Dear Editor,
In response to last week’s letter to the editor regarding the nosy neighbor, I just have to say I am so confused as to what the complaint really was, and how contradicting it is that she used the word judgment when that is exactly what she herself has done.
Quick re-cap for those who may not have seen it. A woman was working in her yard at 5:15 a.m., it was very dark outside and she was wearing a head lamp while spreading mulch in her garden. A car pulls up, backs away, and then 5 minutes later a sheriff’s deputy arrives.
So, you are wearing a head lamp, lurking around in the yard in the dark, and you are surprised when someone called the sheriff’s office? I call that “being a good neighbor.” Someone surely thought you might have been a burglar.
Also, the fact that it only took five minutes for an officer to arrive is a blessing. Quick response time saves lives. (Thank you, officer.)
The fact that you are outraged that he dare ask if you lived there, well, that is his job. I believe you are jumping to conclusions that you were harassed because of the color of your skin under the circumstances you mentioned.
Let’s hope your neighbor continues to keep a watchful eye. I sleep better knowing that someone is willing to call when there is suspicious activity.
Jean McLean
In response to Sharon D. Clayton’s Letter to the Editor in the January 26, 2017 edition:
Dear Editor,
It was 5:15 a.m., and it was “very dark,” as quoted from Ms. Clayton’s letter. She was wearing a head lamp to see to work in her yard.
A car was driving by, and the driver paused to watch someone wearing a head lamp moving about in the dark.
After a few minutes, the driver backed up, and five minutes later a sheriff’s deputy pulled up and “shined his bright light in my (Ms. Clayton’s) face,” and asked, “Do you live here?”
It is hard for me to understand how that event translates to racism. Were this to have happened to me, I would have thanked the deputy and asked him to pass on a “thank you” to the passerby.
A Kings Point resident
