EVICTED TENANT HAS NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN

I feel compelled to respond to The News story about the woman who was
evicted from her public housing complex due to her son's drug activity. I
was sick when I realized she was trying to argue that an injustice was done
to her. She must be kidding. Why shouldn't the mother of a teenager in
possession of 10 bags of crack cocaine and a bag of marijuana be kicked out
of her publicly funded home? Did it ever occur to her that the true
injustice is that her child is involved with drugs and is contributing to
the degradation of her community?

She should accept full responsibility for her child's actions. Instead, she
complains that the drug problems where she now lives are much worse than
the ones her son helped support. Now might be a good time to sit down with
her child and explain the horrific consequences of getting involved with
drugs. Perhaps if she had instilled this in him early on, she would not be
in this predicament.

Families who obey the law should not have to suffer by living next to
families who don't. I support any law that holds parents accountable for
their children's actions. Somebody has to take responsibility for our youth
when the parents fail to do so. If that means spelling it out through
legislation that has teeth, then so be it.

Let this story be a lesson to all parents who don't know what their
children are up to when they're not at home. I consider the inconvenience
of her losing her home a mild punishment compared to the penalty society
has to pay for the actions of those involved in drug activity and use.

Mark Zuchlewski

East Amherst