[greymule]

Pretty good off the top of your head, Roger. I think the verbatim wording was "Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security." Words as true today as they were in 1776.

In New Jersey, when a 13-year-old commits murder, the local bleeding-hearts outdo themselves trying to see who can give him the most hugs. I've seen it happen. In this state, a juvenile practically has to make the front pages with a crime before anything more than probation is ordered. New York is worse, if that's imaginable.

A few years ago, a kid just months shy of his 18th birthday vandalized my car in the middle of the night to the tune of about $2000. (Just malice. I didn't know him, and he didn't know me.) However, my neighbor, a small Guatemalan guy, saw him doing it and banged on my front door in a vain attempt to wake me.

Anyway, my neighbor recognized the six-three, 225 lb. "child" and, though very much afraid of reprisal, went with me to the station and positively, unhesitatingly identified him out of hundreds of pictures. The police were delighted, because several other cars on the street had also been vandalized that night, and with an eyewitness they had the case in the bag. The kid's parents initially tried to alibi for him, but when they learned there was an eyewitness, they backed off. The kid did deny vandalizing any of the other cars, though.

So the D.A. sent me forms to fill out about how I felt about having the crime committed against me, did I want restitution, please send in copies of the repair bills, etc. But months later, I got a boilerplate letter from the D.A.'s office telling me that judge so-and-so had dismissed the charges. I called in immediately to ask (1) how could the charges be dismissed in an open-and-shut case? and (2) why did they bother having me get copies of repair bills? Answers: (1) in the interests of efficiency, we agreed that if the kid pled guilty to 23 counts, we would drop the other 31; the malicious mischief to your car was one of the 31, and (2) I guess we blew it; we didn't see the paperwork in the file.

By the way, the sentence was probation. (That's supposed to be confidential, but I found out anyway.) Perhaps the judge also gave him a stern lecture.

The guy, now an "adult," makes the paper every few weeks for having been arrested for various offenses.

And Roger: I think that former Yankee pitcher Tommy Byrne had a career as a North Carolina sheriff after he retired from the big leagues. Had dinner with Tommy a few years ago. Did you ever meet him?