Pubdate: Sat, 29 May 2004 Source: Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC) Copyright: 2004 The Herald-Sun Contact: http://www.herald-sun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428 Author: M. Irving CITY HAS DRUG PROBLEM BECAUSE WE TOLERATE IT I read with interest the editorial titled "Drug bust a lucky catch" [Herald-Sun, May 25]. It's amazing how soon our community forgets that Durham has a serious drug trafficking problem. Just weeks ago the police took 850 pounds of pot off the streets. Was that luck too? But just let The Herald-Sun print something significant that the Police Department has done (even if they call it luck,) and here comes the pretentious speech calling for more policing. Have you forgotten where you are? This is Durham. While it may be politically correct to encourage the police to aggressively pursue those who traffic in narcotics, I still remember the barrage of anti-police rhetoric that came from the Cheek Road crackdown. How soon we forget. And you want an "around-the-clock drug offensive?" Who do you think will support it? Will The Herald-Sun, which called it a "lucky catch," although it may have been coordinated by a federal task force? Will the parents of our local gang-bangers support corralling their misguided youth? Who's going to stand with the chief when violence is met with greater force? We're living in an era of "kinder, gentler," and frankly the gangs here love that! Who will support a take-the-gloves-off offensive? That's what it will take. Durham is the way it is because we tolerate it. From the courts to the churches, from our schools to our homes, we must like it this way. Or else we would rise up like Judge Abraham Jones recently did and say enough is enough! M. IRVING Durham - --- MAP posted-by: Josh