Pubdate: Wed, 21 Nov 2001
Source: Kingsport Times-News (TN)
Copyright: 2001 Kingsport Publishing Corporation
Contact:  http://www.timesnews.net/index.cgi
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1437
Note:  Will not publish letters in print editions from online users who do 
not reside in print circulation area, unless they are former residents or 
have some current connection to Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.
Author: Thomas P Lesnak

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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth