A group that persuaded Eureka Springs voters to pass a pro-marijuana initiative plans to continue its efforts by proposing a similar ordinance in at least one other town, a spokesman said.

The ordinance, which passed in Tuesday's general election, makes arrests and prosecution of adults for misdemeanor marijuana possession of an ounce or less and paraphernalia possession, a low law-enforcement priority.

In September, Fayetteville NORML collected 156 petition signatures in Eureka Springs, a dozen more than needed to put the question to voters.

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Having an Ounce or Less Would Be Akin to a Traffic Violation

EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. Here in the heart of the Bible Belt, where local laws often restrict the sale of liquor, grassroots campaigns to decriminalize marijuana have gone nowhere.

But to the surprise of enthusiasts across the state, residents in the small tourist town of Eureka Springs will vote Nov. 7 on whether to make misdemeanor marijuana arrests the city's lowest law-enforcement priority.

Local leaders of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the group that collected the signatures needed to get the initiative on the ballot, hardly can believe their day has come.

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BENTONVILLE -- People must make decisions every day about what they do and who they spend time with, Joe Falcon told students Friday at Spring Hill Middle School.

Falcon is a corporal with the Bentonville Police Department and a Bentonville Board of Education member. He shared perspectives from both entities about how important it is to keep students away from drugs. His talk closed a week of drug awareness throughout the country called Red Ribbon Week.

" Every day you have to make choices about who you're with, " Falcon said of spending time with people who might do drugs or drink alcohol. " Don't put yourself in a situation where you suffer repercussions for their poor choices. "

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Teachers, Counselors Use Games, Programs, Prizes To Help Get The Drug-Free Message Across

For the state-wide Red Ribbon Week, a program designed to prevent or stop drug and alcohol abuse among students, schools in the Russellville School District acknowledged the week in a variety of ways.

Although it is not tied to the state Red Ribbon Week, the secondary school's Alcohol Reduction Grant from the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the United States Department of Education provides funding to promote drug-free activities all year, according to Jenny Barber, federal programs coordinator at the district.

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University of Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt told area fifth-graders on Thursday that the secret to success is to stay drug free.

" As you get older, there's going to be more temptation, " Nutt said. " One day, someone's going to ask you to ' drink this' or ' smoke this' or ' take this pill' because it will make you feel better. Well, I'm here to tell you that's a lie. "

Nutt was one of three speakers during the 10 th annual Red Ribbon Rally at Bud Walton Arena.

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Rhetoric was high but attendance was low Saturday morning during a candidate forum sponsored by the White County Farm Bureau. Only 50 were in attendance, including Asa Hutchinson, the Republican candidate for governor, and Andy Mayberry, the Republican candidate for the third Congressional district. Ginger Beebe represented her husband, Mike Beebe, the Democratic candidate for governor, while Ed Fry represented Congressman Vic Snyder, the Democratic incumbent.

Stanley Hill with the Farm Bureau spoke for Preferred Question One, saying the investment of $250 in Arkansas' higher education was necessary. The states of Mississippi and Tennessee have invested $600 million and $1 billion respectively in recent years, Hill said.

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COTTER -- Cotter Police Chief Joe Robison resigned Tuesday, Mayor Mo Mosley said.

"It was more than he was willing to contend with," Mosley said.

Mosley asked Robison to take a drug test; and after Robison consulted with his attorney, he declined to take the drug test and resigned, Mosley said.

Robison could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Mosley, who was contacted after business hours, said The Baxter Bulletin could receive a copy of the resignation letter Wednesday.

Robison was hired as Cotter police chief April 17.

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In a few weeks, Eureka Springs voters will have an opportunity to make an important statement. While some believe voting to make enforcement of marijuana laws in the city a low priority is pointless because state and federal laws trump city ordinances, the point is to make a long overdue point. The point of voting for this measure is to announce to the world that the people are wise to the hoax of this war on marijuana, and that they are no longer going to sit by quietly and allow the government to squander resources and ruin lives for no actual purpose.

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Misdemeanor Arrests For Marijuana Might Sink Low On The List For The Eureka Springs Police.

EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. -- Here in the heart of the Bible Belt, where local laws often restrict the sale of liquor, grass-roots campaigns to decriminalize marijuana have gone nowhere. But to the surprise of pot enthusiasts across the state, residents in the small tourist town of Eureka Springs will vote next month on whether to make misdemeanor marijuana arrests the city's lowest law enforcement priority.

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BENTONVILLE -- You are the meth solution.

That's the simple message members of the Benton County Methamphetamine Task Force and Drug Free Rogers-Lowell want to spread as they recognize October as Methamphetamine Awareness Month.

" This is a terrible problem in our community, and we have to do something about it, " Bentonville Police Chief James Allen said Tuesday. " It's a community problem, and it will take the community to solve it. "

Allen and Congressman John Boozman, R-Ark., were the two speakers during Monday's kickoff ceremony to focus on methamphetamine abuse during the month.

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BERRYVILLE - A countywide initiative to abolish the jail tax failed to make it to the November election ballot but three Eureka Springs issues did.

