RECORD STORIES SEND MIXED MESSAGE

Editor: On the front page of The St. Augustine Record on Friday, you
ran an article about the four graduates of the St. Johns County Adult
Drug Treatment Division, "Judge calls drug court graduates
inspiring," and highlighted the program's many accomplishments. The
quotes of a few of the graduates is even further proof of the damage
that drugs are plaguing our society with.

Yet, on the front of the Sports section on the same day, you published
an article, "Sheriff chasing Phelps is chasing fool's gold" It
ridiculed the Richland County, S.C. sheriff who is pursuing Michael
Phelps' disobedience of the law for smoking marijuana. The reporter
makes numerous attempts to justify Phelps' actions, and truly believes
that just because Phelps won 14 Olympic gold medals, somehow he should
be above the law, and more importantly, still be held on a pedestal as
a "national hero."

To add insult to injury, the writer had the gaul to try to justify it
by referencing "that the current president acknowledged in his own
memoir that he experimented with drugs, waved them off as youthful
indulgences and had no problems getting on with his life."

So, just because a radical, liberal president didn't have any problems
with it, we're supposed to believe that no one else will?

The law is the law. Drug laws exist not because of the damage they
cause to the user, but because of the crimes committed by users to
innocent victims.

I am raising my children to know that illegal drugs bring nothing of
value to the user. I would appreciate the media not trying to
undermine my attempts to produce moral, productive citizens. I'd much
rather have my tax dollars fund our schools than fund rehabilitation
for those who made some bad decisions to use drugs, just because they
"earned the right to blow off some steam."

John Tharpe