LEE BETTER OFF

Re. the letter from Charlie Johnson concerning how China and Russia have
more freedom than Lee County, how outrageous and insulting to compare a
city in the United States to a communist country. I have been to both China
and Russia and can assure you that Mr. Johnson has not, or he would not
make such an absurd statement.

The sheriff of Lee County and the commonwealth's attorney should be
commended for their progressive law enforcement that has cut down violent
crime by half the last year alone. When I first started to travel to Lee
County two years ago, you could not walk the streets of Pennington Gap
without passing drug addicts and vagrants attempting to get OxyContin.

In 15 years in law enforcement, I have come to learn that the best way to
stop violent street and drug crime is to actively target the offenders and
to aggressively enforce city ordinances against loitering. This does not
offend the law-abiding Lee County resident. In my many conversations with
the residents of Lee County they stress how they appreciate what the local
law enforcement has done in their community to make it a safer place for
their children to live and their parents to go shop. I have also talked to
many shopkeepers in Pennington Gap who feel that the outdoor drug sales
were not only dangerous, but sent the wrong message to our youth that you
can overtly violate the law and not be punished. It it was also driving
away honest, hard-working residents who felt intimidated by these thugs and
would travel to Kingsport or Bristol to shop.

The sheriff has done great work with the resources available to him and
with the continued cooperation of Lee residents, the county will continue
to be a great place to live and work.

Thomas P. Lesnak

Bristol, Va.