Mr. Sugg is doing an amazing job of bringing back true journalism, especially with his last article, (Metropolis, "Kathryn Johnston's real killer," Feb. 15). He makes one of the best connections I've seen in print: the war on drugs and the war on terror.

Both of these "wars" accomplish nothing but INCREASING what the war is waged upon: drug dealing and terrorist activity.

The bulk of the "collateral damage" falls upon regular people, whether it's the weed dealers in jail or the 655,000 Iraqis killed on lies. I think basically every thinking person in this country -- the rest of the world found out a long time ago -- now knows that both of these wars are wasting time, money and especially lives. So why is Bush allowed to continue and expand them? Why are we still relying on the spineless politicians who supposedly represent us? Do we not want to hurt feelings?

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A Cop Pulled The Trigger, But The Perp Is The Money-Driven 'War On Drugs'

In the inflammatory ruckus about the Atlanta police killing of an elderly woman, Kathryn Johnston, what's overlooked is the backdrop to the tragedy. Cops fired the fatal bullets on Nov. 21 in Johnston's west Atlanta home, but the real culprit is the 36-year-old "war on drugs."

That war is just as much a disaster, just as ill-conceived, just as deadly to innocents and just as big a waste of tons of cash as George Bush's "war on terrorism."

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Finding The Right Leader For The Countywide Drug Squad Will Take Time.

CURTAILING CHATHAM County's drug trafficking is key to reducing the property crimes committed by addicts and the violence committed in crack and dope dealer turf wars.

A necessary facet of that effort is coordination among the various city and county law enforcement agencies in investigations and information sharing.

That's why the Counter Narcotics Team plays a huge role in effective crime-fighting - and why finding good leadership for the CNT does not need to be rushed.

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The Case Involves The Shooting Death Of An Elderly Atlanta Woman

ATLANTA -- Prosecutors plan to seek felony murder indictments against three Atlanta police officers who killed an elderly woman during an exchange of gunfire in her home, according to a document released by one of the officer's attorneys Wednesday.

The Nov. 21 slaying of Kathryn Johnston, 88, sent waves of anger across Atlanta -- prompting hundreds to gather to vent and criticize Police Chief Richard J. Pennington.

Plainclothes officers entered Johnston's house after obtaining a warrant based on what they said was information that drugs were being sold there. The warrant did not require them to knock, and they stormed in. Johnston allegedly shot and wounded three officers before they killed her.

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Two companies that asked the state for permission to build addiction-treatment centers dispensing methadone in New Albany have been denied because local officials did not support the plans.

Rhode Island-based Discovery House proposed locating next to Wal-Mart at 2820 Grant Line Road, while Colonial Management Group of Florida sought a home downtown at 700 Pearl St. Both companies received rejection letters in mid-January, said Dennis Rosebrough, spokesman for the state's Family and Social Services Administration.

Neither company could persuade a local official to send the state a letter of recommendation, which is one of the requirements for eligibility the state cemented in December.

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ATLANTA -- A narcotics team that shot and killed an elderly woman while raiding her home lied to obtain the search warrant, one team member has told federal investigators, according to news reports confirmed by a person familiar with the investigation who requested anonymity.

The officers falsely claimed that a confidential informant had bought $50 worth of crack at the house, the team member, Gregg Junnier, told the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Junnier retired from the Atlanta Police Department last week.

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What you don't know won't hurt you - unless you're on Georgia roads. A new report on young drivers is shedding light on what goes on behind some of those windshields whizzing by.

According to results released by the Joshua Brown Foundation, 6.6 percent of about 900 Georgia drivers, mostly teenagers, said in questionnaires that they always or often took illegal drugs before getting behind the wheel. It's more than the number that said they regularly drank and drove.

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The Clarke County School District could vote next month on an expanded drug-testing policy that would require drug tests for all new employees, including teachers, beginning in July 2007. The new policy also would require security personnel and employees who hold commercial drivers' licenses to submit to random drug testing, which currently is done only with school bus drivers.

Beyond that, the new policy would require any school district employee, again including teachers, to submit to a drug test if there is reasonable suspicion they are impaired by illegal drugs or alcohol. At least one area school superintendent told the Athens Banner-Herald for a Monday story, "Drug-testing policy could lead to lawsuits," that the policy could serve as a model for other school systems in the region - if it survives the legal challenges likely in store.

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The selection of a new drug squad commander must be the consequence of careful thought, so the applicant with the best credentials is chosen.

IT'S GOOD that Chatham County administrators have backed away from their plan to name a new commander for the countywide drug squad by the end of this year.

The Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team plays a critical role in area law enforcement. County officials owe it to the public to do due diligence in picking a new CNT leader. There's no huge rush to fill the position, as the agency will be in capable hands with its interim leader, Capt. Paul McBurney, who was named last week.

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In the maelstrom that has surrounded the fatal shooting of 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston by Atlanta Police Department, I can't help but sit back and shake my head.

The APD conducted a legal plain-clothes raid with a judge-issued warrant following an informant who bought drugs at the residence.

Once inside the residence, the victim shot three police officers before being gunned down. Police later found a small amount of marijuana in the victim's home.

According to CNN, Rev. Markel Hutchins described the event as having "all of the signs of an egregious violation of Ms. Johnston's civil and human rights at worst, and police officers using poor judgment and unnecessary force at best..." and he continued on to appeal for a federal investigation of the affair.

