WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Authorities are investigating whether radio commentator Rush Limbaugh illegally funneled money to buy prescription painkillers, a law-enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity said yesterday. In his third day back on the air after rehab, Limbaugh responded with a blanket denial of the allegations first reported Tuesday by ABC News. "I was not laundering money. I was withdrawing money, for crying out loud," Limbaugh said during his three-hour broadcast. Limbaugh was absent from his show for five weeks after announcing he was entering a drug-rehabilitation program because of his addiction to prescription painkillers. He told listeners yesterday he could tell them little about the allegations. [continues 299 words]
Jails and prisons in some counties are full to the bursting point, and I read recently that among the fullest are jails in Polk County. Given the increased number of inmates in Polk jails, it appears that it is difficult for some citizens to escape the police and criminal dragnet over members of minority groups. Given the increased number of inmates incarcerated in penal institutions in Polk and other places in Florida, there is a dire need for citizens and public officials to understand specific incarceration patterns and practices. All citizens in Polk should be cognizant of racial disparities in incarceration rates. More specifically, according to the Human Rights Watch Organization, there exists a continuing, extraordinary magnitude of minority incarceration and a stark disparity in their rates of incarceration compared to those of whites who commit the same crimes. [continues 218 words]
There are three times more mentally ill people in prisons than in mental health hospitals. lorida's law enforcement and corrections systems have become the state's de facto mental health treatment providers. More often than not, our law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and parole officers are being forced to serve as the first responders and overseers of a system ill equipped to deal with the consequences of an under-funded treatment system that is stretched beyond capacity. While headline-grabbing tragedies often serve to define the problem in the eyes of both the public and our policy makers, the day-to-day realities for our officers and judges are much different. [continues 670 words]
Salvation Army Center Deserves Fair Hearing Give the Salvation Army a chance. That's what we ask of Tallevast-area residents who oppose the organization's plan for an adult rehabilitation center at U.S. 301 and Tallevast Road. The Army has hired an independent facilitator to moderate a community meeting today to ensure an objective atmosphere prevails. It deserves the courtesy of a fair hearing from residents who object to the center. Some of the opponents have adopted a close-minded attitude toward the center, rejecting the Army's offer of tours of its St. Petersburg facility which is almost exactly like the one proposed in Tallevast. It has operated that center there for more than 25 years without any complaints from neighbors. [continues 170 words]
Tim Sanor understands that Lucky Charms were made from chemicals found on the periodic table. No chemical has any actual supernatural force of allurement. Addictions are medicalized morals. Treatments are a hoax. When looked at from a clinical perspective "soul doctoring" is what goes on. Is Rush Limbaugh getting medical treatment of some sort? No, he's getting a good talking to from another believer. That's what treatment boils down to in the secular state. Rush had admitted he is a voodoo believer and he has gone to the voodoo doctor. It would be laughable if the coercive force of the state wasn't behind it all with a big stick. Chris Buors, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada [end]
The Man's Mother Says He Was Trying To Kick Crack Cocaine. Police Are Investigating Whether He Was Seeking A High When He Was Shot. ST. PETERSBURG - Diana Davis said her son wanted to beat his crack cocaine addiction. But early Wednesday, that habit may have lured Erik Thomas to the Childs Park neighborhood, where he was shot dead, police said. Detectives are investigating whether Thomas, a 35-year-old Largo resident, drove his work truck to 46th Street and 11th Avenue S to buy crack. [continues 280 words]
Limbaugh Spins His Return To The Airwaves "There's more honesty to come," Rush Limbaugh promised on his first day back on the air after five weeks in drug rehabilitation. "More" implies that there has been some honesty, but we must have missed it. Perhaps he meant with himself; his references to his drug treatment ordeal indicated it must have been insightful for so cocky a person as he. That's about as close as he came to apologizing to his audience. His return was vintage Limbaugh, as mean-spirited and narrow-minded as ever. There was no acknowledgement of the hypocrisy of his being exposed as a drug-abusing addict after having harshly criticized public figures tainted by illegal drug abuse in the past. He was in fact defensive on that score, asserting that he's never been "phony" or "artificial" on his program because "I avoided the subject of drugs on this program for the precise reason that I was keeping a secret." [continues 285 words]
