Drug war: R&D for police state

On Jan. 20, two days after police warned residents about a paroled sex
offender moving into his suburban Tucson neighborhood, Army retiree David
Aguilar looked out the window of his brick ranch home and saw a man sitting
in a strange car. His family says he went out to identify the stranger and
not getting a satisfactory answer, returned to get a gun to encourage the
stranger to leave. The stranger turned out to be a DEA agent on stakeout
who fired 11 shots, killing him.

At 9:30 a.m., April 26, a policeman in the Los Angeles area city of West
Covina saw Dwight Stiggons walking across an intersection against the light
and ordered him to stop. He didn't. The cop assumed drugs or burglary and
chased him on foot. The policeman said he shot the jaywalker dead when he
pulled his hand out of his pants quickly. It turned out Mr. Stiggons had a
Bible and a bag of cookies in his pants.

At 6:30 p.m., May 20, Presidio High School sophomore Ezequiel Hernandez, Jr
had finished supper and gone out to graze his herd of goats near the Rio
Grande. His sister heard a shot ring out as she tended the clothesline.
Two hours later the family was notified "Junior" had been killed by
camouflaged Marines who were on drug interdiction duty.

These incidents span a broad spectrum. Citizens were killed by local,
federal, and military law enforcers trying to stop drugs, and who "acted
appropriately." Today we can't tell a cop from a child molester,
jaywalking is a capital offense, and a camouflaged sniper might have you in
his cross-hairs. When you consider these Americans died in urban,
suburban, and rural areas, you must realize there's no place to hide.

The war on drugs has been the research and development lab for a police
state. We have given up more and more freedom for imaginary protection
from a pretended threat. Until we repeal prohibition, such tragedies will
increase. The worse it gets, the more people will notice. I hope there's
some America left to save when enough people are ready to end this madness.

Bob Ramsey,

Irving