LETTER TO A SHERIFF!

20th January, 2007


Sheriff Wiley Griffin
Decatur County Sheriff’s Office
912 Spring Creek Road
Bainbridge, Georgia 39817


Dear Sir:

Enclosed please find a copy of a poem I wrote that was inspired by a journey down Highway 84 in the State of Georgia.

Also a copy of a courtesy warning I received from Deputy Efrain Beltran.

I was returning from a combined business trip and brief vacation to South Florida and decided to take Highway 84 instead of continuing up Highway 75 through Atlanta because I am always interested in exploring new areas of the United States of America.

Also because I was aware that a winter storm had affected Missouri and was likely to cause freezing rain in Atlanta and its precincts and that crossing the lower portion of the State might cause me to avoid this hazard.

Also because I had used Highway 231 on the my travel South from my place of residence in Memphis, Tennessee and had been impressed the economic development I perceived in and around Dothan and wished to see more of that area, I live a nomadic existence and have no ties and am always on the look out for new areas in which I might settle.

The Deputy used his lights to signal me to stop, which I did.

He used the loudspeaker in the police car to instruct me to move higher on the shoulder so as not to obstruct traffic which I was also happy to do.

When he came to the window beside me he indicated that he had stopped me because the tint in my window was too dark which was against the law in Georgia.

He used an instrument to measure the degree of tint and got a reading of twenty, and advised me that anything below a reading of thirty two was illegal and wrote a courtesy warning slip which was blurred because of the slight drizzle which had begun to fall.

He requested my Driver’s License and asked me to get out of the car.

I indicated that it was cold and requested that I be allowed to retrieve an overcoat that was in the trunk of my car, he denied this request.

I made a gesture while making this request towards my pocket and he said that I should not go into my pocket and requested if he could search my person.

Again, I was happy to comply and was searched, and the bulge in my pocket that had aroused his disquiet turned out to be a cell phone, allaying his fears.

As we stood waiting for my license to be run he said that he found it strange that I had taken Highway 84 instead of continuing up Highway 75.

I indicated that I liked to explore new country; I did not rehearse my other reasons not wanting to overburden the Deputy with possibly esoteric concepts for him that might overburden his profile of me and exacerbate a situation which I knew was always fraught with danger.

It was a prospect I had considered previously on the way South as I traveled on a lonely part of Highway 231; I remembered that as brief a time span as fifty years ago, a strange Nigger traveling in Alabama would be very likely to be advised, “Do not let the sun set on you in this County,” and that heeding that advise would be very pertinent to his continued well being.

The Deputy then indicated that he would like to search my car, although this required that I continue to stand in the open on a cold embankment and was
certain to result in my discomfort and might adversely affect my health; I was happy to comply since I had nothing whatsoever to hide and I concluded that giving in to his more and more autocratic demands might remove me from this predicament more speedily and safely that resisting his requirements.

After he had searched the interior of the car, searching the trunk required that he allow me to shut of the car to get the key that would allow access that section of the automobile, and I was allowed to don the overcoat that gave some protection from the cold weather.

This search bore no fruit as I knew it would not, but he continued the search examining those portions of the car that could be reached by opening the passenger door and the back seat, and the underside of the car - while I waited in the cold.

If I neared him for any reason he reacted with disquiet though at no time did I by any stretch of the imagination fail to give in to his demands or act in a threatening manner.

Eventually, after more than half an hour in the cold, his examination of the vehicle was complete, my license had been run, and it had been discovered that I have had no violations of any kind in the past ten years, and I was allowed to proceed.

The fact is that I am a practicing Christian, as a tender of this is the fact that I turned the other cheek and shook his hand when he was leaving despite my conclusion that he had rankly abused his power because of a profile of me that existed totally in his mind, one that had nothing to do with reality.

I am scrupulously honest, and have a deep respect for the law.

A lady on my job sells bootleg DVDs at such a price that I could afford and these movies reduced the severity of my solitary existence; yet as soon as I concluded that there might be some illegality involved I ceased being her customer.

It is much more likely that your Deputy is on the ‘take,’ than it would be possible for me to engage in any illegal activity, especially impossible would be my involvement in drug trafficking as your Deputy assumed I was, since I was from Jamaica, and had African forebears to boot.

So certain am I of my morality, that I offer the open ended commitment that at any hour of the day or night I will submit to a lie detector test and waive my rights under the Fifth Amendment.

I am sure that I am unusual if not unique, but having said that it is certain only a very small per cent of travelers on Highway 84 are trafficking in drugs or guns or engaged in any other illegal activity.

Your Deputy presumed my guilt when he should have presumed my innocence which is consistent with the facts and the laws of this nation which he is sworn to uphold.

I strongly protest my enforced sojourn in the cold for no rational or reasonable cause which, after the comparatively warm temperature in the car, has caused me to coughing and experiencing tightness in my chest symptoms which I hope are not precursors of a more serious illness, especially since I am sixty one years old, a senior citizen.

The presumption of innocence is one of the foundations of civilized social relationships and of democracy and this reinforces my conclusion that there is still a ‘dirty South’ which has not changed much in the last fifty years; and, I have learned my lesson I will not leave the main drag in this region and try to experience more of this beautiful country in which I reside.

Yours Sincerely



William E. Virtue

3222 Airways Blvd
Memphis, TN 38116
Ph: 901-322-3800




Forever Exiled

The four lane highway meanders through,
The skeleton, skeletal shapes and figures in forests,
Limbs and trunks stripped and bared by winter.
Interspersed with stands of commercial religious festive pines,
Carefully nurtured and kept green by the expectation of profit
at the coming end of year;
Also with areas of lawn a shocking almost unnatural emerald green;
With large acreages straw brown lying fallow awaiting the plough,
If global warming allows the weather to fulfill the fervent hope
and promise of Spring.
Occasionally the sight of living creatures, pleasantly assaults my senses,
Cows and horses stand enduring - uncomplaining and
unsheltered, the low temperatures.

Travel so carefully and meticulously documented and treasured, takes me,
Not home, because I have no home, but to the location
That is, my present always temporary ever solitary abode.
Morality has transported me beyond the human concourse.
I am permitted only a nomadic existence, the barest
minimum of social contact;
Bereft of family and friends totally and wholly dependent on the tender mercies and uncertain generosity of complete strangers.
With two major consolations, I have developed a capacity for civility and love;
And, I can perceive and formulate beauty from the most prosaic and innocuous experiences.

William E. Virtue

Copyright Retained