OKLAHOMA CITY -- For Karen Linduff, the empty chair at Christmas dinner will be hard to bear. "I have nearly grieved myself to death," Linduff said. "It is not getting better. It is getting harder because of the holidays. One more time, Karrie's seat will be empty at Christmas. That is heartbreaking for all of us. "Her hope was that she could make it. She had plans on what she was going to get everyone this year." It has taken the 55-year-old mother of three several weeks to talk about her daughter, Karrie Linduff, 36, who died Oct. 22 at Tulsa Regional Medical Center after a battle with cancer. [continues 514 words]
SINCE being elected to the office of mayor of Panama, OK, one of the biggest issues I've faced is drugs and all its illegal uses. The drug problem deteriorates everything it touches such as young people, older people, schools, groups, individuals and most of all homes. Our community is small, with 1,500 people more or less. We operate on a budget much too small to fight drugs and the crimes that drugs produce. Several citizens in the community are crying out for us to rid ourselves of this problem and are wondering why we haven't done so. [continues 234 words]
Marlow - While some people, most notably actor Woody Harrelson, argue about the value of hemp-made products, Bill Wise is quietly going about his business and selling many products made form the controversial plant. Before Wise made the decision to open his Wise 2 B Hemp shop here, he researched his subject thoroughly and believes hemp is an economic and environmentally safe product with hundreds of uses. He also studied the plant enough to know that industrial hemp does not have the same content of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC for short, as its infamous relative, marijuana. [continues 657 words]
ENID -- Research tells Mike Fields that juvenile drug courts are sweeping the nation. The assistant district attorney is just glad Garfield County is part of the program. The city of Enid, in conjunction with Garfield County, will open its first juvenile drug court in January. The court will be the second of its kind in Oklahoma. "Where Oklahoma is now, I'd say we're ahead of the game when it comes to drug courts," Fields said. "Crystal ball-wise, I'd say this is the wave of the future." [continues 325 words]
We're not alone in our drug problems. Record seizures of methamphetamine laboratories in Tulsa and Oklahoma this year are but a snapshot of the bigger drug picture nationwide. A report released by drug czar Barry McCaffrey reflects a surge in methamphetamine trafficking and use, particularly in the Midwest and Northwest. "We do not just have a national drug problem. What we really have is a series of local drug epidemics," McCaffrey said. Although the nation's drug problem is not as intense as it was five years ago, McCaffrey said that "the country is still awash in high purity low-cost drugs." [continues 175 words]
The Program Has Drawn Fire, But Officials Say It's A Success. The city of Tulsa's controversial random drug testing policy has traveled a rough road in its first five years, drawing fire from multiple City Hall employee fronts. City management has won most of the challenges, such as the case of the city employee who attributed his positive test to second-hand smoke. An employee who complained about the religious-based treatment program also failed to win back a job. [continues 799 words]
EDMOND -- Judge Alan Synar only sees juveniles charged with marijuana possession for a total of 18 minutes through three different court appearances. But that's just one portion of the long judicial process for a juvenile caught with the illegal drug. With 138 juveniles arrested in Edmond for marijuana possession in the last three years and 82 arrested for possession or sale of drug paraphernalia, police and juvenile court officials are kept busy. Picked up ... Most juvenile marijuana arrests are made through routine contact with juveniles, said Sgt. Matt Griffin. [continues 896 words]
Gov. Frank Keating says random drug testing is on way to reduce substance abuse in schools. "We require vision testing for children who might have trouble seeing the blackboard," Keating said Tuesday. "I don't think it's unreasonable to test them for substances that can kill them before they reach the age of 18." Keating, in announcing a program to counter drug and alcohol abuse, called for legislation to empower school districts to conduct random drug tests. He also called for a dramatic increase in treatment for those arrested for drug and alcohol offenses, an expansion of drug courts, a lowering of the blood alcohol threshold on drunken driving offenses from .10 to .08. [end]
