180

Today is May the 9th. Around this time of year, not a few years back, Joe Writter bought his last vial of crack cocaine. As soon as he left the corner of 5th and Main, his whole body started shivering--violently at one point, as a matter of fact. He fought to straighten his gait, determined to get home and plunge into a numb bliss once more. But it was not to be. A few meters from his house, some idiot was trying to jack his neighbor’s Cadillac. The car was parked right beneath a beaming street lamp. Roving police caught sight of the scene just as Joe crossed the street and stepped onto the curb. The cops thought him an accomplice and in no time he was counting bricks in a dingy cell. Now, after spending more than a decade in and out of drug rehab, Officer Joseph Gerard Writter of the SMPPD takes the stage to as he is recognized for his service to the community, the corps, and the nation.