I haven’t seen anyone respond to what’s been going on with Sheriff Freitag and Mr. Prinzing here in town, but because I saw another story on the news this morning on this issue and a story in the paper about letters going out and huge signs appearing about the sheriff’s “goon squad,” I’m going to put my two cents worth in.

I did not vote for Sheriff Freitag, so this is not a letter endorsing him. This is a letter to tell anyone, and at this time Mr. Prinzing, that you do not have a right to ask the sheriff to have “his goons” stop searching his business for evidence in a criminal investigation when a lawful warrant has been issued. You don’t have the right to ask for favors, no matter who you are, and, at this point, you’re starting to look ridiculous with your signs and letters.

I know if you ask nearly all politicians nowadays, they will say they don’t take campaign donations and then give favors for those donations, but we all know better. Anybody with decent morals knows that’s wrong and that it should not be tolerated, but there will always be those politicians and donors out there who believe this is the way it has always been and will always be. Mr. Prinzing, a law enforcement agency served you with a search warrant. If you’re an upstanding business person, you’ll comply with the warrant, you won’t go running to the nearest politician and ask or tell — whichever the case may be — them to stop what’s going on. If you’re embarrassed by having an investigation and want it stopped, you sure don’t advertize it and let the whole world know that you’re being investigated and that the sheriff isn’t doing his job by helping you when, in fact, he is doing his job.

I congratulate Sheriff Freitag for telling you there was nothing he could do, even if in this case it was because it wasn’t his department doing it. The government is supposed to do its job independent of the wealth of its citizens. If a rich citizen does a crime, they have to face the consequences, just like a middle-income or low-income person would. It’s like a child. How will they ever know right from wrong if no one tells them no. Remember the affluenza defense for vehicular homicide? This may come as a surprise to some, but people with money are no better than any other citizen just because they have the ability to spread the wealth around to political campaigns in hope of future favors. This type of behavior by politicians and campaign donors is nothing but corrupt. If this is the only reason to get into politics, we need to refurbish the whole political landscape. If there are favors being given out by anyone in our local, county, state or national governments because of who is asking, hang your heads low in shame.

Kathy Diaz

Albert Lea