As a Port Townsend High School student, I cannot believe our federal government's proposal to bring in 125 Border Patrol agents to the area, and I support our local officials in the denial of help to this organization.

I also can't believe that the Border Patrol is trying to offer compensation for the state and city police officers to turn over non-citizens. In the past three months the Border Patrol has made 25 arrests, 15 on drug charges and 10 for immigration issues.

For the Border Patrol to be spending resources on local and state law enforcement when they're here for federal law enforcement is a mismanagement of resources.

The patrol is also instilling fear in legal citizens by using checkpoints, which are illegal for local and state officers to perform. Because the patrol is offering a piece of the $60 million Operation Stonegarden, the incentive for places like Port Townsend to break or skim the lines of state law is very high.

Instead of performing random checkpoints, I think that the Border Patrol should take up operations around Port Townsend's two international entry points, the Jefferson County International Airport and the Port of Port Townsend.

I agree with our mayor, who said, "What I find remarkable is that on Jan. 1 the United States signed an agreement with Iraq that outlawed search and seizure and random checkpoints."

CHRIS HOLEMAN

PTHS student

http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?Sectio ... M=57850.27