'Time For Him To Come Clean' National Enquirer Editor Says Rush Limbaugh returned to the airwaves Monday, saying he is "powerless" to overcome his drug addiction without professional help but vowing not to turn into "a linguine-spined liberal." Five weeks after leaving his radio program for a rehabilitation clinic, Limbaugh at times sounded more like Dr. Laura than the most popular conservative commentator on the air. "I can no longer turn over the power of my feelings to anyone else, which is what I have done a lot of my life, in order to be liked, appreciated or understood," he said. "And in the process I denied myself who I was. I can't be responsible for anybody's happiness but my own." [continues 303 words]
Florida's law enforcement and corrections systems are rapidly evolving into the state's de facto mental health treatment providers. More often than not, our law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and parole officers are being forced to serve as the first responders and overseers of a system ill equipped to deal with an underfunded treatment system that's stretched beyond capacity. While headline-grabbing tragedies often define the problem in the eyes of the public and our policy-makers, the day-to-day realities for our officers and judges are much different. [continues 551 words]
This week, Orlando will be host to the 17th Annual Statewide Drug Prevention Conference, where more than 1,000 participants from federal and state government, public and private organizations, community coalitions and involved youth will gather to discuss and reinforce the effectiveness of current prevention strategies and learn and share new methods and ideas. Participants will take part in workshops, presentations and activities where the constant free flow of ideas will lead to innovative and effective means to continue prevention efforts. [continues 741 words]
Few people today want to accept personal responsibility but, even under contemporary standards a Tennessee woman's lawsuit is nothing short of bizarre. The woman, under the influence of crack cocaine, was driving to Nashville to see her parole officer. Police tried to pull her over twice, and both times she fled. She got away the first time. During the second chase, however, she lost control of her stolen car and it hit two officers trying to stop her with a spike strip. Both were killed. [continues 123 words]
ORLANDO, Fla. - Sylvia Cover remembers her husband telling the physician, "Just fix me up, Doc, so I can get back to work and take care of my family." Six months later, Gerry Cover was dead. Hooked on a powerful painkiller called OxyContin, the 39-year-old handyman and father of three died from an accidental overdose. The drug had been prescribed by his doctor for pain from a mild herniated disc. The Kissimmee, Fla., man's death in September 2000 was an individual family's tragedy. But a nine-month investigation by the Orlando Sentinel found a broader, more disturbing pattern: During 2001 and 2002, more than 200 deaths statewide have been linked to the highly potent painkiller that has been criticized as being aggressively marketed and eagerly prescribed with only routine oversight from government regulators. [continues 1363 words]
During the 1800s the great French author Victor Hugo said, "The gallows is a balance which has a man at one end and the whole earth at the other." I'm reminded of this when reading in Fort Pierce of the arrest and prosecution of one of our most beneficial citizens, Mike McSween of Advanced Care EmergiCenter. I've not yet read in the Tribune who is to be named as prosecutor in Mike McSween's trial. The identity of the prosecutor will be significant. For purposes of discussion, until he or she is appointed, let's refer to that prosecutor as the "Prosecutor-Person." [continues 421 words]
Thank you for publishing Methamphetamine: The Social Toll on Rural America on Nov. 9 and giving it prominent front-page treatment. Our foundation has been monitoring methamphetamine's rampant growth across the country and its imminent threat to the citizens here in Florida. Meth has a horrendous track record of destroying families, engendering child abuse and neglect and causing the creation of dangerous toxic waste. The appalling stories of meth addiction we have collected range from low income folk desperate to move to the next high to soccer moms who wanted to lose a little weight and keep up with their schedule. [continues 69 words]
As a retired police officer, I know that drug dealers accept, as a condition of employment, risk of death and long prison terms. A recent letter writer's idea that making Florida's prisons into hellholes would deter criminals is naive. Drug dealers only exist because of the prohibition on narcotics. Will we ever be as wise as our grandparents, who abandoned the prohibition of alcohol, and end this failed and futile approach to drugs? Howard J. Wooldridge Keller, Texas [end]
I disagree with the idea put forward in a number of recent letters to the editor that miserable jails and prisons work best for all inmates. Despite the protrayals of prisons in television and film, most do not have TVs in every room or inmates playing football and baseball all day. And many prisons do not have air conditioning or fitness centers. According to a recent article in The Baltimore Sun, "There are over 2 million people incarcerated in the United States alone. That number will double in the next 15-20 years." [continues 218 words]
