Private Guards to Combat Drugs

Though I am a “card-carrying liberal,” I feel compelled to write regarding the Column One article “War on Drugs Takes Uncivil Turn” (Oct. 19). Your reporter characterizes one of the hired guards as an outlaw because he lacks certain permits. Whatever the laws regarding permits may be, these men are heroes. The people they are hired to protect include innocent families and other law-abiding citizens who must live in these complexes due to economic circumstances.

There will no doubt be a lot of whining from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union that the rights of drug dealers are being denied--so what? Attorney Barry Litt claims that if men like David Roybal aren’t stopped, there will be anarchy. Wake up, anarchy has been the rule in those areas for quite some time. I invite any complainers to leave their cozy homes and move, with their children, into one of these complexes for one month. If they don’t die of fright, they’ll find themselves spending a lot of money on counseling to overcome the psychological trauma inflicted, not by Roybal but by those he’s hired to keep at bay.

To Mr. Roybal and others like him, keep up the good work!

C.A. GREEN

Tustin