Dear Editor,

I am writing concerning the drag racing that continues to bring fear in my community on Highway 438 in Angie.

These races consist of people from New Orleans, Mississippi, other neighboring areas, people from our parish, and people in my own community. These people don’t seem to care about the lives of other people in our community. Standbys include children, women, men, a few pit bulls and people carrying weapons. Cars are parked and people are standing on the highway as far as you can see them. Grills are set up to cook as if they are on a parade route.

It seems as if these people have no fear and continue to do this without any regard to the human life. Our community consists of a mostly elderly population and we pay our taxes, so we deserve to be protected. With all of these outsiders coming in, I am afraid that it will only be a matter of time before we begin to have an influx of burglaries, more drugs and other crimes that will invade and take over the peaceful lives that we once had in our small, beautiful community of Live Oak.

We have hard-working families that have to travel Highway 438 to get to our homes after getting off a long day’s work. We shouldn’t have to be afraid to travel our beautiful country road because we fear the invasion of continued drag racing on any given day or night.

My own daughter encountered one of the races on her way home from college. She turned around to go back out and call me about her fear and her encounter. The action taken by these people not only made her afraid to travel our highway, but also disrupted her journey of coming home after a four-hour drive to get there. At that moment, I realized that I could have lost my daughter — my only daughter — over this senseless stupidity.

I am so afraid that on any given day, that one of the drag racers is going to lose control and kill a lot of spectators, which may include children. As a parent, by no means will I condone this type of behavior from my kids. I have stated to them that if they participate in this kind of stupidity, I will be the first to call the sheriff and report them.

I am writing this letter because we need our local law enforcement to help to stop the drag racing in our community. We need them to help provide us with a sense of peace and safety when we travel Highway 438 to go to our homes, after a long day’s work.

Donice Rayford

Angie