Thanks for publishing an honest letter complaining about the continued propaganda in the news media against cannabis. I find it frustrating that many media outlets allow drug warriors to spew propaganda unquestioned. Recently, drug czar John Walters appeared on C-Span's Washington Journal to discuss marijuana. He said things like using marijuana as medicine only makes you feel good, so you might as well be smoking crack cocaine. When someone uses cannabis to prevent epileptic seizures or to prevent spasms caused my multiple sclerosis, it's not about feeling good. It's about preventing or reducing debilitating symptoms and illnesses. [continues 195 words]
I was on the jury that found Miami-Dade Police Officer Nicholas Cefolo not guilty of armed cocaine trafficking, attempted cocaine trafficking and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine (Cop found not guilty in drug- stealing case, Nov. 5). Ed Griffith, spokesman for the state attorney's office, said that the verdict was not based on evidence, but on sympathy for the defendant. That is an insulting assumption. Our criminal-justice system asks ordinary citizens to give up their personal lives to sit in judgment of another person's actions. We are asked to swear an oath, to listen to testimony and examine evidence presented in court. We then must abide by the judge's jury instructions, which tell us to reach a verdict of guilt or innocence. [continues 267 words]
Major League Baseball officials finally agreed to step up to the plate and begin penalizing players for steroid use next season after learning that more than 5 percent of this year's tests came back positive. This is a wise course of action for the league. If cheaters are found, they deserve the punishment handed down by league. Anabolic steroids not only are illegal but they also are dangerous. They tend to increase blood pressure, harden arteries and increase the risk of heart disease, liver disease and certain forms of cancer. [continues 349 words]
After reading the Nov. 3 letter, "Short on caring," I felt compelled to write. When referring to liberal critics of Rush Limbaugh, the writer stated that "Apparently compassion is a selective emotion with some, reserved only to those of similar political convictions." While I have seen numerous articles written about Mr. Limbaugh's situation, I have also been pleasantly surprised that some of his staunchest critics have held back at times. Even Al Franken, author of Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, stated, "I wouldn't wish that [drug addiction] on anyone." [continues 242 words]
This is in response to Tonyaa Weathersbee's Nov. 10 column. Let's not be fooled by her brief foray into political correctness. While the personal responsibility backstroke seems genuine, it quickly unravels into an ocean of oversimplification. The column began with Weathersbee speaking of personal responsibility as if she invented it, letting us all know it was understood to the point it doesn't require repeating. The next point was interesting but I'm afraid it, too, failed the logic test. To illustrate the truth of the matter, that far too many people fail at the simple responsibility of avoiding crime, Weathersbee simply used as proof the fact that the United States is the top jailer in the world. She acts as if everyone has already embraced personal responsibility and it just hasn't worked. [continues 299 words]
Florida's law-enforcement and corrections systems are rapidly evolving into the state's de facto mental health treatment providers. More often than not, our law-enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and parole officers are being forced to serve as the first responders and overseers of a system ill-equipped to deal with the consequences of an underfunded treatment system that's stretched beyond capacity. While headline-grabbing tragedies often serve to define the problem in the eyes of both the public and our policy-makers, the day-to-day realities for our officers and judges are much different. A more familiar scenario is one in which an officer responds to repeated incidents involving an individual known to have a history of mental illness. With nowhere to take him or her for treatment or crisis intervention, the officer is forced to place the person under arrest, often for such minor infractions as disturbing the peace or making lewd gestures at passing vehicles. [continues 599 words]
New Team Should Pursue The War With Fresh Energy Sudden changes in the top ranks of the government of Colombia have generated concern about disarray and confusion in a key U.S. ally in region. Fortunately, such fears are greatly exaggerated. Since his inauguration 15 months ago, President Alvaro Uribe has shown that he is an able and energetic chief executive, fully prepared to make a mid-course correction when changes are required -- and that is the case with the recent round of departures. [continues 348 words]
PORT CHARLOTTE -- The tattooed man jailed on charges he injected his girlfriend's 4-year-old with heroin has a history of inflicting domestic abuse, civil court records show. Women here have obtained three temporary restraining orders against Shawn Edward Malsky in the past five years for alleged abuse against them or their children. Documents detail the acts of a man who reportedly bruised the cheek of a girlfriend's daughter when the child refused to eat, and who tried to strangle his wife in front of her children. [continues 943 words]
