St. Patrick's Day is usually always a good, happy day for my family and me, especially being of Irish decent. I left work on time and decided to take I-285 to get home as quickly as possible. I knew that day that there was a good chance that I would exceed the speed limit. I, like most everyone else on the highway that evening, was going over the speed limit. As I passed through the Camp Creek overpass, two things became very obvious to me. One, I was breaking the law and two, I was busted. Sitting on the side of the highway was a cop with his radar gun looking directly at me. Needless to say I received a ticket, my first for speeding, which I deserved.

I finally get home and explain to my wife why I was late, and was handed your newspaper. Maybe I should have read this before I went to work. Maybe then I would have realized that police are stalkers, just waiting to give us tickets and pull us over because they have nothing better to do. I read the story about the Peachtree City Police Department in disgust. The man who wrote the editor is purely crying like a baby because he got caught. Then, with all his might he finds a way to blame the police for his speeding?

How much about the police have we heard from this guy before he got caught? Does anyone every write to praise the police for doing a good job?

It sounds to me that this man is one of many these days that is able to find that it must be someone else's fault for them doing something wrong. The word is responsibility! It is something that we should all teach our children. It would be interesting to see how many “unsafe” people were taken off the roads of Peachtree City after they were caught “unjustly” speeding. How many were actually found “unjustly” speeding? For example, how many drunk drivers, reckless drivers or even possible criminals, have been caught simply because they were pulled over for speeding. Imagine if some speeder was going through your neighborhood and hit a child. We would surely hear, “How come the police let these people drive so fast around our neighborhood! Why don't the police do something about it!”

The way I see it, many people today feel the need to point blame for anything around that does not go their way. In this situation, the police are being blamed for our need to exceed the speed limits. Speed limits are established for a reason.

On a personal note, I've lost a cousin from a drunk driver that was speeding down the wrong way of a street. I just wish that one of these “harassing” Peachtree City police officers was around at that time to notice his driving! My entire family was involved in a car accident because a 16-year-old driver was speeding through an intersection. People are killed everyday simply because people exceed the speed limit.

In closing, grow up! If you decide to exceed the speed limit, then you have to realize that you are breaking the law and you deserve to get a ticket if you get caught. That isn't all that hard to understand. If you were to brake down on the side of the road, you would also get assistance from these same “harassing “police officers. Did you ever write an appreciation letter — I don't think so.

Jeffrey L. Sharkey

Peachtree City

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