As I read the Viewpoints page to get my daily ration of laughs and groans, I look at the writers' places of residence. As I was doing so Sunday, I read Warner Robins; Macon; Wyndam, Maine; Kathleen and Dublin. Wyndam, Maine? I wondered why would The Telegraph publish a letter from someone in Maine?

I reread the guidelines for getting a letter printed and among them is: "Priority will be given to letters that address contemporary local issues and have wide community interest." I wasn't aware that legalizing marijuana was such a burning local issue. I don't recall reading many stories in the paper nor letters in Viewpoints addressing this subject.

So why did Viewpoints choose to print a letter from a resident of Wyndam, Maine on the (apparently) contemporary local issue of legalizing marijuana? I'm sure I'm not the only person who would like to know.

Bert Peters

Warner Robins

[end]

VALDOSTA ­ Debbie Dowdell believes that if she can change the direction of one person's life then she has succeeded.

Dowdell's life is one marked with obstacles ­ barriers that despite the odds she has overcome and still managed to keep a smile on her face.

This year Valdosta Technical College selected her to be the 2009 EAGLE Representative at the EAGLE Leadership Institute in February.

EAGLE stands for Exceptional Adult Georgian in Literacy Education. Dowdell said she was nominated by her VTC Adult Education teacher Betty Howell.

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Panthers Carry Guns, But Protest Is Peaceful

Pumping fists and chanting "no justice, no peace," about 200 people marched through Cherry Tree Crossing housing development Monday in a demonstration against police brutality, led by shotgun-toting members of the New Black Panthers Party's Augusta chapter. The march went off peacefully, but when it ended at the site where 23-year-old Justin "Jed" Elmore's SUV crashed after he was shot by deputies last week, officers in riot gear were waiting by a package store across 15th Street. Sheriff Ronnie Strength said Cherry Tree residents called the department complaining about Panthers members carrying guns.

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hough police never charged Mr. Elmore with a violent crime, the 23-year-old fatally shot by deputies last week appeared to be constantly on their radar.

In addition to three felony drug cases, Mr. Elmore had 12 different misdemeanor cases.

He spent time in jail, but never for very long. That's not a surprise to people familiar with the criminal justice system. Only so many people can fit in overcrowded jails and prisons, and judges prefer to use those spots for criminals who commit violent and major crimes, attorneys said.

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It's time for Augustans to choose sides when it comes to crime.

When the shooting of an alleged drug dealer in a stolen SUV that is ramming police cars and driving at officers sparks a near riot, as it did Sunday evening, something is drastically wrong.

And it's not with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.

The 30, and perhaps up to 50, officers who responded to the rock-and-bottle-throwing crowd at the Cherry Tree Crossing housing project Sunday showed unbelievable restraint. The crowd's insults and projectiles were returned by the deputies with stoicism and professionalism and a patience the crowd neither deserved nor perhaps expected. Despite the fact that the bottles and rocks endangered the officers.

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A former Jefferson police captain pleaded not guilty Friday to violating federal firearms laws for having a grenade and a handgun in his car when he tried to contact his estranged wife in violation of a protective order.

Dennis L. Thomas, 49, appeared before a U.S. magistrate in Gainesville to plead to a federal indictment charging him with possession of a firearm while being a drug user and possession of an unregistered destructive device.

Jackson County sheriff's deputies arrested Thomas Oct. 7 after he violated a court order barring him from contacting his estranged wife. After his arrest, deputies searched Thomas's car and home and found cocaine, a grenade and other weapons.

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Camden County's new sheriff right to give some deputies their walking papers.

When a law enforcement officer swears to uphold Georgia's laws, that officer must be willing to live up to that oath, even if it endangers the officer's job.

That's why Camden County Sheriff-elect Tommy Gregory is to be commended for holding the command staff of ousted Sheriff Bill Smith to account for their failure to stand up to their old boss. Mr. Gregory has fired 27 sheriff's office employees effective Jan. 4; a drastic measure that's necessary in light of leadership issues at the coastal Georgia department.

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Gwinnett County police drug investigators on Wednesday served a "no-knock" search warrant and forced entry into a Lawrenceville house, but soon discovered they were at the wrong address.

In a news release, a Gwinnett police official said it was "a case of human error and not deliberate malfeasance on the part of the investigator."

The investigators intended to serve the search warrant at a home on Valley Spring Drive in Lawrenceville about 9:15 a.m. One of the investigators mistakenly pointed out a house nearby.

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The spokesman for the family of a 92-year-old woman gunned down by a rogue Atlanta police drug squad two years ago put pressure Friday on city officials to settle their lawsuit against the city.

"This family does not need to go through a long and bitter [court] process,," the Rev. Markel Hutchins said outside the northwest Atlanta home of Kathryn Johnston, pushing for a quick settlement.

The Johnston shooting and the subsequent revelations stunned many Atlantans. On Nov. 21, 2006, police used a "no-knock" warrant to gain entry into Johnston's home. Johnston, apparently surprised by the intruders, fired a gun at the officers. The officers shot her twice in the chest.

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Chatham County should complete the merger of the Counter Narcotics Team with the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department.

ENVIRONMENTALSTS ENCOURAGE their neighbors to think globally, but act locally.

