The Feb. 6 article "Rally blasts city's no-knock response" was
encouraging. The Denver community is right to be outraged over the
atrocious murder of Ismael Mena.

When Alvidia Martinez said, "I'm here because it could have happened
to me," she was right. It could have been any of us. We must realize
that our very lives are in danger and that the price of drug
prohibition is exorbitantly high.

Protection of individual rights against infringement from the state is
what our Constitution and Bill of Rights are all about. As long as
people sit back and thank God that it's other people's rights and
lives that are taken in the drug war (and not theirs), those hard-won
liberties will erode away to nothing.

Government and law enforcement officials should be warned that we're
not going to stand for it and that we'll put our money and votes
towards ending the abuses. Thanks to the hundreds of Coloradans who
are making that clear.

Heather R. Della Rocca,
Washington, D.C.