MELTON'S DISMISSAL MUST BE RETHOUGHT

Can anyone please tell me why Gov. Haley Barbour thinks that Frank Melton's
service as narcotics chief is no longer needed ("We needed something
different," Barbour says," Jan. 10.)?

People should think back over the past year and recall how many times in
their area they heard people saying "there was a drug raid last night" and
Melton was there.

I live in Rolling Fork and my parents live in Columbus and between here and
there, there were numerous raids. Mr. Melton put an actual dent in drugs in
Mississippi. I may be wrong but I don't know of another narcotics chief
that had more successful raids than Mr. Melton.

I know he is not a law-enforcement officer. Who cares? Those who sit and
plan wars, against the counsel of our military leaders, are not military
men themselves. The bottom line is that he got the job done. He was the
only narcotics chief that drug dealers feared.

This is one dismissal that needs to be rethought or debated.

Micah Johnson

Rolling Fork