Watching the news over the weekend, I was ecstatic to see videos of our special-ops men rounding up Saddam and the last of his hellhounds. Finally. There they were, lined up against the wall, handcuffed and staring into the pitiless barrels of revolvers and the steely gazes of 14 of America's toughest hombres. Break out the Dom Perignon! No, wait. Oh, you mean those weren't Baghdad Baathists? And those weren't our special-ops guys? Indeed, the incredible film - by now familiar to most - captured students on their way to class and Goose Creek police officers, who, along with police dogs, conducted a "drug sweep" at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, S.C., a suburb of Charleston. [continues 612 words]
Gov. Jeb Bush's proposal for a prescription-drug database would worsen a system that already causes more societal damage than it prevents. Today a doctor may prescribe medication for his patient not to hurt, but is threatened with revocation of his or her license if he or she prescribes so much that the patient feels good, and then lets police decide which. Doctors, already wary of police surveillance, will become even more restrictive. Their patients will look elsewhere for relief and, if caught, will pay dearly. Florida Statute 893.135 mandates a 15-year prison sentence without parole and a fine of up to $100,000 for fraudulent possession of just (60) 330-milligram pills of Percocet. Let police work on real crime; doctors, on sickness. JOHN CHASE, PALM HARBOR [end]
With tight budgets, many state legislators are reviewing their tough sentencing laws from the past decade. Those inmates cost money, and letting them out early could save some. It's a temptation, but lawmakers beware. news-press.com MyStory: Your chance to join the debate With the states facing budget diffculties, should mandatory criminal sentencing laws be changed to allow earlier release for some convicts? To review mandatory sentencing with new information about crime or rehabilitation is one thing. If mandatory sentences are in the way of rehabilitation that can return inmates to the streets as good citizens, then consider revision. [continues 141 words]
The date rape drug is circulating throughout Peterborough, prompting Crime Stoppers to alert the public to its existence. During the past few months, Peterborough police have investigated several incidents where women have had Rohypnol slipped in their drinks. Rohypnol is a potent sedative with effects identical to alcohol intoxication. It's fast acting with noticeable effects within 15 to 30 minutes after ingestion. Police say the drug is being used to incapacitate females. It's often placed in alcoholic drinks rendering the victim almost helpless and very vulnerable. [continues 86 words]
I'm going to talk about responsibility today. I thought I'd delve into the topic this week for the people who believe that simply embracing the idea of personal responsibility is all it takes to counteract the epidemic of black males who are winding up in the nation's prisons instead of on its college campuses. It ought to be. Black males, who are bound to be treated more harshly by the criminal justice system once they're caught up in it and even harsher by society once they're out of it, would do themselves a big favor by shunning criminal activity. [continues 651 words]
Re "Officials swoop in, close adult gaming arcades," Nov. 8 article: I, for one, will sleep better at night knowing all those gaming arcades are closed. Now all the patrons are free of the evil forces that dragged them into that life of debauchery and can devote more time to the pastimes of retirement. I am glad our law enforcement is focused on the crime that affects our daily life here in Volusia County. It's so easy to get sidetracked by other petty crimes such as drug peddling, prostitution and theft. I will be happy when all our agencies join forces to form a task force to write parking tickets to residents who park the wrong way in front of their houses at night. [continues 71 words]
HIV doesn't care if you are white or black. HIV doesn't care if you are male or female. It doesn't care whether or not you use needles. HIV doesn't care if you are young or old. Because HIV doesn't discriminate when it comes to who it infects, it is not a biased disease, and once it has run its course in one body, it quickly moves to another and another. Help fight this intolerable disease by making education and awareness the first priority when raising a child. The youths of our nation is counting on us to ensure a safe and happy life. Pave this road by being honest and upfront about the dangers of HIV. Mitchell P. Stiles, Mulberry [end]
This is in response to Tonyaa Weathersbee's column about Sheriff John Rutherford's plan to jail repeat misdemeanor offenders. Her remedy for why so many young black men are in jail or prison appears to be for the police to look the other way and not arrest or prosecute them, except for murder or rape. She would also have the police not patrol in proven high-crime areas of predominantly black neighbor-hoods (her theory apparently being if you do not arrest or prosecute the person committing the crime there would be fewer black males in jail). [continues 158 words]
