It is of utmost importance that we support Supervisor Henry Watts and/or any other elected official who is willing to step up to the plate, armed with a commitment to knock the ball (drugs) out of the park (our community) and take back our city and county from the criminals.

He is the only non-law enforcement official that I have seen or heard that has made a commitment of any kind.

More of our officials need to step up and get serious. We need resolutions to be written and made public by the mayor and aldermen, the supervisors’ president and board members demanding that our local and state laws be enforced immediately.

The Natchez Police Department and the Adams County Sheriff’s Office have the expertise, the manpower and the desire to get this job done. They only need to know that our elected officials and the general public are behind them 110 percent.

This campaign needs to be priority No. 1 in Natchez and Adams County and we need to forget about recreation, education, trails, bayous, streets or anything else until this project is finished. For the first time in our city’s history, this project could well become the catalyst that brings our community together as one.

This is admirable of you, Henry, and I hope that all of our citizens will join in and support you by providing you and Chuck, our sheriff, and NPD Chief Mullins with any and everything you need to get the job done. Lay politics and criticisms aside, and let’s stand together on this issue and just maybe, we can then stand together on some other important things.

Our interest in the Roselawn situation can be very valuable to us in so many ways in prosecuting the laws, tracking the apprehension of the criminals and in keeping the public’s interest alive and focused, along with that of law enforcement until the course is secured. There must not be any criminal left out from this cleanup and none immune to prosecution. Judges need to step forward and do their fair share. Judges, tell them we aren’t interested in their fine money, we just want them out of our town. Use the fine money for your bus ticket.

I can’t be the only one in Natchez that is excited about this.

Personally, I would like to see one of The Natchez Democrat reporters follow this story every day, relentlessly, while remaining involved with all its players — law enforcement agencies, both boards, “tipsters,” and school officials. What a story to be told!

Let’s find out who really cares about our city and who doesn’t. We’ll take care of the rest at the polls.

Crime is at the tip of the pyramid and we need to ratchet down to the root problems that are plaguing our city, especially race relations, education, economic development and a happier, safer life for all.

I say, forget the high level surveillance tactics and the three-year stakeouts, start arresting those on the street corner and throw them in jail. I’m not against telling them, in advance, via the headlines of The Democrat, that “we’re coming after you scum bag, it’s your choice to make.” It won’t take long for the criminals to see that we are serious, and they’ll be out of here.

Rudy Guilliano did it in New York City (pop. 12 million), surely we can do it here in Natchez-Adams. It’s all about the will to do it and the determination to stay the course with everybody working together. Failure should not be an option.

We, as a community, are being offered the true opportunity of a lifetime. This our chance to heal, our chance to bond, to stand together and to peacefully co-exist.

Bob Buie Sr.

Natchez resident