WHY IS KILLER IN REHAB, NOT PRISON?

Dustin Ripp was convicted of two felonies and a related misdemeanor in
August 2004 for killing my husband, Jim Beyer, creative director at Famous
Footwear. Ripp was sentenced to prison for 4 1/2 years with four more years
of extended supervision. But he was recently removed from the Columbia
Correctional Institute and placed in a minimum security "hotel" for drug
rehabilitation.

Dane County Circuit Judge Gerald Nichol did not determine in court that
Ripp's actions were a mistake and that he needed drug rehabilitation. It
was determined that Ripp knowingly bought and ate hallucinogenic mushrooms
and drove while severely impaired and struck and killed my husband and
partner of 19 years as he was jogging.

Ripp was to go to prison as punishment for his crimes. He served six months
in the Columbia state prison and then was removed to a new Chippewa Falls
corrections facility used for drug and alcohol abuse programs.

Ripp killed a man. The drugs did not kill my husband. Ripp killed him, and
now Ripp's prison time has been made easier. So what now? So Wisconsin can
give the message to other drug users that you will be taken care of if you
kill someone, you will be pampered and held when you cry about your
messed-up family, which possibly drove you to drugs. So Ripp can share his
feelings with his counselors and new friends.

I am sorry, but this is absurd and unacceptable. Ripp didn't just get
caught driving while under the influence, nor did he get caught buying
drugs or selling drugs. He killed a person -- a great person.

What does the governor think he is doing? What does the Corrections
Department think it is doing? Ripp was ordered to serve time for his crime
of killing someone. He doesn't need rehabilitation yet; he is to be in
prison for the next four years.

And what happens to victim's rights? We are the victims -- me and our two
babies who no longer have their father to watch them grow and play. Ripp
should be suffering right now as we are. We are in our prison of hell
because Ripp killed Jim and took him from us. Ripp should not be in this
program. He needs to be returned to real prison, where drug users who kill
belong.

Anyone who knows me knows the real hell I have been through because of this
drug-using low-life. And now this. The state throws this in my face. My
9-year-old daughter has suffered greatly from her post-traumatic stress
disorder.

When will someone get it in Wisconsin? If you had this tragedy happen to
your loved ones, you would feel my pain and my anger. We can't get Jim
back, but we certainly deserve to have his killer punished. And don't try
to tell me Ripp will suffer with knowing all his life what he did to us.

Gov. Doyle, what will you do about this? Who is watching over your
Corrections Department? It's not the courts or the District Attorney's
Office. They have no power once the offender is in the system -- no say
whatsoever. Do you even have a say or any power, governor?

Someone made a mistake with selecting Ripp for this program. Who was it?