DRUG TEMPTATIONS NAB GOOD POLICE OFFICERS EVERY DAY

To the editor:

As a police professional, I was saddened to read of the arrest of former
Cape Girardeau police detective Paul Tipler. His alleged actions are a
disgrace to his department and our profession. I hope and trust that, if
convicted, he will receive appropriate punishment. The temptations
generated by drugs destroy good police officers every day. How sad.

It has been six months since my horse Misty and I crossed the Mississippi
River on that old bridge of yours. I hope the next time we trot over that
bridge, all drugs will be a medical issue handled by clinics and doctors,
not a police nightmare.

Howard J. Wooldridge

Austin, Texas