Pubdate: Sun, 26 Nov 2000
Source: Topeka Capital-Journal (KS)
Copyright: 2000 The Topeka Capital-Journal
Contact:  616 S.E. Jefferson, Topeka, Kansas 66607
Website: http://cjonline.com/

YEP, WE'RE WATCHING

A former city clerk in Scranton is arrested for allegedly manufacturing 
methamphetamine in her home. A Kansas Highway Patrol trooper inspects a 
suspicious tanker truck near Goddard that turns out to be carrying 3,400 
pounds of marijuana -- a record $2.3 million bust for the patrol.

And in Wamego, just west of Topeka, federal authorities have been 
dismantling what is claimed to be one of the largest LSD manufacturing 
sites in the world, in a former Cold War missile silo.

For law-abiding citizens naively going about their day-to-day business and 
living their lives by the rules, the drug world seems to be from another 
planet. But the above incidents are dramatic reminders that illegal drugs 
are all around us: tucked inside the truck in the next lane, hidden in the 
house down the street -- or disguised as a spring-making factory in a silo 
just outside of town.

But at least in Kansas, you can run but you can't hide -- for long. People 
talk. Neighbors pay attention. Questions get asked. What may seem like a 
remote place to an outsider may actually be a conspicuous part of a 
close-knit community.

It seems things will always be this way. As long as people are sad or 
foolish enough to seek out the other world in our midst, then someone will 
be supplying the ticket.

Our burden, then, will be eternal vigilance. People who take drugs might 
think it's no big deal. That it's their business. Sorry, but when drug 
dealers are disturbing the calm night air of a peaceful rural Kansas 
community, it's everybody's business. And more than that, it's a crime. 
It's a crime what they're doing to our communities, and it's a crime what 
they're doing to our kids.

The peaceful folks of Kansas are under no illusions now that the drug 
dealers aren't constantly in our midst.

Likewise, the dealers had better not be under the illusion that they're not 
being watched.
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