Pubdate: Mon, 22 Aug 2005
Source: News-Sentinel, The (Fort  Wayne, IN)
Section: A, Pg 10, Editorial Briefs
Copyright: 2005 The News-Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.fortwayne.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1077
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Mark+Souder

IN THE TWILIGHT ON THE METH CRISIS

U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-4th District, is continuing his criticism of the 
Bush administration's response or, rather, lack of it to the country's 
methamphetamine crisis. The measures just announced, Souder says, are too 
little, too late. "We're looking for a scream, not a peep," he says. "This 
proposal, unfortunately, doesn't have anything new in it. At my last 
hearing they waved a report with a list of recommendations, and this was 
all in it." Souder, chairman of a subcommittee that authorizes legislation 
involving drug-control efforts, has had repeated hearings criticizing the 
administration for not taking strong enough measures to fight meth.

The administration pledged to make $16.2 million available over three years 
for treatment grants in seven states California, Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, 
Montana, Georgia and New Mexico. And it would limit sales of 
pseudoephedrine but would not require that cold medicines be sold from 
behind pharmacy counters. Oh, and it will come up with a paltry $1 million 
for anti-meth ads on TV.

And that's pretty much it. Pathetic. Sen. Jim Talent, a Republican from 
Missouri, has exactly the right take: "Their plan is inadequate. If they 
are not in the dark (about meth), they are in the twilight."

He Kept Us On The Moral High Ground

If J. Roberts Dailey had done nothing else at all in his public-service 
career, he would deserve recognition for holding back the beginning of a 
state lottery for a decade. Roberts, whose funeral was last week, exercised 
close to absolute power after he became speaker of the Indiana House in 
1981. Many of the commentaries about his death have pointed out the 
increasing democratization of General Assembly operations in recent years 
and correctly noted that Dailey's use of power was what ultimately undid 
him with voters.

But at least he didn't covet power for power's sake or to line the pockets 
of his friends. He wielded it in pursuit of what he considered to be good 
causes. One of them was stopping the lottery, which he considered a moral 
blight. He was right.

The Smoking Snitches

If you want your college-age kids to grow up to be tattletales, send them 
to Purdue University, where they will be able to get practical experience. 
A new smoking policy allows people on campus a chance to snitch on smokers 
who break the rules. The policy, which begins today, bans smoking in all 
university facilities, including outdoor athletic facilities and theaters. 
Smokers will be able to light up once they get 30 feet from university 
buildings. The policy calls for "concern forms" that people can use to 
anonymously report smoking violations. The forms record the exact location, 
time and nature of the violation and ask for suggested solutions to the 
problem.

The policy itself isn't particularly groundbreaking. It tries to sort out 
the rights of smokers and non-smokers in a reasonable way. But trying to 
turn the whole campus population into a bunch of low-rent Crime Stoppers is 
a bit much.

They're Just Not Reaching The Boys

That much-discussed nationwide survey of high school students by Indiana 
University has one particular component worthy of much further discussion. 
Boys, it found, are much more alienated in school these days than girls. 
More than one-third of students think their teachers do not care about 
them, but, of the students who "strongly disagree" that they are supported 
and respected by their teachers, 65 percent are boys. Students who feel 
that way in high school aren't likely to have any better attitudes as they 
get older.

Today's Briefs By Leo Morris For The Editorial Board
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MAP posted-by: Beth