All elected officials in Chatham County - newly re-elected County Commission Chairman Pete Liakakis, Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson, the mayors of the smaller municipalities and every official who's committed to reducing violent crime - must follow similar advice when it comes fighting drug crime.

How? By putting the countywide drug squad under the command of the countywide police department. That's where it belongs if the community genuinely wants safer streets everywhere, not just in select neighborhoods.

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I'm writing about Robert Sharpe's thoughtful letter: "Drug war fuels crime" (Oct. 9). Beyond the fact that our so-called war on drugs is counterproductive and a complete waste of money, what about the right of adult citizens to be left alone - especially in the privacy of our own homes? We don't punish those who attempt suicide and survive. So why do we punish those who consume the wrong (politically selected) recreational drugs? I don't want my government attempting to protect me from myself. I want my government to protect me from those who want to harm me against my will. Today, our nanny-state government tells us which recreational drugs we may or may not consume. Note that tobacco is OK, but marijuana is not. Tomorrow, our nanny-state government will tell us which foods we may or may not eat. For our own good and protection, of course.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

I'm writing about Robert Sharpe's thoughtful letter: "Drug war fuels crime" (Oct. 9).

Beyond the fact that our so-called war on drugs is counterproductive and a complete waste of money, what about the right of adult citizens to be left alone - especially in the privacy of our own homes?

We don't punish those who attempt suicide and survive.

So why do we punish those who consume the wrong (politically selected) recreational drugs?

I don't want my government attempting to protect me from myself. I want my government to protect me from those who want to harm me against my will.

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Gwinnett County police say there has been a marked decrease in traffic collisions since its Highway Interdiction Team --- primarily focused on nabbing drug traffickers --- began patrolling the interstates early this year.

There were 500 fewer accidents on I-85 and I-985 during the six-month period from March 1 to Oct. 1, compared to the same time frame last year, said Gwinnett police spokesman Cpl. David Schiralli. The number of accidents dropped from 1,905 in 2007 to 1,434 in 2008. That is about two fewer accidents every day, Schiralli said.

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ATLANTA -- A former Atlanta police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to federal conspiracy charges for his role in a botched drug raid that ended in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman.

Arthur Tesler faces more than 10 years in prison on a charge of conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death. He is to be sentenced in February.

Police originally said police had gone to Kathryn Johnston's northwest Atlanta home in 2006 after an informant bought drugs there. But after finding none, officers tried to cover up the mistake by planting baggies of marijuana, prosecutors said.

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Civil Rights Violated: Ex-Police Officer Could Be Imprisoned for 10 Years As a Result of Elderly Woman's '06 Death, Cover-Up.

The federal investigation into the fatal shooting of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston ended Thursday with the guilty plea of former Atlanta police Officer Arthur Bruce Tesler.

Against the advice of his lawyer, Tesler pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate civil rights, resulting in the Nov. 21, 2006, death of Johnston at her Neal Street home.

As part of a plea agreement, federal prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 10 years and one month in prison. Tesler, 42, is to be sentenced in February.

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Will Henao doesn't see how a government that legalizes alcohol and cigarettes can justify marijuana prohibition.

Too much alcohol will kill you. Cigarettes can lead to cancer and heart disease.

"I have never in my life heard of anyone overdosing on marijuana," said Henao, 30, a local college student. "Cigarettes and alcohol have killed thousands of people."

A motorist can buy cigarettes and alcohol at a gas station. But anyone who buys marijuana can go to jail, along with hardened criminals. "You're locking someone up with a rapist, a killer, a child molester," he said. "Can you weigh it?"

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In 1938, the film "Reefer Madness" warned young people that marijuana would make them violent, promiscuous and insane.

Today, the message is a tougher sell.

"Reefer Madness" has become a cult classic among the pro-marijuana community and spurred a musical satire of the same title, which will be performed by the Chattahoochee Shakespeare Company in January.

Harold and Kumar, the title characters of two modern "stoner" films, smoke pot but also have skills for socially respectable occupations -- one's an investment banker, one has a knack for medicine.

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She's 21 years old and has a 3.82 college grade point average at a prestigious university.

She also smokes marijuana regularly.

"It's the only illegal thing that I do, other than maybe speeding every now and then," she said last week in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer.

She could be your daughter, your girlfriend or your best friend.

She is one of millions of people in the United States who smoke marijuana.

When it comes to illegal drugs, marijuana has broad appeal and strong social acceptability, despite research that it can cause health problems and lead to the use of harder drugs, and despite its connection to crime and violence.

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Asked to rate marijuana on a scale compared to other drugs, Jack Killorin turned the question around.

As director of the White House Office of High Intensity Drug Areas in Atlanta, Killorin has the perspective to ask a better question.

"Which scale are you talking about?" Killorin asked. "On the scale of criminal productivity, marijuana is king."

A true cash crop.

Caught in the middle are the federal, state and local law enforcement officers and agencies fighting the Mexican drug cartels, an increasing number of grow houses and small-time dealers trying to cash in.

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Your Sep. 18th editorial makes the common mistake of confusing drug-related crime with prohibition-related crime. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. With alcohol prohibition repealed, liquor bootleggers no longer gun each other down in drive-by shootings, nor do consumers go blind drinking unregulated bathtub gin.

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