Published Monday, June 29, 2009

Government must protect citizens

The first responsibility of county government is to protect its citizens, especially the vulnerable. We should all give our county commissioners a big thank you for indicating that they will go to the mat with Starship Enterprises.

If the commission had, like the appeals board, based their decision on the fact that it might have cost the county a few shekels, they would have put themselves in the same boat with Starship who is here simply to make money off potential victims.

Any time you increase the availability of a product, you increase its use. I do not believe drug paraphernalia, pornography and sex toys have a right to exist any more than yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is free speech. This is the case even though our exalted Supreme Court has ruled otherwise.

I will never forget a few years back when my wife and I were riding around our pasture one afternoon and an interview came on the radio with Ted Bundy, the famous serial killer who was convicted of murdering young women. Bundy attributed his introduction to crime to an obsession with pornography. He told how he tried repeatedly to extricate himself from this addiction, but was unable to do so.

Just think, if the commissioners had not taken this stand, maybe we would have produced a Coweta-Starship version of Ted Bundy.

Thank you again, commissioners.

Warren C. Budd Jr.

Newnan