Wednesday, October 11, 2000

Has anyone noticed the sports cars that the Fayette County Sheriff's deputies are driving these days?

Let's see, in one day I noticed a sleek silver Mustang, an even sleeker black Camaro and, yes, a brand new PT Cruiser! What is going on in the sheriff's department, and more, why the need for sports cars? What's going to be next, a BMW or a Mercedes?

I find great offense to the statement from the DARE officer who drives the PT Cruiser saying that the car was purchased for $21,000 with drug money confiscated from criminals. I seem to remember last spring an article in the paper asking for input from the community on where to spend that drug money.

The officer also stated that the sheriff's department was purchasing other "goodies" with that money. The officer seemed to think that the PT Cruiser was good publicity because the kids love the car.

Excuse me, but what police car do kids not like? If you put a black and white out in front of the school, they would be just as excited.

I would like Sheriff Randall Johnson publicly to list the items that the drug money was spent on to see where in fact it has been put back into the community. It is our tax dollars that are spent to house criminals, build jails that we don't want in our community, and to pay for judges, lawyers and court fees for these drug dealers.

That money should be put into community services such as parks and recreations for kids so that they have a safe place to go play and spend their energy instead of looking for drugs to fill their time. The money could have been used to defray costs to families and children to play on our recreational sports teams.

Does Sheriff Johnson realize how many children there are who can't play recreational sports because their families can't afford the cost? Soccer and baseball cost upwards of $100 per season for a child to sign up. That $21,000 PT Cruiser could have aided lots of kids to get involved in something good for them.

I am all for the DARE program and I think it does school-age children good, but I don't think the kids need to be impressed by an expensive sports car. The PT Cruiser is a flagrant display of waste of money.

Besides, why would the sheriff's department want to purchase a vehicle that has one of the lowest safety ratings going? It's beyond my comprehension!

Denise Fair

Fayetteville

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