Owensville Faces Its Own Big Crime

OWENSVILLE, Ind. -- The items displayed in the glass case in Rodger Leister's office are visual aids about the dope business.

Stolen prescription pills. Marijuana pipes. Crack cocaine pipes.

But the main focus of the display is methamphetamine: precursors for making it, syringes for injecting it, pieces of burnt aluminum foil after it's been smoked.

"I saw my first meth lab in 1998," says the 37-year-old town marshal of the small Gibson County town (population about 1,300). "The use has exploded since then. It's practically everywhere. Definitely not just in Owensville."

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It's doubtful you missed it; the president's son caught smoking weed made big headlines on campus last week. I can't really remember what our first reaction was upon hearing the news.

We at the Opinion desk thought about which angle we wanted to take on the matter, addressing whether or not it was newsworthy, if he'd get the same treatment as any other student, etc. But I immediately reacted differently.

Oddly, considering how much I like to poke fun at the news, none of that came to mind. Instead, I thought, "God, weed is still bad?"

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Whether county efforts to dam up drug problems work, it's at least worth a try, literally.

The average cost of treating an addict is about $1,500, Adam Brooks, a researcher for the Treatment Research Institute, said. That's compared to the $11,500 an addict costs a community through loss of taxes, unpaid hospital bills, crime and more.

But throwing money at a solution isn't the answer, experts say.

That means officials need to track treatment data to see what works. Groups need to work together and share results.

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The signs of a drug overdose become clear to Porter County Coroner Victoria Deppe before she's ever read toxicology reports and its multitude of listed drugs.

"When I get toxics back, they are dirty, dirty, dirty," she said.

But before the report come the clues.

Deppe said she's at the point of asking a dead person's family members -- on every single call no matter what -- whether the person abused drugs. Several times Deppe has seen prescription medicine in the house of someone who died from a natural death when that person never had a prescription for the drug, she said.

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It's disgusting to realize the prison industry's unions have successfully lobbied to cage more and more citizens over drug-related so-called crimes ("Drug Crimes Keep Jails Full In '08", Dec. 27, 2008, Tribune-Star), even though most are surely nonviolent in nature.

It means a great Christmas for prison industry employees at the cost of freedom for citizens who are otherwise law-abiding people except for the sequel to prohibition. The prison industry unions should be proud. What a sham.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

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The fallout from the local Drug Task Force situation will be with Delaware County residents for months -- perhaps years -- to come, given the likelihood of appeals and the still pending report from the Indiana Supreme Court's Disciplinary Commission. But the bulk of the problem can be traced to a lack of oversight and a blatant disregard for the community's best interest that must be remedied before confidence can be restored.

While the actions of the local DTF and prosecutor's office were particularly egregious, the origins of the situation can be traced to the state and the Indiana General Assembly. Legislation governing the handling of confiscated drug-related funds and property is vague, and officials in most counties are unsure exactly how the money is to be handled. With few guidelines, they have for the most part created their own procedures. The fact no money apparently has ever been sent to the designated state education fund is particularly telling.

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ST. JOSEPH - The Berrien County prosecutor said he will dismiss drug charges against seven people after further investigation into the alleged misconduct of a former police officer.

Andrew Thomas Collins, 26, a former Benton Harbor police officer, was arrested Dec. 2 on drug trafficking charges, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Grand Rapids.

The indictment claimed Collins used his position as an officer to keep the drugs. He was charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 5 grams of crack cocaine, according to a news release from Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian K. Delaney. Berrien County Prosecutor Arthur J. Cotter said his office met with FBI investigators Monday to review the case.

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MUNCIE -- Local women in need of drug and alcohol rehabilitation services are often left with limited options in Muncie. And that's especially true if they are coming home after spending time in Indiana's jails and prisons.

"Basically, they just go back to the same environment they left," said Karen Watson, who ministers to women in the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis. "If they have a good environment, they're lucky. If they have a bad environment, then they end up ... back on drugs or in prison."

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TERRE HAUTE -- As Santa's boots shuffled across Wabash Valley rooftops early Thursday morning, for hundreds of area residents it was just another day in jail.

The Vigo County Jail population was 280 Friday afternoon, about 12 over the maximum allowed but nothing unusual.

"It might be just a hair more but not a big difference," Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt said in reference to jail overcrowding being the norm. "That's a constant battle."

Neighboring counties also posted normal numbers, ranging from the high end in Clay County at 97 down to Sullivan County's 63, jail personnel in those counties reported.

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ALPARAISO - County officials are being forced to find a new source of funding for a drug and alcohol treatment program for inmates at Porter County Jail.

The intensive outpatient program Porter-Starke Services ran had been funded by a $25 fee charged of everyone booked at the jail, Porter County Commissioner Bob Harper said.

The state, however, ended that fee over the summer on grounds it was not fair, Harper said. That has left the county with a quickly diminishing amount of money for the program.

