CASH FOR CHOPPERS FOR COLOMBIA BUT NOT FOR KING COUNTY SHERIFF

The King County Police Department can afford only one helicopter and
the lack of an additional one was crucial in the recent bank robbery.
But we are sending billions to the corrupt Colombian government for
more arms and helicopters in our war on drugs your editor kindly
called "misguided" and I am calling stupid. This "war" is our sacred
cow, our revered golden calf where we don't mind spending over $18
billion, a fraction of which could be used to attack the problem the
right way, at home with education and treatment centers.

No, we don't have the money in our budget to pay for life-saving
drugs for our senior citizens but we are throwing it away in the name
of "saving lives" from illegal drugs, ignoring the fact that not 10
times but 100 times as many people die yearly from the legal drugs:
Tobacco and alcohol. Congratulations to the few senators who had the
courage to vote the logical way.

Ingrid Brucato,
Seattle