Posted December 28th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
Legalize, regulate, tax
As a retired police detective, I heartily agree with the proponents cited in community columnist John Ridley’s Dec. 21 column that we should legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. My street experience showed that marijuana, though certainly no play toy of a drug, is much, much safer than alcohol for both the user and those around him.
My profession – the thin blue line – is getting much thinner all across Wisconsin. Do you want us to keep wasting time on a green plant? We are missing child predators even now.
Howard Wooldridge
Posted December 26th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Big Apple for an evening: Eric Sterling of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation (www.cjpf.org) and newest COPs member of the Board put a seminar together in New York City at the NYC Bar Association on the 16th. Luckily the drive is not too long and I was able to stay with my son-in-law to keep expenses down. Experts from North America and Europe shared their vision of where to go from here. We still have a long ways to go, even as we feel the wind at our back.
Prep* work done, time to saddle up* and get back to work: The spread sheets have eliminated the 100 who either lost their vote or retired. The new Members have been put in the spreadsheets(all they need now is a room #). The Sunday cowboy hat has been brushed, the Sunday belt buckle polished and the boots look like new. Monday the 222nd COPs will again be in the halls, talking to staffers.
On a personal note, let me say it also took me a month to recover both mentally and phsyically from the California effort. Too many birthdays for sure.
Where did eveyone go?: Monday was chaotic in the halls of the three House buildings. Nearly 100 Members who lost their election or retired had to be out of their offices by Wednesday. Boxes, tables, chairs and desks cluttered the hallways. Sullen* faces of staffers indicated who did not have a job. I was able to make five presentations on Monday but only one on Tuesday. Hope your Turkey Day was a good one.
Prep = preparation
- Saddle up = wieder was im Gang setzen
- Sullen = traurig
COPs 2nd year stats to date:
TV appearances: 12 (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, cable)
Newspaper stories: 6 dailes, 3 weeklies
Radio appearances: 6
Published LTE:
20 presentations to Congressional staffers (six this week)
Consider being a member of COPs at $30.00 or more per year. Add your voice to those who agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow. Go to: www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or check.
Howard
Posted December 24th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Stories from the weeks of November 5 and 12 , 2010
Restore Sanity Rally: The crowd was estimated at about 200,000 on a perfect fall day for COPs to show the colors. Karen did all the work on the signs. Scott my nephew and his fiance Daniel drove from Wisconsin to be part of the day. Bob Ramsey who took the picture flew in from Dallas. Somewhere close to 400 people took our picture. It was another good day.
First cattle call* of the presidential race of 2010: Grover Norquist’s brunch featured Gary Johnson (former two term R governor of New Mexico and possible candidate for President in 2012) who spoke for several minutes. A surprise guest was Ralph Nader on the intrusiveness of the airport screeners.* Before this last election, I saw and heard from well over 200 R candidates, many of whom will be Congressmen in January.
Forget coffee. I now like Tea: Arriving early to Grover’s Brunch, I was able to have long chat with the editor of a national publication for the Tea Party movement (www.TeaPartyReview.com ) The E-zine is just getting started, so we will have to wait to see if it develops as promised. Either way, the editor and I had much in common on several issues.
- Cattle call = abwertend Ausdruck –wenn viele Leute will was haben und sie ein nach dem anderen beweisen ihre gute Eigenschafte
- Airport screeners = Flughafensicherheitsarbeiter
COPs 2nd year stats to date:
TV appearances: 12 (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, cable)
Newspaper stories: 6 dailes, 3 weeklies
Radio appearances: 6
14 presentations to Congressional staffers (start of new statistical year)
Consider being a member of COPs at $30.00 or more per year. Add your voice to those who agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow. Go to: www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or check.
Howard
Posted November 25th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
BUSTING CRIME
As a retired police detective, I heartily agree with Harmish McKenzie that ending our drug prohibition is the path to reducing crime, death, disease and, probably, drug use and abuse. I can certainly attest to the fact that after 40 years of efforts and the wasting of a trillion dollars, drugs are cheaper, stronger and readily available to Texas youths.
– – Howard Wooldridge, Dallas
Posted November 8th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
Pubdate: Tue, 02 Nov 2010
LEGALIZE IT
I am surprised that as a journalist you have no clue why people use meth. According to my news sources like the Denver Post, a majority of people use meth to stay awake or more alert. Another sizeable portion use methamphetamine to lose weight. These groups you rarely hear about because they do not become addicted as much as those who use it recreationally.
If Georgia really wants to become serious about the meth problems, it should legalize the sale to adults of the same amphetamines we give our Air Force and Navy pilots to go on long missions. Since a pilot can have legal amphetamines to stay awake, why not my waitress who is working a 12-hour shift to make ends meet? My understanding is that would eliminate about 90 percent of the illegal meth market.
Howard Wooldridge
Albany, Ga.