A Payne County jury recommended another 40 years in prison for an incarcerated man found guilty of possession of marijuana in a penal institution, according to the district attorney's office. On Friday, a jury recommended Arthur Donnel Miller, Jr., 37, serve an additional 40 years in prison for being caught with five bags of marijuana in his cell. He is serving a 38 year sentence at Cimarron Correctional Facility for second degree murder. According to Payne County District Attorney Rob Hudson, guards at the prison found an unsigned letter addressed to “Donnel” containing “suspicious information” that eventually led to the search of Miller’s cell. Miller is the only inmate with the name “Donnel,” Hudson said. Guards found one bag containing five plastic bags in Miller’s cell. Defense attorneys said the state had failed to prove the marijuana was Miller’s. Miller’s cellmate, Eric Thompson, who was also charged and earlier pleaded guilty, testified the marijuana was his, according to the district attorney’s office. [continues 84 words]
EL RENO - When it comes to dealing with drug problems, it pays to have police officers whose sole duty is busting dealers. just ask the El Reno police. The department, with funding from a $75,000 federal grant, has arrested 23 people and taken down 14 methamphetamine labs this year. Those funds, plus $25,000 more from the city, pay the salaries and expenses for El Reno to have a two-person team that works exclusively on drug investigations. "This is all we’re doing, so we’ve been able to develop our cases more," said David Beaty, one of the drug unit investigators. [continues 743 words]
The Fetus Became An Issue After The Mother And Two Other People Were Arrested On Drug Charges CLAREMORE -- A fetus recently placed in the Department of Human Service's custody by a judge is now a bouncing baby boy living with his mother under close DHS scrutiny. Julie Starks, who gave birth a few weeks ago, has been ordered to stand trial on drug charges, along with the child's father and another man. At the end of a preliminary hearing Monday, Special Judge Joe Smith ordered Starks, Jimmy Ravon Cook Jr. and Eric Phalon Sample to stand trial on charges of attempting to manufacture methamphetamine, unlawful possession of a controlled drug and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. [continues 340 words]
The Appointment Is Criticized By A Lawyer Representing Inmates. OKLAHOMA CITY - The state Board of Corrections hired Dr. Jo Ann G. Ryan on Monday as the new chief medical officer for the state prison system. The board members voted unanimously after meeting for more than four hours behind closed doors. However, most of their conversation concerned the ongoing Battle vs. Anderson lawsuit regarding prison conditions. Ryan will be paid $175,000 a year, the same as Dr. Armond Start, who abruptly quit Nov. 9 after being on the job as the DOC's chief medical officer for less than four months. [continues 204 words]
OKLAHOMA CITY - Lawmakers continued to wrestle Thursday with the issue of drug testing for Oklahoma students. A bill authorizing drug testing for all students who are involved in athletics and other extracurricular activities failed to pass during the last legislative session. But lawmakers plan to revisit the issue when they reconvene next February. A joint legislative task force studying the issue heard from David G. Evans, a New Jersey man who is chairman of the Drug-Free Schools Coalition. Evans told members of the task force at their Thursday meeting that the coalition now is in 10 to 15 states and is rapidly expanding. [continues 403 words]
TULSA -- Tulsa police plan to use $216,541 in federal funds to eliminate or reduce the number of clandestine drug labs operating in the city, it was announced Friday. Police Chief Ron Palmer said the money will be used to buy safety equipment and train officers about investigation and cleanup of illegal methamphetamine labs. The labs are a growing problem in the city and across the state. "We also want to warn and educate retailers in the area that sell ingredients to methamphetamine about what to do if they have a person coming in wanting to buy large quantities of those ingredients," he said. [continues 259 words]
A national leader for drug-free schools recommended Thursday that Oklahoma legislators pass laws that empower administrators to battle drugs. Anything you can do to help school administrators, you should do it," David G. Evans said when asked about what kind of laws are needed for schools to conduct drug testing. Evans, executive director of the Drug- Free Schools Coalition in Flemington, N.J., met Thursday with a House-Senate committee that is studying drug testing of students in schools. Oklahoma has no specific law on drug testing of students. [continues 338 words]