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Tough legislation regarding cold medications might cause annoyance at the pharmacy, but in the trenches of Illinois' fight against crime, many credit it with lowering that state's overall criminal activity in 2007.

In November, the Illinois State Police announced the state's overall crime rate fell by 3.6 percent in 2007, with reports of homicide and motor vehicle theft realizing the biggest decreases.

Law enforcement agencies throughout the state reported a total of 456,085 indexed crimes in 2007, compared to 470,730 in 2006, according to the ISP's Uniform Crime Report.

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The Berrien County prosecutor is in a haze about Michigan's medical marijuana law.

Weeks after voters passed the referendum establishing the program, the state has failed to effectively communicate rules in place or to seek input on details that still must be worked out.

That's not the best start for an initiative few law enforcement officials have backed.

Sixty-three percent of Michigan voters on Nov. 4 made the state the 13th in nation, as well as the first in the Midwest, to legalize medical marijuana. The vote, of course, failed to end the measure's controversy.

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This is the sixth and last in a weekly series of stories leading up to the presidential election examining the candidates' positions on various issues that affect northeast Indiana residents.

Barack Obama used cocaine and marijuana as a teenager and says he could have ended up in prison if he didn't straighten out. John McCain's wife stole from her charity to feed her addiction to prescription painkillers, and he frequently sprinkles 12-Step philosophy language in his speeches and books.

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MUNCIE - A Delaware County sheriff's deputy received a 15-day suspension without pay this week after he was arrested for drunken driving this summer at an Indiana State Police "sobriety checkpoint."

Ray A. Dudley, 39, also entered into a deferral program with the Delaware County prosecutor's office for first-time offenders, and will have the drunken driving charge erased after a year following completion of the program.

The traffic stop resulted in formal misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol count of .08 or more. Dudley's BAC tested at .10 percent.

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County Directs Warrants Officers To Be Vigilant For Illegal Substances

Mark Reed smelled it from the front porch Tuesday.

Banging on the door of a red house in the 400 block of DeWald Street, the Allen County police warrants officer was looking for a sex offender wanted for a parole violation. Several of Reed's fellow officers surrounded the home, peeked into windows and talked to neighbors.

The last time they came to the home, months before, they arrested the man asleep on a couch inside. This time, they struck out. Nobody was there, but …

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Pathway treatment center wants to expand facility here to fight teen drug use.

MICHIGAN CITY - Experimenting with addictive drugs quickly leads adolescents to tragic consequences, according to Laurie Franke-Polz, community liaison for Pathway Family Center, a not-for-profit treatment center.

"Drug use has four phases, the first being experimentation, often trying drugs because of peer pressure. This rapidly leads to phase two, recreational use. Phase three is the severest, where the person cannot survive without the drug," she said.

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A new statewide survey indicates that among Indiana high school students, cigarette smoking is holding steady or declining, but use of snuff and chewing tobacco could be edging upward.

Overall youth drug use by sixth-through 12th-graders in Indiana is down, according to latest annual survey by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.

Daily use of smokeless tobacco by ninth-grade students has gone up slightly, from 1.5 percent in 2001 to 1.9 percent in 2008, the survey showed.

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MUNCIE -- The Muncie-Delaware County Drug Task Force and former Police Chief Joe Winkle went on a spending spree last year with forfeited drug money, including expenses for a personal trainer and a 50-inch plasma television for the city hall gym.

Even bigger expenses questioned in a State Board of Account audit of 2007 city spending include payments of $31,199 for two high-end sport-utility vehicles for DTF officers, and paying off the remaining $17,873 loan balance on accused drug dealer Adrian Kirtz's confiscated 2003 GMC Denali that sits in storage.

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The city will continue to pursue appointment of a special prosecutor to review local forfeiture cases.

MUNCIE -- Delaware Circuit Court 2 Judge Richard Dailey on Wednesday concluded his series of hearings on the handling of forfeitures and seizures in local drug-related cases, making no finding of criminal activity.

"That is something left to someone else to do," said Dailey, referring to a grand jury or special prosecutor.

Dailey reviewed 10 more cases Wednesday in which the Muncie-Delaware County Drug Task Force, Delaware County Prosecutor Mark McKinney and Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman used confidential settlements or affidavits to seize and disperse the money and assets of alleged drug dealers.

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MUNCIE -- Mark McKinney maintains he has not "done anything wrong" in accepting payment for work on civil forfeiture cases after taking office as Delaware County prosecutor in January 2007.

"That was for work I did before I took office," McKinney, who was a deputy prosecutor for several years before his November 2006 election, said during a Friday interview. "I never billed the city for anything after I took office."

McKinney was paid $5,969 in attorney fees in 2007, however, on a handful of civil forfeiture cases, with $4,193 for the seizure of property and money from accused drug dealer Adrian Kirtz. That case is among those being investigated after the Muncie-Delaware County Drug Task Force and McKinney, acting as its attorney, allegedly distributed more than $50,000 in cash and other property through a confidential settlement after a judge had ordered the assets frozen.

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