WAR ON DRUGS?

As a North Lufkin resident, I have spoken with different officers and
officials in City Hall about the drug problem that is very obvious in North
Lufkin. I have heard from various people that it takes time to bust these
crack houses and it takes time to get these people off the streets.

This seriously baffles me, considering that LPD has been very successful in
finding meth labs all over Lufkin. Are you telling me that it is easier to
locate a meth lab in the woods than a known crack house that police
officers have parked across from for years? I guess it is truly like they
say in Hollywood: location is everything.

I wonder, does race play a part considering the fact that most users of
meth are young Caucasians? I suppose that the lives of young white people
are more valuable than those of the young black children who are affected
on a daily basis by the crack dealers and junkies that walk up and down our
streets. My daughter goes to school a couple of blocks from my home, but I
don't let her walk home because she has to pass through "Crack Alley" to
get home. She was also one of the many children around when two drug
dealers began shooting at one another during an argument a couple of years
ago. She is not allowed out of our yard because I don't know if I let her
out, will harm come to her or not.

Police still have not arrested the individuals involved because of a
serious lack of disinterest in what goes on in our community. I am a
taxpaying citizen just like many of the people that reside in the
neighborhoods where the meth labs are found. I would appreciate it if some
of my tax dollars could fund arresting some of these dope dealers and
cleaning up my neighborhood.

One more thing: Many of the officers are quick to point out that they make
the arrests, but that the district attorney's office plea bargains them
out. How many pleas does it take before a real sentence actually sticks?

Jessica Moore, Lufkin