To the Editor:

I have been reading The Western News on-line for several years and have enjoyed what I've learned about the community. A community that cares about it's people, gone through tough times and has made the best of it.

Today I'm taken back some, on the front page is a story about a juvenile who is drinking under age and trespassing at a closed business. Police contact him and he takes flight, the officer stops him, a struggle occurs and the offender breaks free. From the news story, the offender escalated the minor offense and has decided that he could care less about the rules that govern society. It appears the officer followed his use of force matrix and deployed the Taser and brought the offender (criminal) into compliance. I applaud the officer for doing his job, Chief Coker for backing his officers and I'm sure the business owner is thankful to the police for doing their job. As for the offender, take it as a lesson learned. The next time the police stop you when you're drinking underage and trespassing on someone else's property or basically breaking the law, remember how it felt, 50,000 volts going through your body and then the feeling you had when you were falling on your face. Better yet, here is a novel idea, avoid those situations all together and follow the laws like the rest of us have to.

Mark Nealon