They included: an initiative to abolish the two-cent City Advertising nd Promotion Commission tax; continuation of a Parks and Recreation tax; and a marijuana initiative aimed at making adult misdemeanor possession the lowest law enforcement priority.

The jail tax initiative to abolish the half-cent tax failed to make it tothe November ballot because the petition was 409 signatures shy of the mark.

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Eureka Springs

A Fayetteville pro-marijuana group has collected enough signatures for a November ballot initiative seeking to make marijuana arrests in Eureka Springs a low law enforcement priority.

Fayetteville NORML collected the required number of signatures to put the question to Eureka Springs voters during the Nov. 7 general election, said Ryan Denham, the group's president.

The Carroll County Election Commission approved the ballot measure Monday, election coordinator Cathy Ellis said.

The initiative seeks to make arrests and prosecution of misdemeanor marijuana possession of 1 ounce or less a low priority, Denham said.

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Members of the Fourth Judicial District Drug Task Force are warning parents about the dangers their teens could face at rave parties.

" It's basically a place where everyone gets together and listens to techno music while waving light sticks around, " said Sgt. Doug Pope, of the Fayetteville Police Department. " The drug of choice associated with raves is typically ecstasy, psilocybin mushrooms, acid and marijuana. "

Last week, Fayetteville police joined with the Washington County Sheriff's Office to make several arrests at a rave east of Fayetteville on Hog Ridge Hollow.

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Members of Project Right Choice on Thursday discussed an upcoming methamphetamine awareness presentation aimed at school staff.

The meeting, which is set for 9 a. m. on Sept. 14, will be held at the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Co-op in Farmington. The program will highlight the effects of methamphetamine abuse, how it's produced and what it looks like. Also discussed will be meth labs and the quantity that's imported. The meeting will target nurses, counselors, resource officers and teachers.

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Clemency For Meth Manufacturer Sends Wrong Message

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has decided to grant executive clemency to Larry Sadler, a Little River County man who is serving 15 years for making methamphetamine.

Sadler, 58, was arrested in December 2000 after eluding authorities since a raid on his house in June of that year.

Authorities say Sadler ran a lab capable of producing 20 pounds of meth, a fairly good-sized operation.

Now, after serving a few years of his sentence, Sadler wants out. And apparently the state parole board and the governor are, for some reason, willing to go along.

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County law enforcement officials across 44 states recently reported methamphetamine as the No. 1 drug problem in their county, according to a survey released last Tuesday by the National Association of Counties (NACo).

Almost half of the counties surveyed reported meth has caused more problems than cocaine, marijuana, and heroin combined.

But despite proposals from the Bush administration to eliminate the grant that funds drug task forces around the country, local and national public officials have proved they are willing to take a stand.

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Methamphetamine use has hit rural communities the hardest, and those also are areas where treatment programs are most limited, experts told Congress on Wednesday.

A common, but untrue, myth is that meth users can't overcome their addictions, said Richard Rawson, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. Rawson said his UCLA clinic treats people addicted to alcohol, cocaine, heroin and meth. Meth users have similar success rates.

But those addicts who most need help can't get to it, said Leah Heaston, a director of treatment centers in rural Indiana, told the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources.

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The Pangburn School District board voted in their May meeting to begin drug testing in grades seven through 12.

Students who are found to be using drugs will not be allowed to participate in extra curricular activities. Superintendent Rick Wood said Friday the policy will begin with the 2006-2007 school year this fall.

"We don't think we have a problem with drugs, but in White County it's growing, so we thought we'd be proactive," Wood said.

Riverview School District has an almost identical policy, Wood said.

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Now that Rush Limbaugh has managed to keep himself out of prison, the punishment he once advocated for drug abusers, let me suggest a new cause for him: speaking out for people who can handle their OxyContin.

Like Limbaugh, Richard Paey suffers from back pain, which in his case is so severe that he's confined to a wheelchair. Also like Limbaugh, he was accused of illegally obtaining large quantities of painkillers. Although there was no evidence that either man sold drugs illegally, the authorities in Florida zealously pursued each of them for years.

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Groups Out To Change Federal Law

In the past five years, almost 1,900 students or prospective students at Arkansas colleges and universities have been denied federal student aid because they admitted to a drug conviction, according to recently released data from the U.S. Department of Education. Arkansas had the eighthhighest rate -- 0.27 percent -- of post-secondary students denied aid among all states, the data show. Nationally, nearly 190,000 students, or about 1 per 400, lost out on funding because of a provision to the Higher Education Act signed into law by President Clinton. Most federal student aid is awarded through Pell Grants, which contribute up to $3,125 per year to an undergraduate, according to the Education Department. The release of a state-bystate breakdown in late April has added steam to the effort of student groups, educators and legislators -- including U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark. -- to repeal the law. On March 22, Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based group that "educates on the harm caused by the war on drugs," filed a class-action lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union against the Education Department, calling for aid to be given to students who were denied it because of drug convictions. There are three plaintiffs so far, none from Arkansas. Snyder is co-sponsoring a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal the provision. "Here's the problem: These are people who are being candid about their past," Snyder said of denied students. "They've been accepted into school.

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