To the Editor,
Our lawmakers must accept and bear a lot of the blame for crime. Our laws have no teeth when it comes to dealing with criminals. One crime that especially needs attention — driving while impaired. Drunken driving. Abusing a right.
Recently someone chose to drive while impaired and break the speed limit in our county. That choice severely injured one young man and killed another. Two young men, friends, on a bicycle, no doubt enjoying being out of school, laughing, talking having no idea that a monster was coming.
Two families’ lives changed forever, with no way to correct what the self-centered monster has carelessly done. However, that impaired monster has much to be thankful for — receiving minor injuries, his horrible crime only meeting the requirements to net him a misdemeanor death by vehicle charge and speeding and reckless driving. I submit that this is murder. But not so to our lawmakers.
A misdemeanor charge in return for killing a child and destroying innocent families’ peace and any feelings of safety they enjoyed. Don’t blame the troopers, deputies or police; they have rules to go by as to what the charge is.
People, we are not talking about larceny, vandalism or property damage; we are talking about that which can’t be replaced — life. Folks are grieving, suffering, through no fault of their own, but at the fault of the self-centered individual who took everyone else’s lives into his hands, all so he could get high or get a buzz. It’s past time for us to wake up our lawmakers and get them to actually realize that life is precious and to make laws that punish the criminals, who have taken over our county.
Our district attorney, Johnson Britt, said at the last Citizens 4 Change meeting that the criminal element does not fear the police or the court system. Yes, I’m including drunken drivers in with the thieves, drug dealers and murderers, etc. They don’t get proper prison time, even after multiple charges.
The officials blame it on jail overcrowding. I say if they are found guilty, pack ‘em in tight and stop releasing the criminals onto the law-abiding citizens.
Jeff Britt
Lumberton
