CITY OFFICIALS AT FAULT FOR DRUG PROBLEMS

It is no secret to anyone who lives here that the city has had
problems for several years now with drugs and crime. With the influx
of out-of-state drug activity (that is not recent, as some would like
to say), the problems are growing more intense.

So many times I hear that this is a recent situation, yet 10 years ago
I resided on 18th Street (12th Avenue) and the same situation was
going on then right outside my front door. Nothing was done, and now
here we are -- a community suffering from the loss of four children
who should have been our future.

I am not in any way accusing out-of-towners of this crime; in fact, I
lay the blame on the laps of our public officials.

Granted, drug activity cannot be cleaned up overnight - but 10 years
(that I know of)? How much time does it take? How many more have to
die? We have money to build new additions to our university and to
change the traffic flow on 3rd Avenue, but no money to hire the
much-needed police officers to provide safety for our community?

LAURA ANDERSON

Huntington