To the editor:

The article "Policeman" that was read by Cape Girardeau's police chief, Rick Hetzel, during the recent Chamber breakfast and that was included in Gary Rust's column was one of the most beautiful and truly expressed of the complete duties and sensibilities of a policeman.

Policemen receive criticism as well as praise and always accept both with dignity.

We depend on a policeman for our safety, guidance and care more than we actually are aware. How fearful it would be for all people, and what an empty gap would exist, without a policeman to give us the feeling of safety and the feeling of dependability.

We are not aware of the complete and many duties of a policeman, as the article so beautifully describes.

A policeman, then, deserves every honor and respect he can get from the public. His life is always in jeopardy.

As the article so clearly states, "He is a minister, a social worker, a diplomat and a gentleman." Let us respect that fact always.

PAULA E. KEMPE

Cape Girardeau