Pubdate: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 Source: Post-Crescent, The (Appleton, WI) Copyright: 2003 The Post-Crescent Contact: http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1443 Author: Dan Fritsch STUDENTS TROUBLED BY PEERS' ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES Editor, The Post-Crescent: I wish to log a complaint about the obvious. The law says that it's illegal to buy tobacco products if you're under age 18 and that doing drugs is also illegal. If you live near Neenah High School, you would think that law doesn't apply. Across the street from the school and on church property in plain sight every day, this illegal activity persists. Nothing is done about it nor does a member of law enforcement bother to linger in the area to deter it. Neenah isn't a place where the police have numerous activities where they could not do something about this. I talk to students who can't believe that the law isn't enforced at all. Now, how about the illicit behavior at Memorial Park that everyone at the high school knows about except the police: drugs, alcohol, etc., in broad parking-lot light. I know of students who are afraid of that area because of the people who hang out there. Again, this is not a metropolis. We have more police waiting for speeders than we have actually doing something that would create revenue for the city. As an educator, I would appreciate that their concerns would be a major consideration of the police force that their parents pay for. The students I talk to are disgusted at the level of law enforcement that is being applied to the people who are doing wrong. Dan Fritsch, Appleton - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake