From the moment that the trooper turned on his blue light until the tragic ending, the situation was in the control of the young man who was fleeing. Unfortunately he made some very bad decisions that cost him his life. At any time he could have ended that chase by pulling over and surrendering to the trooper, but he, of course, chose otherwise.

I was taught when I was learning to drive that when you see a blue light in your rearview mirror, you pull over and stop. The key word here is STOP.

This is not The Dukes of Hazard and our citizens are not Bo and Luke Duke and the law enforcement officer is not Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. We have a responsibility as licensed drivers to obey the laws, which includes STOPPING when the blue light is in our mirror, not running.

If anything can be learned from that awful situation, it is this: Don't run from a law officer; STOP when that blue light first appears in your rearview mirror. If some folks don't learn anything else for the rest of their lives, maybe they will learn that and that might save their own life.

I have no tolerance for those who break the law nor with those who run from the police, for I am prejudiced, you see. My cousin is a retired Alabama State Trooper, after having served the state for 30 years. Our family is thankful that he was able to retire before anything disastrous happened to him, but we heard enough horrendous hair-raising stories of near misses that let us know just how dangerous a law officer's job is. As a result of this, we all support those men and women whole-heartedly. In other words, no criminal would want me or anyone in my family to sit on their jury!

My cousin did have some unique experiences during his career that he will always remember. For instance, he once stopped Loretta Lynn's vehicle for speeding. When her driver pulled over and my cousin approached the car, Loretta, who had been sleeping in the back seat, raised up and asked what was going on. When my cousin saw her, he gave her driver a warning ticket and let them proceed, for, he confessed, she was his favorite female singer.

Another experience that he had was not as pleasant. It involved his being called to a wreck and discovering that his own brother had been killed in it. Someone had run a stop sign and struck my cousin's car, killing him instantly.

One incident that our whole family thought was hilarious involved my cousin and his daddy. My uncle was a notorious alcoholic. The man just liked to drink and would drink from Friday after work until Sunday night when he would sober up enough to go back to work on Monday. The police were forever stopping him, but, because of my cousin being a trooper, they would just take my uncle to jail and hold him until my cousin could come get him. An embarrassment to my cousin, my uncle was about to be reckoned with by my cousin.

He told his daddy that the next time that he was taken to jail he would just stay there, for nobody in the family was ever coming to get him out. Not believing him, of course, my uncle did his usual weekend drinking, got taken to jail, and my cousin was called. He refused to come, telling his fellow law officers what he was trying to do. He left his daddy in jail for two weeks, even though the man was pleading for someone to get him out.

When my cousin finally went to get him released, he told my uncle that the next time that happened, he would spend months in jail, for he had embarrassed him for the last time with his drinking. Apparently my uncle believed him, as he never took a drink again.To end this column, I just want to state that I have the highest respect for our law officers. I encourage everyone to let them know how much we appreciate them. They lay their lives on the line for us every day to protect and serve us. They are underpaid and often unappreciated, but citizens certainly expect them to be there when they are needed...and they always answer the call, ready once again to put themselves in harm's way for the citizens that they serve. God bless them!