Dear editor,

On Friday, March 3, 2017, my granddaughter, who is a senior at Auburn University, and two of her friends were traveling through Opp on their way to my house. Just as she turned off the south by-pass onto Hwy. 331 south, she suddenly noticed flashing lights in her rear view mirror. The officer told her that he stopped her because she was following too close. He told her he wasn’t going to give her a ticket, but he was going to search her vehicle. By the way, she has an alarm on her vehicle that goes off if she gets too close to another vehicle. However, the alarm never went off. That office must have a good sense of distance judgement for he told her she was less than 10 feet from the vehicle in front of her.

I am not a person in favor of drugs. I am 80-plus years old, and have never used any type of drug. Neither am I in favor of law enforcement using any and every excuse they can to stop a vehicle in order to search it for drugs. This is harassment and targeting of college-age people. If law enforcement has a good reason for stopping a vehicle, then have at it. If drugs are found, then take the proper action.

I think it is time for our city and town governments to step up and stop this type of action. Then maybe people would not be afraid to travel through our towns, stop, and do business.

Billy Dewrell

Florala