I'm sorry, joebillybobimainbrednoteethmullethair.

I didn't know you were so passionate about your civic duty as a citizen. Now, that's out of the way. Yes, this is a discussion board. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Unfortunately, the spirit of debate and disagreement is a dying art in the Sampson County area. I can see by your posting, you're not used to debate or being disagreed with in any way. Your hostility proves that. You must understand that you can disagree without being disagreeable.

Again, if I have offended you in any way I apologize. I never meant to hurt your feelings. It was not my intention. Hurt feelings reports are in the back of the class. Please, feel free to fill one out and turn it in.

Mr Sampco,

No, none of us read the article. For no particular reason we independently decided to randomly fling some unselected remarks about asset seizure into cyberspace. What a coincidence everything happened to land alongside a newspaper article about an actual asset seizure near Roseboro! Amazing.

I don't see any "write your congressman" feature here. This is an online discussion board. Don't like what's posted here? You're not required to read it. Cops don't like what's being said? They're free to quit any time.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but did any of you read the article? Let me refresh the stale minds.

The money was seized according to Federal forfeiture guidelines and the case was adopted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

OK, get it now? The deputy had a legal right according to federal law to seize the cash. If you don't like it write your congressman, but stop coming down on a cop doing his/her lawful job. End of posting and whining....

Given the recent state of affairs on Wall Street Mr. Villa can be excused for deciding his money would be safer in his truck than in a bank. I guess he just didn't figure on getting robbed by the cops.

WTF??? How can the sheriffs department just take the money on the spot and for no reason? What right do they have? Racial profiling? In this case, yes I do believe that is exactly waht it was. Keep in mind that many hispanics in our community are here on a work visa while their families are still in their native country. Did the deputies ever stop to think that maybe that money was for his family? It is not unusual for

migrant workers in our community to save their earnings in order to provide for their families. I know for a fact that some do save very large amounts of money to send home. I have seen with my own eyes a worker walk in and send

up to $10,000 to his family. Those that are here for work usually do not have bank acoounts. So what do you think they do with their money. They have to keep it safe until they can send it to thier family. What if he had the money hidden with him in his vehicle for fear of it being stolen from a commo thief? So what if he could not account for it? Why should he have had to explain at all if the deputies had no reason to question it in the first place? There was absolutely no reason for the deputies to take the money. They found nothing else and had no reason to assume there was any illegal activity. What was their justification for taking the money? What gave them the right to steal from this man? Just because? A lot of hispanics come here for work so that they can provide for their families. I am sure they have to worry enough about keeping the money safe from common thieves but, to have it stolen from someone who is suppose to protect you, us, the people? How can anyone justify taking that much money for no reason at all. Who or what allows this to happen. Not only should the money had been returned, it's wrong that they were allowed to take it without reason in the first place. And exactly why is it that the sheriffs department is able to 'net' this money? I didn't know it was possible for the law to take your property and because they had no reason for taking it, they are allowed to use it a profit.

I suppose I'm just wondering how someone can have their money seized when they are stopped for a routine traffic violation. Maybe there was some racial profiling going on. Hispanics as a general rule carry lots of cash but that doesn't necessarily mean it was obtained illegally. What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Ahem-- this "drug dog" alerted when no drugs were present, only cash. One wonders if the dog conveniently alerts (or, more accurately, its rather non-neutral handler "decides" it alerts) whenever circumstances suggest a search might be productive, effectively opening the door for lawmen to search whenever they wish. If dogs truly can detect currency, any of us with cash in our wallets can be sniffed, searched and relieved of our money by the cops whether any contraband is found or not. This dog's and its handler's records should be scrutinized. I doubt this is an isolated occurrence, meaning that tougher standards for certifying and deploying drug dogs are needed.

I am so happy. Now the town of R'boro can start making payments to the sheriff's for their patrol duties. You don't know what I'm talking about? You see the town of R'boro doesn't have a police force due to mismanagement and other indescretions. The rest they say is history. Hope the town keeps that one traffic light in working order.