CHAD MACDONALD

Re "Family Says Teen's Work as Informant Led to Death," March 23: If it is
true that Chad MacDonald Jr. was being used by the Brea police as an
informant, the ultimate act of hypocrisy may have been committed. Chad
essentially became an unwilling soldier conscripted by the government in
its silly war on drugs and ultimately paid with his life.

By all accounts Chad was a typical middle-class Yorba Linda teenager and a
good student. He made a foolish mistake in experimenting with
methamphetamine. For the mere possession of this substance, which is used
by thousands of middle-class people, the police and the district attorney
were going to ruin his future and his life. If convicted he would have
served time in detention and rehabilitation, and the conviction might have
made it very difficult for him enter college or obtain employment. Under
duress, both Chad and his mother agreed to cooperate.

The police should know better than to send a young, naive teenager to do
the work of a hardened criminal. It is very ironic, indeed, that the same
government that spends millions of our dollars and tramples the rights of
many to keep drugs, pornography, alcohol and tobacco out of the hands of
children is yet willing to sacrifice the life of one.

My guess is that, being a "druggie," this child's life was deemed expendable.

STEVEN WATANABE,
Irvine