WHAT'S GONE WRONG?

Editor:

After reading Mr. (Steve) Hodges' guest column on March 5, I felt compelled
to write. I ask you what has gone wrong with our society when our own law
enforcement officials start breaking into people's homes to steal their
money when everyone of us know that it's against the law?

Also, why do they try to push a drug awareness program on our kids that
some law enforcement officers can't successfully pass themselves? I agree
with Mr. Hodges that some of the deputies failed to graduate from the real
DARE program and brought a whole new definition and understanding of the
word D. (Dealing) A. (And) R. (Receiving) E. (Ecstasy).

We want our kids to respect law enforcement and be comfortable with them as
role models. How? I remember when I would pass by someone with authority
like that and would throw my hand up to acknowledge I appreciated them and
respected them, which I still do for some with variances to others such as
a one-finger salute.

The days of respect for the sheriff's department have ended because it's
such a joke now. In fact they are printing a new bumper sticker with a new
slogan of "101-3 = 98 and we're dealing." In all reality I'm scared to stop
for a blue light of a sheriff's deputy now because I'm scared they may try
to sell drugs to me.

I remember a time as a kid when I tried to decide what I wanted to be when
I grew up, maybe a sheriff's deputy. I'm grown up today and I still think
of tinting my windows extremely dark, as the sheriff's department does but,
come to find out, it's against the law for car windows to be tinted darker
than 85 percent visibility. The only exclusions is a stakeout or
surveillance or a K-9 car. I contacted the state attorney general and the
Highway Patrol and received this response. So if I placed a K-9 sticker on
my car or sat on the side of the road watching some birds does that mean I
could get away with tinting my windows as dark as the sheriff's department
has theirs?

And since when does the dog catcher have official business to the degree
that they need to tint their windows that dark? Are they trying to keep the
dogs from seeing them casing them out for pickup? What I am saying is that
this whole thing is appalling. It's bad when you tell someone you're from
Davidson County and they begin to laugh hysterically in your face. And the
whole time, without asking them what's so funny, you know why they're laughing.

Now is the time for us to make a final plea for all citizens to come to the
aid of our community and let our votes show that we can take our county back.

C. Clark

Lexington