Pubdate: Thu, 03 Nov 2005
Source: Lufkin Daily News (TX)
Copyright: 2005 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. - The Lufkin Daily News
Contact:  http://www.lufkindailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3616
Author: Ashley Cook

OFFICIALS SEARCH FOR WAYS TO KEEP DRUG ABUSE FROM HURTING FAMILY MEMBERS

How does a community change the culture of addiction ravaging its 
families and children?

That question is on many minds in the wake of the Candice Alexander 
murder case closure Tuesday. It was that day that Johnny and Rebecca 
Lee, 54 and 37, guilty of murdering their 15-year-old daughter by 
methamphetamine overdose, left the courtroom to begin serving 
matching life sentences.

The pair had left Alexander's lifeless body on their living room 
floor for hours as they cleaned up remnants of a drug lab before 
calling 911. Her sisters, then 13 and 16, both step- and biological 
parents and a host of family and friends were so deeply involved in 
the violent, physically and sexually-abusive drug world that they 
could not, or would not, save her.

She'd wanted something different, to escape the life that trapped 
her. But she never made it, Angelina County District Attorney Clyde 
Herrington said, pausing Tuesday evening after the trial to reflect 
on the case.

Alexander's case had been among the hardest in his 20-plus years in 
office, he said. And it had made him take stock. What went wrong? 
Every child in society ought to have a chance, he said.

"Candice wanted a better life, and a different life. She was really 
special," Herrington said, tears choking his words.

A teacher who'd had Candice as a student described the girl as bright 
and capable, he said. Even the few times she was able to attend, 
she'd caught up quickly, he said, evidence of a potential never realized.

Her case joins the rising number of violent methamphetamine-related 
crimes in Angelina County, Herrington said.

In October 2004, Herrington worked the Bailey Heald capital murder 
case. In that case, baby-sitter Felicia Pelzel was sleeping off a 
methamphetamine jag when she suffocated 2 1/2-year-old Bailey Heald. 
Pelzel is now serving a 57-year prison sentence.

The court system was clogged with cases, Herrington said. And drug 
treatment programs, suffering massive funding cuts over the last few 
years, were not working.

"What we're doing is not effective," Herrington said.

New programs like Drug Court, an intensive anti drug-addiction course 
organized by state District Judge Paul White, were good, Herrington 
said. But there is room for much more, he said.

Education is the key, reaching kids young enough before they start 
trying drugs, Herrington said.

"And not just schools. Churches, parents, community organizations - 
everybody," Herrington said.

Phyllis Grandgeorge, executive director of the Deep East Texas 
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council, agreed.

Grandgeorge Wednesday said she was worried the Alexander case would 
prejudice the community against methamphetamine users. There was a 
whole lot more going on in the Lee family besides drug abuse, she 
said. While drugs did play a major role in the case, many addicts - 
drug and alcohol abusers alike - are good, functioning members of the 
community, holding jobs while fighting their addiction, she said.

A consequence of methamphetamine use in particular is both the child 
neglect and sexual perversion seen in the Lee case, Grandgeorge said.

The drug hyper-stimulates the pleasure-sensing areas of the brain, 
damaging and impairing those connections. Users will abandon 
everything important to them to get the drug, to feel the high.

Angelina County is seeing its second and third generations of 
methamphetamine addicts, often within the same families.

"Grandpa was arrested for cooking 20 years ago. He taught it to his 
son, who passed it on to grandson," Grandgeorge said.

Entire families are sucked into methamphetamine addiction, different 
from the ravaging effects of alcoholism and cocaine abuse on 
families, she said.

Angelina County Sheriff's Sgt. Dawn Stripling has seen the 
generational effect of methamphetamine firsthand. Frustrated by the 
increasing abuse she witnesses in families wracked by drug crime, she 
has hopes the Lee's double life sentences will have an impact on the 
drug community.

"I hope this sends a pretty strong message to all our methamphetamine 
users, for taking their children into these environments," Stripling said.

If anything positive can be taken away from the Alexander case, it 
should be a lesson in cooperation between law enforcement agencies, 
according to Herrington and Stripling.

Suggestions of the sheriff's office dropping the ball early on in the 
case were unfounded, Herrington said firmly, crediting Stripling and 
Sheriff Kent Henson for continuing to work the case and provide 
information in cooperation with federal, state and local agencies. 
The FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office, Texas Rangers, Sheriff's deputies 
and Lufkin police detectives all worked the case.

Lufkin Police Sgt. David Campbell, who took the lead in the case, 
made the difference, Herrington said. He thanked Lufkin Police Chief 
Larry Brazil for allowing Campbell to continue his extensive 
involvement on the case.

"What I hope we will foster is a spirit of cooperation between 
agencies," Herrington said. "We want to get the job done, and these 
are some great folks."

Bringing the Lees to justice was worth the long hours, and learning 
to work together, Stripling said.

"I see in the future a good working relationship for us to solve 
major crimes that are interrelated between the city and county, 
including Huntington, Hudson and Zavalla," Stripling said. "It gave 
us contacts all around the board."

There is still a lot of work to do, for all agencies fighting 
methamphetamine. Stripling had recently come across a 14-year-old 
methamphetamine addict.

"She'd been using since she was 11," Stripling said.

Fighting to get someone out of their drug-dependent environment and 
over the first months of recovery is a major part of the battle, 
Grandgeorge said. Addicts or family members needing help can contact 
ADAC for confidential assistance at 936-634-5753, or toll-free at 
1-800-445-8562.

Anyone suspecting a child is being abused can call the Child 
Protective Services hotline at 1-800-252-5400 or a local law 
enforcement agency. Calls can be confidential.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman