Editor:

Let me respond to the Casper Star-Tribune article, "Alcohol facts sober officials," Oct. 25.

If the state Legislature wanted respect for the laws, they should have made the laws respectable. Convicted felons on parole are forbidden to drink, because of the crimes they chose to commit, but innocent citizens under the age of 21 are forbidden to drink, because of crimes somebody else committed.

Just because the legislators don't approve of underage drinking, doesn't give them the right to attack underage drinkers by means of a knife, a bat or a police force.

Wyoming First Lady Nancy Freudenthal said, "Parents need to stand behind the law enforcement officers doing their job, whether it is their child involved or someone else. That is a huge deterrent to alcohol use by minors."

I don't want gun-toting goons in bulletproof vests grabbing any kids, handcuffing them, forcing them into patrol cars against their will and delivering them to the government's jail just because of the beverages they chose to drink. In a free country, the citizens decide what to drink, and parents regulate their children living under their roofs.

Libertarians continue to demand the repeal of underage drinking restrictions.

I have a dream that my two children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the date of their birth but by the content of their character.

TOM ALCIERE, Nashua, N.H.