What does New London stand for?

From Bayonet Street to Lincoln Avenue you can look up and view sneakers in the wires, what a sight! Some like Mayor Passero want to mention New London in the same breath as Block Island. What a bunch of baloney.

Residents of New London should demand more. We are known more for sober houses in our city than anything else. My dilemma is simple, we would not have drug dealers if we did not have users; there is a demand and someone has to supply the product. Why are we not as hard on the purchasers of illegal drugs as we are on the sellers?

We would not have any so-called big fish to catch if the little fish did time as well. Unfortunately, statistics come into play. Too many arrests make our politicians nervous so the little guys get a break. The problem is that the little guys don't learn from the second chance and they continue and grow into big fish and in many cases informants. Drug users as well often are allowed to avoid any responsibility, they just have to tell law enforcement about the individual that sold them the product.

Everyone makes mistakes but like Baretta said, "don't do the crime if you can’t do the time."

Harold Hempstead

New London