This Madness Must Be Stopped
Dear Ann Landers: The enclosed clipping from the Aberdeen, S.D., American News is about two boys who stole a car in Wyoming and were pursued in a 110-mph chase by a deputy sheriff in Nebraska, 10 miles south of the South Dakota border.
The chase was abandoned after nine minutes because the cars were approaching curves and entering a town. The officer lost sight of the stolen car, but it apparently missed the first curve, left the road airborne at 111 mph and crashed into a house, leaving a 20-foot-wide hole and coming out the other side. A woman in the living room was killed, along with the two teenage boys in the car. You can be sure that woman didn’t know what hit her.
In my opinion, the thieves probably would have been caught eventually in a safer situation. After all, police in every state can contact one another instantly with electronic devices. This was not a life-or-death situation, but it became one when the officer pursued the thieves in a chase that far exceeded the speed limit, endangering himself, the boys and innocent bystanders.
At 111 mph, the boys had just over a minute between the time the officer stopped chasing them and when they reached the first curve. That was hardly enough time for them to realize that the officer had given up.
What was the purpose of the chase? To get the car back? To catch the thieves? Neither was accomplished, and another crime was committed - the death of an innocent victim. It should be against the law for the police to initiate a high-speed chase after a stolen car. Such tactics are sheer lunacy. - Outraged in S. Dakota
Dear S.D.: You must be a mind reader. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about this craziness. Thank you on behalf of the victims, their families and the sweethearts of officers involved in high-speed chases. You have hit a hot button with this issue. Now we need laws to make this madness illegal.
Dear Ann Landers: I read with interest your column mentioning the Reader’s Digest survey of Americans’ honesty and how it was tested. I had a related experience with a little different twist.
When I came out of the grocery story last week, I saw a wallet lying under my grocery cart. I unloaded my groceries, sent my son back to the store with the wallet and told him to give it to the manager. I felt good about myself, knowing how thankful I would be if some stranger were honest enough to do the same for me.
A week later, I was back in that store and asked the manager if he had located the wallet’s owner. He nodded his head sadly and said yes, he’d found her, but instead of being grateful, she had accused me of stealing $7. The woman said she was certain there had been $147 in the wallet when she left the store.
Ann, I had no idea how much money was in that wallet. I didn’t check, but believe me, had I wanted to steal the money, I would have taken all of it. What’s the point of stealing $7 and returning $140? I went home completely disillusioned.
I would like to believe that people are basically good, and I have tried to instill that concept in my children. Honesty is taught by example, and I’m glad my kids saw me make the effort to do the honorable thing. I was disappointed, however, at the way it turned out. - Rosburg, Wash.
Dear Rosburg: When you sent your son back to the store to return the wallet, he learned a lesson that will stay with him forever. Consider the total experience a huge plus. Believe me. It was.