ASPEN CITIZENS AREN'T EXEMPT

Editor:

I am writing this letter in response to the drug raids in Aspen and
the angry "citizens" of this town. I put it in quotations because
anyone who is angry at the police department over these raids
obviously cares nothing about this beautiful place where we live and
the families that we raise here.

I am a 19-year-old graduate of the Aspen school system, and have
spent most of my life here. I have seen firsthand the effects of
cocaine and other ILLEGAL drugs on people my age, and the results are
not pretty or fun to watch. The people who were arrested in our
restaurants were contributing to the downfall of my generation. They
were breaking the law and the police had every right to do something
about it. I've read letters where people were upset over the fact
that guns were drawn, putting children and adults alike in danger.
Think of this - what would have happened if one of those dealers in
Cooper Street screwed over another dealer and that dealer decided to
do something about it? I guarantee that situation would have
presented a much higher danger than the police, who are trained in
how to properly handle a firearm.

How angry would these parents be if they caught their child high on
cocaine and came to find out they had purchased it at Cooper Street?
I doubt they'd be writing angry letters to the paper then.

What it all comes down to I guess is the fact that the people who
were arrested were breaking the law. The amount of drugs found or the
price for them on the street are totally irrelevant. What matters is
that the APD did their job, arrested drug dealers and possibly
illegal immigrants, and made our restaurant a safer place to take
YOUR children.

Get over it Aspen. Just because we're a small town doesn't mean our
citizens are exempt from following the law.

Katie Turner

Aspen