As a longtime Island resident, I too find the increased incidence of home burglaries and general crime frustrating. What else I find frustrating is the volume of cheap, free-flowing heroin circulating the Island and seeping into the high school — and law enforcement agencies’ inability to stifle the flow.

It comes as no surprise to me there is an increase in crime, and I believe it is unreasonable to expect a decrease as long as the drug dealers continue to remain untouchable as they know they are. We can expect more addiction and with it more crime. Historically, the two go hand in hand.

Sorry, folks, because we didn’t deal with the drugs, we now own them both, the drugs and the resulting crime.  The crime is now in our neighborhoods just as surely as the meth labs, the heroin dealers and the cocaine dealers. The results of a subculture addicted to powerful drugs is the crime we are now experiencing.

Lock your doors and say your prayers, Vashon. We’re going to need them.

— Sandy Blake