STOP ENFORCING VICTIMLESS CRIMES, AND START FOCUSING ON VIOLENT OFFENSES

Walking through the Public Square of Nelsonville last week, I was
struck in the head with a brick and knocked to the ground, fracturing
my skull and giving me a concussion. The young white males next
pounded my face with their fists before taking off into the dark with
my wallet.

Such violent crimes leave horrendous scars of many kinds, yet are far
too low on police priority. Police seem to have been slow to
investigate this severely damaging attack, while instead putting
another citizen in jail for five days for being half an hour late to a
parole meeting. Now, however, the Nelsonville Police do appear to be
doing something.

Athens County needs to end all enforcement of victimless crimes, such
as political harassment charges, drinking and hemp possession, and
instead focus on the violent crimes that are devastating lives daily
in our county.

I have already proved in court on many occasions the false arrests and
unnecessary attacks and prosecutions by local police against me. Now
it is time for a change in leadership in local and state police
departments to stop the rampant violent crime and end the wasted
resources on violating peoples' rights.

If all the wasted resources going to fight an herb that most Americans
think should be legal were instead put toward fighting violent crime,
as any sane scholar of criminal justice would advocate, for two reasons:

First, the Nelsonville police said that the perpetrators were probably
going after dope money. If that were legal, then addicts would no
longer need so much money to steal, and they would have more money to
get into treatment programs to quit if they so desired.

Second, the police would focus all of their time on stopping violent
crime -- real crime. The majority of police resources today go to
fighting victimless crimes, such as underage drinking. Ending this
would more than double the police on the streets working to stop this
horrific violence.

I have not been able to edit my second book because of the attack, one
of the main tasks that I was engaged in and would like to complete at
this time. My head hurts constantly and I cannot kayak, bicycle or
walk much as this causes great pain. Hopefully it will heal, but the
pain has lessened very little.

Please, anyone who witnessed this attack on the Public Square the
night of Monday, May 12, contact me at 753-5716.

Chad Kister

Nelsonville