Letter: Society must first respect the law

I would like to congratulate Liz Farrel for her March 16 column. Her observations on the situation regarding Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner were both objective and constructive.

Like it or not, the people who are directly involved with the issue are by any standards illegal. That means that they are in America illegally. Such terms as undocumented, etc., are simply a cover-up for an illegal situation.

There are various things within our society that are illegal and if we pursue such activity we will be punished. Therefore, I fail to understand why people would protest the actions of our local sheriff who is simply attempting to do the job that he was elected to do: stop illegal activity, be it by an individual or by many.

If I break into another person’s home and steal, that is an illegal act and society would demand that I be punished for such action. Selling illegal drugs is another example of an illegal situation and I doubt if anyone would protest when I was brought to justice through the sheriff’s actions.

Like many of your readers, I was brought up to recognize that there are legal boundaries that as a citizen I must respect and obey. Illegal activity would put me at risk of arrest and whatever followed. And when society decides that illegal activity is now legal, I will be the first to be critical of the sheriff’s action, but until then I believe that society should observe and respect the law.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Letter: Society must first respect the law."