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When you're trying to survive a maelstrom of criticism and controversy, it's a little difficult to see the moment as an opportunity for constructive change.

But that's just the opportunity that Police Chief Richard Pennington has. He should use it to rewrite his department's strategy on drug interdiction.

Pennington will get less resistance from tradition-bound police officers if he moves now, while the public outcry over the shooting death of 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston is still at full volume. Without the tragedy - in which plainclothes police burst into the home of a frightened old woman, who shot at the intruders and was then killed - narcotics officers, especially, would likely protest any shift that precluded use of their favored cowboy tactics.

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Officers Regularly Fail to Report What Searches Found

In March, an Atlanta Police Department narcotics officer, later involved in the fatal shooting of an elderly woman, got a "no-knock" search warrant for a house on Evans Drive after determining that a man named "Grill" was selling cocaine there.

How Officer Jason Smith came to that conclusion, how he persuaded the judge to give his unit the exceptional warrant, and what police found are hard to pin down, more than eight months later. That's because State Court records contain only a judge's order allowing the officers to bust in and search the place -- not the supporting documents that are supposed to accompany the order.

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When reading about credible drug law reform in, "War on Drugs Needs New Strategy" (Nov. 29, 2006), I can't help imagine the resistance from police unions and the prison industry etc. yet society must control out of control "no knock" police raids. I'm reminded of the Nazi swastika and the resemblance makes Me associate SWAT with the newly coined term SWATSTIKA.

To rationalize SWAT teams, police officials talk about preparedness for terrorist incidents. Once trained, however, SWAT teams nationally are mostly used to serve drug warrants and make drug arrests. One study shows 66 percent of their use is for executing search and arrest warrants.

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Little Oversight, Bad Information a Deadly Mix

The botched Atlanta raid that ended in the shooting death of 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston was sad and tragic, but unfortunately, it was neither uncommon nor unpredictable.

After taking a year to research and write a paper for the Cato Institute on the proliferation of forced-entry, paramilitary-style raids, I'm sorry to say Johnston is just one of at least 40 innocent people killed in botched raids over the last 20 years in America. Worse, there are dozens more cases of low-level offenders, bystanders - - and police officers killed or injured.

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While I agree with Bethany Kirkpatrick's assessment that the death of a 92-year old grandmother at the hands of Atlanta police is tragic, I find it nearly as tragic that, as a senior at the University of Georgia, Kirkpatrick has yet to grasp the fundamentals of cause and effect.

Drug dealers make money because of the war on drugs, not in spite of it. The prohibition against drugs has created a very simple supply and demand system that has introduced a culture of violence and poverty in communities across America. It is this supply and demand system that allows drug dealers to gain so much wealth on the backs of addicts.

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Having read Bethany Kirkpatrick's editorial today entitled "Attack Plan for Drug War is Idealistic" I had to respond. Andrew Muchmore was more than practical and actually very informed in his article and I want people to know why.

I am a retired Law Enforcement Officer and one of the most vocal speakers for LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and I would like you all to know something very important.

According to a 1980 Study entitled "The Fact About Drug Abuse, "Psychoactive substances have been available throughout recorded history and will remain so. To try to eliminate them is completely unrealistic."

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Statistics Show 1 In 15 Adults In Georgia Is Under Correctional Supervision

Much has changed in Georgia's prison system since Terry Barnard was a freshman state lawmaker in 1994.

Back then, the state had about 24,000 prisoners and a corrections budget of $400 million.

But in the wake of stiff crime bills, mandatory sentences and a general public approval of getting tough on crime, that budget has ballooned to almost $1 billion. There are now more than 53,000 inmates in Georgia's prison system, with another 166,000 on probation or parole.

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All wars have a way of creating collateral damage, as the desk-bound bureaucrats euphemistically call the dead innocents, destroyed buildings and decimated towns that just happen to be in the way of bombs and bullets. Kathryn Johnston was collateral damage in America's misguided "war on drugs."

On Nov. 21, the 88-year-old in woman was shot dead by Atlanta undercover police officers who crashed through her door after dark to execute a "no-knock" search warrant for illegal drugs. Living in a high-crime neighborhood, apparently frightened out of her wits, she fired at the intruders with a rusty revolver, hitting all three. That's according to the police account, which says the officers then returned fire, striking Johnston in the chest and extremities.

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All wars have a way of creating collateral damage, as the desk-bound bureaucrats euphemistically call the dead innocents, destroyed buildings and decimated towns that just happen to be in the way of bombs and bullets.

Kathryn Johnston was collateral damage in America's misguided "war on drugs."

On Nov. 21, an elderly woman was shot dead by Atlanta police officers who crashed through her door after dark to execute a "no-knock" search warrant for illegal drugs. Living in a high-crime neighborhood, apparently frightened out of her wits, she fired at the intruders with a rusty revolver, hitting all three. That's according to the police account, which says the officers then returned fire, striking Johnston in the chest and extremities.

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Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington's response when three of his narcotics officers shot to death an elderly woman during a drug raid last week was not out of character.

He was out of town, in New York for the Thanksgiving weekend, as he was when another major event touched his agency. As soon as he got back to Atlanta, Pennington asked state and federal investigators to review what happened, agreed to interviews with select media outlets and met with community leaders to assure them he would get the to bottom of things.

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