The light at the end of the tunnel has been shut off

It was cold out when Bob and Dave thought it would be a good idea to stop at a house that looked like it might be an easy target to find some property to steal. It was very dark, so they decided to leave the headlights on to help light up house so they could see better. The house was a little harder to get into than they thought because the door was solid wood and not easy to kick in. But Bob and Dave were very determined, and a little high, so they would not give up.

They eventually made it into the home only to find the home was empty and nothing was inside for them to take. They decided they better break out some of the windows before they left and took the time to break out every window of the house. They attempted to flee the scene but realized their lights had run the battery down on their car. Now with no option but to walk, they left on foot with a bitter cold wind starting to blow.

Although Bob and Dave were not professional thieves, they did realize about an hour after they left the car still sitting in the driveway of the house they just vandalized had their finger prints all over the place, as well as other items in the car that had their information on it. So, they did the only thing they could do, which was to walk back to the car and make sure nothing was left behind that would connect them to the crime. They made it back to the car even though they were beginning to shake uncontrollably from the bitter cold winds. But before they could take care of any evidence left in the car, a truck pulled into the driveway and a man stepped out with a gun and told them not to move.

By the time a deputy showed up, they were begging to get in his car so they could warm up. The deputy helped them to his car and even went one step further and gave them a place to stay for the night in the Vernon County Bed and Breakfast. Their names were not Bob and Dave, or dumb and dumber, but they were both charged with several crimes that could have been avoided if they had just decided to stay home that night and not go looking for trouble.

People are not always the best decision makers, in fact some are bad at it. You can almost always trace back every decision during a crime to find one small choice that would have changed the entire course of events that would have yielded a completely different outcome. The decision to have that "one beer" with no plan to get a ride home led to a pursuit, a wrecked car, an embarrassing booking photo, and a criminal history. That decision to hang out with the friend you knew would be shooting up meth led to getting arrested in your underwear on the side of the road, and if you had not jumped in the car with those people you know are trouble, you would not have been in the car when it got pulled over just before bags of meth and stolen property were found under your seat.

There is never an end to the amount of bad choices we see people make every day. Each one has their own story of where they came from in life and what led them to their current predicament; and no matter what direction they came from, they are always heading down the same path. At the end of this path is a cliff called destruction. I once saw a poster at an office that read "due to budget cuts the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off." After talking to so many people who have taken a wrong turn in their life, I often think of that poster and wonder if that is how they feel when they decide the consequences of their actions no longer matter. It is the job of law enforcement to enforce the law when it is broken, but if we really want to help as a community, we must find a way to show them that there is still a light at the end of the tunnel and they can make it if they are willing to go down a different path.