Judge Dynda Post and the prosecutors of Rogers County are to be commended for protecting the rights of two drug-exposed fetuses (babies). The ideal solution would be to get every drug-addicted mother into rehabilitation -- and we should provide it for those who truly want it. Unfortunately, some drug addicts don't want to quit using, others last only a day or two in rehab or go through rehab several times before it "takes" and, sadly, some never get off drugs even after decades of being in and out of treatment. [continues 120 words]
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A state senator called on Gov. Frank Keating to apologize for remarks he made during a conference on methamphetamine use in Oklahoma. "Those kind of comments are inappropriate and offensive for anyone to use, especially the man who holds our state's highest office," Sen. Larry Dickerson, D-Poteau, a former district attorney, said Friday. He was referring to Keating's remarks that methamphetamine is "a white-trash drug" and crack cocaine is "a black-trash drug." A Keating spokesman said the governor stands by his statement. [continues 274 words]
A medical expert says poor medical care in Oklahoma prisons may put inmates and staff in danger. OKLAHOMA CITY -- Two reports on prison medical care indicate that the Oklahoma Department of Corrections remains plagued with serious problems despite a $7.2 million appropriation from lawmakers. National prison medical expert Robert B. Greifinger in September and November issued two reports regarding the progress the department had made in the wake of a settlement agreement in the Battle vs. Anderson case, a class-action inmate lawsuit that began 27 years ago. [continues 785 words]
Abello Says A Key Witness Lied At His Trial A Colombian man who was convicted of drug charges in a high-profile case here nine years ago asked Friday to be freed based on what he claims is recently discovered evidence that government officials knew a key prosecution witness was lying in court. In a new case filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Tulsa, Jose Rafael Abello Silva claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency knew that trial witness Gary Wayne "Hippie" Betzner was not telling the truth when he testified about Betzner's supposed involvement with the agency during the 1980s. [continues 578 words]
(Oklahoma City) -- Gov. Frank Keating led a summit on attacking the methamphetamine epidemic Wednesday, but his get-tough policies were criticized by a group arguing that the long war on drugs is a flop. Several of the proposals from the summit mirrored a "Deep- Six" drug control bill recently introduced by freshman Rep. Kenneth Corn, D-Howe, who called Tuesday for a crackdown on manufacturers and distributors of drugs. The 150 people at the summit at the Governor's Mansion included many from law enforce ment. [continues 196 words]
(Hominy) -- A major drug sweep Tuesday at the Dick Conner Correctional Center turned up 22 inmates who tested positive for drugs and 47 inmates who refused testing. "That's about 5.5 percent of the population," said Jerry Massie, state Corrections Department spokesman. Inmates who tested positive or who refused to participate in the urine testing will face misconduct counts, he said. That could end up making them serve a greater percentage of their sentences or serve their sentences in higher security. [continues 186 words]
In New York City and other major cities, the use of crack cocaine has declined dramatically in the past year or so. Politicians and police officials have proclaimed a great victory for drug-law enforcement. Some of the claims might be greatly exaggerated. In New York, the disappearance of crack from the streets followed a highly publicized campaign of "no-tolerance" police action against open-air drug markets. Officers made nearly 900,000 arrests in the last 10 years, more than any other city in the world, according to the New York Times. But here's a catch. Other big cities also saw a drop in crack sales over the same recent period, regardless of the level of drug-law enforcement efforts and the number of arrests. In Washington, D.C., drug arrest rates actually declined during some of the years of the big boom in crack sales, but from 1990 to 1999 the city still achieved a bigger drop than New York in the percentage of young people using cocaine. Law enforcement might have helped. [continues 453 words]
