DRUG DEALERS AND EXECUTIVES SHARE SOME SIMILARITIES

WITH ALL the fuss being made over these high-paid criminals looting the
companies they're in charge of, one law enforcement tool President Bush is
overlooking (or ignoring) while he tries to get to the high ground is asset
forfeiture.

If you're arrested on a drug charge in this country, law enforcement can
pretty much take everything you have, claiming they're "ill-gotten gains"
earned by illegal activities. Well, I don't see a whole lot of difference
between these so-called "captains of industry" and your average drug
dealer. Both take your money in illegal ways and are ruining people's lives
for their own personal enrichment.

Should they be treated differently by law enforcement? Of course not. Take
their mansions, their Mercedeses and BMWs, and seize their multiple bank
accounts, with all the funds recovered going toward repaying the investors
who were swindled and the retirement funds that were looted. CEOs can run a
company into the ground and leave shareholders holding the empty bag. Let's
hope King George II doesn't do it to America, because we're all
shareholders of this country.

EDDIE L. EDWARDS III, ROANOKE