POOR EXCUSES

The prisons are full of young men and women who grew up poor and got mixed
up with illegal drugs. They weren't allowed to claim youthful indiscretions
to the judge.

For men of privilege like George W. Bush and Senate candidate Lincoln Chafee
to expect sympathy for using illegal drugs is absurd. Chafee claims that the
1970s, when he used drugs, was a tumultuous time. How do you tell a kid
growing up in the Newark projects that he is not living in tumultuous times?

We should stop the double message we send to our children.

Stevie Eugene Williams, Scotch Plains