Any doubts about whether we are losing the war on drugs ought to be put to rest by recent record confiscations of marijuana and a study showing that drugs are the major common characteristic of the recently arrested. Last week, state drug agents happened upon a 2,300-pound haul of marijuana in a tractor-trailer in Oklahoma City. That is more than two-thirds the amount seized by state agents in 1998, when 3,085 pounds were confiscated, and nearly half the 3,984 pounds rounded up in 1997. [continues 323 words]
POTEAU -- A former LeFlore County drug investigator pleaded guilty Friday to one count of embezzlement in exchange for a fine and a two-year deferred sentence. Charles David Love, 47, said, however, that he didn't steal any money from the drug task force's confidential informant fund. He said only that he signed a receipt to a transaction he did not witness. The charge involved a $150 payment to an informant in 1996. Love's partner and supervisor, Michael Shayne Hilburn, earlier pleaded guilty to the same charge and 27 others. Love originally was charged with more than 30 counts. All but two were dismissed at a preliminary hearing, and one of those two remaining charges was dropped at a trial last month. The jury deadlocked on the remaining charge. [end]
Dr. Armond Start, who took the job in July, resigned as a result of strife with his supervisors. OKLAHOMA CITY -- The man who was hired to clean up the Oklahoma Department of Corrections' controversial inmate medical program abruptly resigned Friday. Dr. Armond Start, who had been on the job since July, submitted his resignation Friday, effective immediately. In his resignation letter, Start said he was told by Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director James Saffle on Oct. 25 and again on Thursday that Saffle had ``lost confidence in my ability to do my job.'' Start also said Saffle told him Thursday that his performance did not meet expectations. [continues 500 words]
Alarmed by the growth of methamphetamine trafficking in his district, a freshman eastern Oklahoma lawmaker said Tuesday he will push a tough "Deep-Six" anti-drug program next year. Rep. Kenneth Corn, D-Howe, announced the plan at a news conference, surrounded by students from his Le Flore County district. "This is not a war on the casual user," Corn said, but on "people who choose to profit from the selling of a poison to the children of our communities." The six points of Corn's bill are: [continues 94 words]
Proponents Of A School Drug-testing Law Argue For A Uniform Policy. OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Jenks school superintendent urged lawmakers Wednesday to take drastic action to curb drug use in public schools. Superintendent Kirby Lehman was one of three educators who addressed a joint legislative task force considering drug testing in schools. A bill in the last session of the Legislature that would have set guidelines and authorized drug testing of all students engaged in extracurricular activities failed to pass. The proposal will be revisited when the Legislature reconvenes in February. [continues 352 words]
Many hard-working Oklahomans are required to submit to random drug testing and most new applicants for jobs have to first be screened for drugs. All of these hard-working Oklahomans pay federal and state income taxes and part of these taxes are used to fund welfare. I believe it's time to have a state program where anyone applying for welfare has to first pass a drug test. Their claim would be denied if they tested positive for drugs. People receiving monthly welfare checks should be required to submit to either a random or monthly drug test in order to continue to receive welfare payments. Those who do not pass the drug test should be immediately dropped from the welfare rolls and not receive any further welfare until they can pass another drug test within 30 days. Any children of persons dropped from welfare should be taken by the state and cared for in a home until the parent can pass another drug test. This program should prevent persons on welfare from using the welfare money to buy drugs. [end]
Unseen and mostly undetected, marijuana moves across the state under car seats, floorboards, inside gas tanks or steel wheels, and wrapped in honey-or grease-coated packages. The most popular illicit drug in Oklahoma -- and in the nation -- it passes from smugglers to smokers. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs seized 3,984 pounds of marijuana in 1997 and 3,085 pounds in 1998. On Wednesday, state drug agents pulled 2,300 pounds of marijuana from a tractor-trailer on Interstate 35 in Oklahoma City. Despite those numbers, Oklahoma City police Lt. Larry Baker figures state law officers find less than 10 percent of the illegal drugs imported into the state each year. About 75 percent of confiscated pot is imported, mostly from Mexico, and the rest is homegrown. [continues 708 words]
