Too many roadblocks

The police, border patrol and law enforcement are breaking the law by having roadblocks looking for criminal wrongdoing. The United States Supreme Court has ruled in "City of Indianapolis et al. v. Edmond et al.," decided Nov. 28, 2000. The court has never approved a checkpoint program whose primary purpose was to detect evidence of ordinary criminal wrongdoing.

Also the police do not have the right to do a pat-down unless they think you have a weapon and are armed and dangerous. This is another United States Supreme Court case: "Terry v. Ohio (1968) perform a "pat-down" of a driver and any passengers upon reasonable suspicion that they may be armed and dangerous.

We need to stand up for our rights and put a stop to these roadblocks. People need to know their rights. The other day they had a roadblock on Route 56 and the cars where backed up for a half a mile both ways, and they did this for almost two hours. What has gone wrong with our country and our rights? It's like crossing over to Russia, and all we are doing is driving from Potsdam to Massena, or Potsdam to Malone.

I read the other day they busted a person on route 11B at a roadblock, and they had 2.8 grams of marijuana. The law in New York is you can have up to seven-eighths of an ounce of marijuana which is 24.5 grams and it's a fine of $50 and a surcharge. So we spend thousands of dollars to set up these roadblocks to have someone pay a $150 fine. That's using our tax money wisely.

William R. Wagstaff Jr.

Massena