Florida's law enforcement and corrections systems have become the state's de facto mental health treatment providers. More often than not, our law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and parole officers are being forced to serve as the first responders and overseers of a system ill equipped to deal with the consequences of an underfunded treatment system that is stretched beyond capacity. While headline-grabbing tragedies often serve to define the problem in the eyes of both the public and our policy-makers, the day-to-day realities for our officers and judges are much different. A more familiar scenario is one in which an officer responds to repeated incidents involving an individual known to have a history of mental illness. With nowhere to take him or her for treatment or crisis intervention, the officer is forced to place the person under arrest, often for such minor infractions as disturbing the peace or loitering. [continues 612 words]
Watching the news over the weekend, I was ecstatic to see videos of our special-ops men rounding up Saddam and the last of his hellhounds. Finally. There they were, lined up against the wall, handcuffed and staring into the pitiless barrels of revolvers and the steely gazes of 14 of America's toughest hombres. Break out the Dom Perignon! No, wait. Oh, you mean those weren't Baghdad Baathists? And those weren't our special-ops guys? Indeed, the incredible film -- by now familiar to most -- captured students on their way to class and Goose Creek police officers, who, along with police dogs, conducted a "drug sweep" at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, S.C., a suburb of Charleston. [continues 650 words]
Our position: The arrests of Orange County corrections staff show the need for testing. Orange County officials can improve the jail's tarnished image by requiring the entire corrections staff to take drug tests. Immediate drug testing of all corrections employees certainly is an extraordinary measure. But it's also appropriate in light of an ongoing investigation that resulted in the arrests of three officers and the suspension of five others. Two of the arrested officers were charged with smuggling drugs into the jail, and the other with identity theft. One of the arrested officers even told investigators that he was addicted to heroin. [continues 156 words]
FORT PIERCE -- The unmarked sedan drives slowly up Canal Terrace, looking like a regular car until its windshield explodes with a flash of blue and white. Its driver, Cmdr. Frank Amandro, has pulled over a car where a driver is suspected of drinking alcohol. Next to him is an unmarked SUV that also flashes blue and white as men in black vests and khaki pants talk to a man in a pickup truck suspected of speeding. No one goes to jail, but tickets are passed out, driver licenses are checked, and when everything is complete, the SUV and the sedan shut off their lights and disappear into the Friday-night traffic. [continues 555 words]
Prisons should be a place for people to be punished -- not for them to get free food, beds and cable TV. The government is spending too much money on items like these when they should be spending it on a way to prevent crimes. Jail should be a place that would prevent people from ever thinking about breaking the laws, because it should be such a horrible place to live. Today, jails are overcrowded with young people, who are growing in number. Why? [continues 125 words]
MIAMI -- A judge is refusing to reinstate a license yanked by the Drug Enforcement Administration from a pharmacy that filled online orders for prescription diet pills without a doctor's visit. Rx Network had successfully fought state intervention on the same issue. But a different judge sided with the DEA two weeks ago in a license dispute with a second pharmacy operating from the same suburban Davie office complex. "When a district court judge rules in your favor, it's a stamp of approval," DEA spokesman Joe Kilmer said Monday. "(RX Network) chose to ignore us, and finally the system is working the way it's supposed to." [continues 311 words]
I could not believe Florida Today actually printed the recent Associated Press article headlined "Excessive pot-smoking, body fat hurt male fertility." The "pot-smoking causes infertility" myth has been debunked time and time again, yet journalists persist in giving ink to bad science. The author admits it was two "small" studies and even suggests two marijuana cigarettes a day was used to indicate "heavy use." P. Cushman's study headlined "Plasma testosterone levels in healthy male marijuana smokers," published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse in 1975, and a follow-up study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence in 1991 debunk this myth. [continues 112 words]
We recently heard of the personal tragedy of radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, which we hope will work out for the best for him during and after his treatment for drug addiction. Perhaps this is a good time to re-examine the entire federal drug policy in this country. No thinking person can look at the results of the so-called war on drugs and conclude it is anything but a disaster. I won't reiterate all the pros and cons of the drug issue, but sooner or later we must examine the whole issue of illegal and legal mind-altering drugs and the respective policies both in the legal and illegal marketplace. This, of course, bumps up against the current prescription drug debate. [continues 95 words]
I agree with a recent letter that argued a miserable jail works best. While the American people feel it is their responsibility to rehabilitate prisoners back into the mainstream of life, many people seem to think prisoners should be entertained with television, radio and the use of a telephone. At the same time, taxpayers feed them, clothe them and give them a hot shower and three square meals a day. Furthermore, we also give medical care and a nice air-conditioned and heated building. We also thought it best to give prisoners an education, at no expense to them. [continues 122 words]