Oklahoma County led the nation in the percentage of males who tested positive for marijuana after being arrested and jailed, a nationwide study found in 1998. The study is continuing at the Oklahoma County jail, where graduate students give people who have been arrested candy bars in exchange for an interview and a urine sample. Preliminary numbers show the county may still be in first place for arrestees who test positive for pot. University of Oklahoma graduate students started the work in September 1998 and found pot is popular, at least among those men arrested and included in their federally funded study. [continues 590 words]
(Oklahoma City) -- The number of underground laboratories making illegal methamphetamines in the Southwest is exploding, partly due to the rediscovery of a simple but risky drug-making process used by Nazi Germany, law enforcement officials said Thursday. "This year we saw the big boom," said John Duncan, chief agent with Oklahoma's Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. As of September, Duncan said Oklahoma authorities had raided 425 labs - -- compared with 263 for all of 1998 -- and expect the total for 1999 to reach about 600. In the early 1990s, officials uncovered about 15 to 20 methamphetamine labs per year. [continues 430 words]
A self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head -- not a bullet from a bounty hunter's pistol -- killed a Logan County man wanted for failing to appear in court on a marijuana possession charge, the state medical examiner's office ruled Friday. Richard Grant Morava, 34, died Thursday night after what was believed to be a gunbattle with private investigator Harold Ollie Lewis, 48. But an autopsy performed Friday in Oklahoma City revealed that Morava died of a single shot to the head from a .22-caliber weapon. He died at the scene. [continues 422 words]
In a pointed challenge to a policy adopted by an increasing number of the nation's high schools, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would file suit Wednesday against an Oklahoma school district that administers drug tests to students who want to participate in extracurricular activities like the debate team, chorus and Future Farmers of America. Though the U.S. Supreme Court refused last year, without comment, to hear a challenge to a drug-test requirement for after-school programs at an Indiana high school, the ACLU contends that the Tecumseh School District in Oklahoma has gone a critical step further: Many extracurricular activities are tied to courses during the regular school day. [continues 912 words]
OKLAHOMA CITY - Lindsay Earls is a member of Tecumseh High School's choir, band and, like Daniel James, a classmate, the school academic team, And they do not feel they should have to pass a drug test to participate. "It's like they're trying to protect us from something we're not involved in," Miss Earls said. "Most of us in extracurricular activities do not do drugs." The two 16-year-old juniors are plaintiffs in a landmark federal lawsuit that challenges the Tecumseh School District's policy requiring students to submit to random drug tests as a condition of participating in extracurricular activities. [continues 54 words]
In a pointed challenge to a policy adopted by an increasing number of high schools, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would file suit today against an Oklahoma school district that administers drug tests to students who want to participate in extracurricular activities such as chorus. The U.S. Supreme Court refused last year, without comment, to hear a challenge to a drug-test requirement for after-school programs at an Indiana high school. But the ACLU contends that the Tecumseh School District in Oklahoma has gone a critical step further: Many extracurricular activities are tied to courses during the regular school day. [continues 338 words]
In a pointed challenge to a policy adopted by an increasing number of the nation's high schools, the American Civil Liberties Union said yesterday that it would file suit Tuesday against an Oklahoma school district that has administered drug tests to students who want to participate in extracurricular activities like the debate team, chorus and Future Farmers of America. Though the Supreme Court refused last year, without comment, to hear a challenge to a drug-test requirement for after-school programs at an Indiana high school, the A.C.L.U. contends that the Tecumseh School District in Oklahoma has gone a critical step further: many extracurricular activities are tied to courses in the regular school day. [continues 934 words]
