigating crime in Sheboygan County, this additional money to
reward tipsters should get them more information to work with in the
continuing battle.

And, Crime Stoppers isn't snitching. Think of it as a neighborhood
watch program that is communitywide. It's a bit like the highly
successful efforts of Neighbors Against Drugs, which uses public
scrutiny and pressure on drug dealers to force them out of the
targeted neighborhood. The last thing drug dealers want is a lot of
good people willing to stand up against them and willing to help law
enforcement.

We hope that the $30,000 investment made by the anonymous donor and
that of Lamar Outdoor Advertising will result in a flood of
information on drug dealers.