In reply to the Oct. 25 letter "Can Limbaugh get some Post compassion as well?": Give me a break. The writer claims that The Post sanctions "vicious, hate-filled columns" about Rush Limbaugh's treatment for drug addiction. Obviously, the writer never has listened to Mr. Limbaugh's daily radio show, which is nothing but three hours of him spewing hate toward women and Democrats or anyone who's not a drug-addicted neo-conservative like himself. I'm also tired of Mr. Limbaugh and others like him claiming that he was addicted to prescription drugs. He was not prescribed these OxyContin. He allegedly was getting them from his housekeeper, not a doctor. Last I checked, housekeepers are not licensed to prescribe medication. Mary Lenkersdorf West Palm Beach [end]
In Holmes County, the devil's drug has taken hold, as it has in many overwhelmingly white, poor areas. It's easy to make, easy to hide, even easier to get hooked. And it devastates lives. BONIFAY - Crystal Gainey sat on the wooden steps of her mobile home, sobbing into her tiny hands. Her boyfriend sat shirtless in the back of a patrol car, handcuffed, facing drug charges. Gainey, 19, chain-smoked Marlboro Lights between bursts of tears and tried to convince the deputies she didn't use methamphetamine, that she knew nothing of her boyfriend's dealings, that the thin glass meth pipes, blackened and cracked by heat, belonged to him. [continues 3000 words]
TAMPA - Maritza Ortiz has an 8-by-10-inch photograph of a dead man. The body, bloody and mangled, lies next to a small white car -- wrapped around a concrete post. Ortiz shows the picture to high school and middle school students to teach them about the dangers of drug use. She also showed it to her 9- year-old son. The man in her photograph was struck by a 15-year-old girl driving a stolen car while drunk and stoned. [continues 592 words]
Editor, Naples Daily News: Rush Limbaugh's use of drugs for many years seems to contradict his statements that he is a model for today's youth and a gift from God. He certainly was a thorn in the side of Democrats and an influence in the Republican party. He had close ties to the Bush family and dwelled on war with Iraq consistently. His loathing for Arabs and love for Israel was always in the forefront. I am a conservative Republican and a longtime listener of Rush's, but I do believe he has lost all credibility and set a dangerous precedent in a much more dangerous world. Carl Roemer Naples [end]
I see that another "personality" has been charged with illegally possessing painkillers ("Love charged with having drugs illegally," Oct. 30). Somehow, I have missed reading about any charges filed by local law-enforcement agencies against Rush Limbaugh, who had almost 4,000 "illegally possessed painkillers." Does this mean that local law-enforcement agencies are more lenient? Or does it have something to do with his being a rich, Palm Beach-dwelling Republican? Is that what it takes to escape charges for illegal drug possession? Thomas Sinn, Hobe Sound [end]
I must correct a writer on the reference to Kaneh-Bosm in Exodus 30:22-24 ("Different word," Letters, Oct. 13). The word kaneh-bosm has been mistranslated as calamus, a common marsh plant with little monetary value that does not have the qualities or value ascribed to kaneh-bosm. The error occurred in the oldest Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint in the third century B.C., and was repeated in the many translations that followed. Research indicates that the root "kan" in this construction means "reed" or "hemp," while bosm means "aromatic." This word appears five times in the Old Testament, in the books of Exodus, the Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. So please do some research on the word of the Lord God Almighty, Deb. Scott Russ, Baton Rouge, La. [end]
Sheriff John Rutherford had better watch it. If he keeps allowing the "Jeffreys" of the world to inspire some vision in him, that might not sit too well with the tough-on-crime crowd. Jeffrey, Rutherford explained to me, is an alcoholic. He was arrested 47 times last year on various misdemeanor charges -- charges like drunk and disorderly conduct, breach of peace -- the kinds of charges that alcoholics have a penchant for racking up. He spent more than 200 days in jail. [continues 673 words]
In reference to Deb Stow ("Different word," Letters, Oct. 13), the phrase, "kaneh bosm" is the original Hebrew use of our present word cannabis. It was mistranslated in five locations in the Bible, often as calamus. Those five locations are Exodus 30:23; Song of Solomon 4:14; Isaiah 43:24; Jeremiah 6:20; and Ezekiel 27:19. In 1980 Hebrew University in Jerusalem confirmed this information. Kaneh bosm was mistranslated to cane or calamus, sweet cane, fragrant cane or sweet-smelling incense, etc., depending on the translation. - - Stan White, Dillon, Colorado [end]
Those liberal critics of Rush Limbaugh, reveling in his "downfall," might want to consider one thing: Who better to lecture on drug abuse than one who is a victim of this plague? Apparently, compassion is a selective emotion with some, reserved only to those of similar political convictions. People who become hooked on drugs because of unbearable pain are to be pitied, not condemned, regardless of one's disagreement with him. Michael Kerner [end]
Inside Florida