WILBURTON (AP) -- Protesters gathered downtown Friday for a second day to demand answers about the police shooting of a man who allegedly threatened an officer with a brick. Waving signs that read, "How would you feel if it was your child?" "Honk for justice" and "All we want is answers and the truth," dozens of people marched outside Wilburton City Hall on Thursday. A group of about 20 returned Friday to protest the July 31 shooting of Floyd Wayne Houston, 22. [continues 275 words]
Regarding "Pot Patrols Fan Out for Annual Effort" (news story, June 30): As a native Oklahoman, I must comment as to what a tremendous waste of taxpayers' money this project is. The "ditch weed," native hemp, also called marijuana by law enforcement, lacks enough THC (the active ingredient in cannabis) to produce the euphoric high. If native hemp were left to grow naturally, it would reduce the THC content of any cannabis plants that were being cultivated for their euphoric high. Hemp is a vital economic crop that's cultivated by every G-7 country except the U.S. Hemp seeds are nutritious and a preferred food of wild life, especially birds. [continues 109 words]
"Pot Patrols Fan Out For Annual Effort" (news story, June 30) on the herbicide attack of wild cannabis missed on a few points. According to the story, "Oklahoma's rogue pot mostly dates back to "World War II, when farmers grew the plant for its hemp fibers used to make rope. New technology did away with hemp demand..." There's actually a good deal of demand for industrial hemp, and it was the Prohibitionists who did away with the crop. Also, the article mentioned that many farmers were wary of prosecution and wouldn't report growth of wild cannabis on their land. I think there's another good reason for anyone to be paranoid about such tactics. I'd definitely not trust the federal government to come to my home and spray it with chemicals. Danny Terwey, Santa Cruz, Calif. [end]
Capitol Bureau House and Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday they will support a compromise sentencing bill when the Legislature resumes its special session today. Legislators will meet today to try to repeal a 1997 truth-in-sentencing bill that has been criticized by most legislators and law enforcement officers as being too soft on crime. The 1997 bill goes into effect Thursday if it isn't repealed today. Legislators also will try to pass a new sentencing bill that would require people convicted of any of 11 serious crimes to serve 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for parole. [continues 232 words]
Bittner State Correspondent WOODWARD -- While Oklahoma farmers focus on bringing wheat out of the fields, an army is zeroing in on another premier state crop -- marijuana. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control is teaming up with the Oklahoma National Guard again this summer to declare war on hundreds of thousands of marijuana plants growing wild in the state. Agents and Guard troops were in Woodward County on Tuesday, methodically spraying herbicide on pot plants springing up in pastures, bureau spokesman Mark Woodward said. [continues 429 words]
Bill tough on 11 crimes passes OKLAHOMA CITY -- After two years of debate and controversy, the state Legislature killed a politically thorny truth-in-sentencing law Wednesday. Lawmakers also passed a bill that creates community sentencing pilot projects in 10 counties and requires those who commit 11 ``deadly sin'' crimes to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences. Gov. Frank Keating signed both measures Wednesday, the last day for lawmakers to take action on House Bill 1213. Passed in 1997, the original truth-in-sentencing law was repeatedly delayed until Thursday as lawmakers attempted to hammer out problems with the measure. The law was initially acclaimed as a get-tough-on-crime measure that would make serious offenders serve 75 to 85 percent of their sentences before the possibility of release. But law enforcers soon argued that the bill would cause some offenders to receive lesser terms under its complex sentencing grid matrix. [continues 700 words]
The woman dragged her hand across her eyes, then let her head drop to the side like a lead weight swiveling at the end of her neck. "I'm worried about you," the judge said to her. "I think you're avoiding things. Are we dealing with relapse?" "No," the woman said. Her eyes searched the ceiling of the courtroom. "I'm just tired." But the woman had missed a scheduled drug test. She'd missed meetings with therapists. "I think you're relapsing," the judge said. [continues 976 words]
