To the editor:

I was struck by both the civic-mindedness of someone so young, and also the nativity. Wagner, Kehoe, Hawley and other republicans seem to have made quite an impression on those in attendance at John Burroughs prep school on March 22.

No doubt drugs, alcohol, anything that will render mind altering relief – even if only temporary – to a desperately hopeless society is never a good thing, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that in all of 2024, less than an once of fentanyl was seized on the northern border and very, very, little at illegal crossings on the southern border.

Looking through the smoke screen that results from this current GOP, Dixiecrat mentality, what I see are devious people using conjured up emotions of otherwise well-intending people in order to cut social programs that were created to provide help for those communities they pretend to be oh so concerned about.

Al Wilson

St. Louis County

Editor’s note: Per the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website, 43 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the northern border in 2024. At the southwest border, 21,148 pounds of fentanyl were seized in 2024.