Start Snitching!

Anonymous editorials are my favorite. The Chillicothe Gazette of central Ohio wants the members of its community to enlist in the war on drugs:

Ever seen a drug deal go down?

Chances are, in this day and age and even in our fair town, you have. You may not have known exactly what you were seeing, but you saw someone selling dope. If your kids are of school age, they've seen dope deals go down, most likely.

The big question is: Did you report it?

Are you saying I should report something that I didn't know I was seeing? So if I see two people talking on the street and they're holding things, should I call the police? Or does one of them have to be a minority?

Probably not. You didn't want to get involved. Hey, it's understandable. People are crazy these days, you never know what someone will do.

Yeah, people are losing their minds these days. Last week, I saw some kid with this thing on his ear talking to himself. I bet you drugs did that to him.

But if you don't step forward, who will?

Oh my! Are the police too busy looking for terrorists since the Muslims declared war on us?

If those of us who see the drug dealers dealing out of their cars or in their homes remain silent, saying nothing to law enforcement, should we be surprised when our safety is endangered?

Wait a second, you didn't say anything about looking for people inside their own homes. Can I peek through someone's window to see if they're dealing drugs? I guess I don't mind if people peek into my window as long as it keeps marijuana from endangering my safety.

Because that's what it's come to. Drug dealers are dangerous. People who do drugs are sick, but those who feed on the weaknesses of others are predators and deserve to have the boot of the law kick in their door.

This sounds like a terrible problem! How many of these sick people are dying from their marijuana addiction?

Drugs are a problem in our area. Be it marijuana or crack cocaine, or even prescription drug abuse, it's all a blight on our well-being. We here in the Scioto Valley can think we're safe because we're not in an inner city, but the wolf is just around the corner.

The drug dealers have wolves now? Are they stealing them from the zoo?

Drugs destroy families. Drugs kill dreams. Nobody's grows up thinking: "I want to be a drug dealer" or "I want to be addicted to dope."

Hold on there. I thought you said that drug dealers are predators? If they're in that position because of the drugs, aren't they victims too? I mean, I grew up wanting to be an astronaut, but now I sit in a cubicle and click a mouse all day. Nobody grows up thinking they want to do that, but I do it because I need to make a living.

Drugs take away everything you ever thought you could be, and so much more.

If they do all that, why are drug dealers making so much money from them? Shouldn't it be obvious to people that they don't want to be sick?

That's why it's important for residents of Ross and Pike counties to help out law enforcement as much as possible.

No thanks. I have better things to do than to try to put my neighbors in prison.

If you see possible drug activity, call the sheriff, police department or the U.S. 23 Major Crimes Task Force. If we don't care enough about our neighborhoods to step forward and stomp out drugs, who will?

Probably some racist who realizes they've stumbled upon a fantastic way to get all the black people in town behind bars.