District attorneys in Talladega and St. Clair counties are keeping their eyes on a bill making its way though the Legislature this session that would make it a felony to have children present in a drug house. Last week the Endangered Children Protection Bill passed through the House of Representatives and will now go before the Senate. If the Senate approves the bill without making changes, it will go on to Gov. Bob Riley for final approval. The bill was brought to the Legislature as part of Attorney General Troy King's crime package. [continues 829 words]
Editor -- So, now a generation of senior citizens that grew up with segregation and is currently living in public housing is to be made homeless because their grandkids or caregivers use drugs somewhere else. And a college student who smokes a joint can become ineligible for student loans; that's a penalty neither rapists, murderers nor thieves must face. This country has the world's largest prison population, and more than half of them are nonviolent drug offenders. The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling penalizing people simply because they're related to an alleged criminal, is not dissimilar to the pre- Civil War edict that any man in a free state could be forced to help capture a runaway slave. That law was eventually repealed as a result of popular protest; one can only hope that this madness ends the same way. DANIEL THOMPSON San Francisco [end]