To Resolve The Truth-In- Sentencing Issue Before The Law Takes Effect OKLAHOMA CITY -- Legislators will meet Wednesday to continue a special session on truth in sentencing and take another stab at working out their differences on the controversial issue. If they fail to take action, either repealing the truth-in-sentencing law passed two years ago or delaying its implementation another year, it will go into effect the next day. Two sentencing bills will be on the Senate agenda when the special session reconvenes. House Bill 1009X repeals the truth-in-sentencing law, and House Bill 1008X establishes a pilot community-sentencing program in nine counties, including Tulsa County. [continues 616 words]
Volunteers Follow Up On Juvenile Drug Court Cases. The early summer evening laid before them like a backyard sofa lounge, seeming to invite other things after a day's work. But if they wanted to know if their kids were doing OK, if they wanted to really know, their work was just beginning. Mark Ruddle held a list of addresses with the names of teen-agers enlisted in the Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau's drug treatment court. Conley Tunnell had a list of parents in a similar drug treatment program whose children have been adjudicated deprived. [continues 1175 words]
Negotiators Say An Emergency Clause Should Have Easy Passage Before Controversial Law Goes Into Effect July 1. OKLAHOMA CITY -- One of the chief legislative negotiators on the controversial truth-in-sentencing law said Wednesday that most of the major objections Republicans raised at a special session last week have been resolved. The special session recessed last week after Republicans balked and Senate leaders were unable to get sufficient votes for the two-thirds majority needed to attach a vital emergency clause to a bill repealing the truth-in-sentencing law. [continues 401 words]
Army Sgt. Rossano Gerald didn't sue the Oklahoma Highway Patrol solely because he was stopped twice within 30 minutes after crossing the state line last August. He did not seek out the American Civil Liberties Union only because of claims: - -- That he and his 12-year-old son were detained for two hours and held inside a patrol car in 90-degree heat with the windows rolled up and the air conditioning turned off. - -- That troopers looking for drugs searched his car without his permission, causing a reported $1,089 in damages, before sending him on his way after finding nothing. [continues 1376 words]
Oklahoma City - Between January 1990 and February 1999, at least 413 inmates died in state custody, according to a Tulsa World survey of Department of Corrections and Medical Examiner's records. The causes of those deaths ranged from pneumonia to an ulcer to an array of cancers. Claremore resident Karen Linduff hopes her daughter won't be added to the list of inmates who die from causes that could have been treated successfully in prison. Since 1986, Karrie Linduff had been in and out of prison for drug-related convictions, most recently beginning in February 1995 at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in Oklahoma City. While in prison, she complained of menstrual complications, fearing that she had cancer. [continues 1434 words]
Lawmakers Again Fail To Come To Terms With Corrections Bill. OKLAHOMA CITY -- It was deja vu all over again Friday for lawmakers dealing with truth in sentencing. For the second year in a row, state legislators failed to reach an accord on truth in sentencing, prompting Gov. Frank Keating to promise a special legislative session in June to deal with the issue. If no action is taken, House Bill 1213, the original truth in sentencing law that was passed in 1997, will take effect July 1. Keating and legislative leaders have indicated they won't let that happen. Law enforcers have loudly complained the original law was too soft on many of the worst offenders. [continues 446 words]
POTEAU -- A local bank has agreed to sponsor a town meeting to discuss the impact drug abuse is having on the community. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. June 10 at the Bob Lee Kidd Civic Center. The meeting will be moderated by retired educator and civic leader Joe Paul Hemphill. A panel composed of Sheriff Kendall Ballew, Dr. Tim King, Police Chief B.J. Smith, The Rev. Phil McGehee, Judge Ted Knight, District Attorney Rob Wallace and Dr. Bill Willis will discuss the effects of drug abuse. Questions and comments from the audience will be encouraged. The event is sponsored by the Poteau State Bank. [end]
Inside Oklahoma
