It's difficult not to be skeptical when we hear of convicts who have "found" religion and turned their lives around. But it does happen.

An Oklahoma City program around since 1994 is helping felons kick their addictions, find work and establish stable lives outside prison walls. Hand Up Ministries, recently profiled by The Oklahoman's Dawn Marks, is a privately funded residential program that requires former inmates to be Christian.

They must attend Bible studies twice a week and church once a week. Many enter the program straight out of prison and stay for a year or more. That time gives them an opportunity to get treatment for substance abuse, find a job and get their lives on a path different from the one that landed them in prison.

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One of the hardest problems any community has to face is the issue of substance abuse among its young people. There are so many things out there to tempt teens, one of the latest of which seemingly is innocent cough syrup. Some over-the-counter cold medications contain dextromethorphan, also called DXM. To get a cheap high, teens consume the pills and syrup in large quantities.

In Woodward, the group Partners Acting as Change Agents (PACA) is taking a proactive approach to the problem. Stephanie U'Ren said the group doesn't know of DXM being a big problem in Woodward right now, but PACA is working to get the word out to parents so they know what to look for.

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OKLAHOMA CITY -- When senators arrive at the state Capitol Tuesday, they might not have an agreement to approve, House Speaker Todd Hiett said Monday.

Hiett, R-Kellyville, and Sen. Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, Republican leader, unveiled a joint plan for the Department of Corrections. The agreement between the Republican caucuses merges the House GOP short-term plan and the Senate Republican plan announced earlier.

Concerns the department lacks funds to keep safe staffing levels at prisons can wait until February, when the Legislature convenes in its yearly regular session, Hiett said.

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It's disappointing that in the last couple weeks, an officer and jailer in Cherokee County and two jail employees in Muskogee County have been accused of and charged with crimes.

Yet it's encouraging area law enforcement didn't ignore accusations against fellow workers or look away, but followed up with investigations and quick dismissals of the four from their respective departments.

In Muskogee County, Stacy Lynn Gray, 26, and Shelley Ford, 39, were charged in connection with an assault by four inmates on another inmate. The two women face a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to inmates.

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More Drug-Related Charges May Be Filed Against The Pair Today

A Cherokee County sheriff's deputy and a jailer on paid leave since Friday were charged Wednesday with misdemeanor and/or felony drug-related charges.

Both employees will be dismissed from duty today, Sheriff Norman Fisher said.

Deputy Dusty Glyn Ryals, 21, of Tahlequah was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, and two misdemeanors, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Jailer Lynn McClain Trammel, 20, is charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia consisting of two plastic "snorting" pipes.

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A Cherokee County sheriff's deputy and a jailer were charged Wednesday as part of an investigation into allegations the men were providing drugs to inmates at the county jail.

Dusty Glyn Ryals, 21, and Lynn McClain Trammel, 20, were expected to turn themselves in at the county jail this morning, according to Sheriff Norman Fisher. Both men will be terminated from their positions after the booking process.

Ryals has been charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia; Trammel is charged with possession of paraphernalia.

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A marijuana eradication task force has seized 458 cultivated marijuana plants in the area in the past two weeks.

Mark Woodward, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics spokesman, said the number of plants is down from 10 years ago, when the agency started locating marijuana patches from the air.

"We haven't found that much," Woodward said. "But we're not complaining. We're actually glad to see the numbers going down."

Some of the 458 plants were pulled from the ground in Cherokee County, but Woodward said agents in the field weren't sure of an exact number. The task force was working in Adair County Tuesday.

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Along with the usual collection of pilots, business travelers, early-bird BalloonFest visitors, and coffee-sipping airport bums, a few other folks have been hanging out at the Tahlequah Municipal Airport this week.

Agents from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics have made a temporary airbase of sorts out of the airport, pinpointing marijuana plants in a four-county area with two olive drab Bell JetRanger helicopters, and spraying the offending greenery with a white Bell UH-1 Huey.

They even brought their own mobile control center, complete with satellite phones, weather forecasting equipment, four air-conditioners (to keep the electronics cool), and all the amenities of home - including a TV that was tuned Wednesday afternoon to (what else?) a real-live cops reality show.

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KINGFISHER - The newest member of the Kingfisher County Sheriff's Department has a nose for crime. He has contributed to dozens of felony drug arrests in five months on the force, authorities said. Deputy Bill Huffman with the Kingfisher County Sheriff's Department and Eddie, the department's 5-year-old drug-sniffing canine. Photo by Bryan Terry

Eddie, a 5-year-old drug-sniffing German shepherd, was activated for duty on April Fool's Day. The dog's handler, Deputy Bill Huffman, said it is no joking matter when he pulls alongside a stopped car and walks his partner around the vehicle for a drug search.

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TAHLEQUAH - The suspensions of a Cherokee County sheriff's deputy and jailer will continue, Sheriff Norman Fisher said Monday.

Fisher on Friday suspended Deputy Dusty Ryals and Jailer Lynn Trammel after Chief Investigator Jason Chennault and an investigator for the District 27 drug task force found marijuana and paraphernalia at their home north of Tahlequah earlier last week.

Fisher said Monday that he and District Attorney Richard L. Gray have decided to seek the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation's assistance in the matter before a final decision on Ryals' and Trammel's status is made.

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Out-of-county investigators will probe whether a Cherokee County deputy and jailer on paid leave after marijuana and drug paraphernalia were seized from their home Thursday night will be charged with a crime, officials said Monday.

Deputy Dusty Ryals and Jailer Lynn Trammel are under investigation for allegedly smuggling drugs into the Cherokee County Jail, as well as possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

District Attorney Richard Gray, chief prosecutor for Cherokee, Adair, Wagoner and Sequoyah counties, said he is bringing in one of his investigators from Wagoner County, Jim Jones, to investigate.

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Editorial Roundup

Oklahoma's editorial writers expressed their opinions on a variety of topics last week, including prisons and mental health. Here is a sampling:

July 24

The Edmond Sun On Prisons:

What if they threw a special legislative session and the House of Representatives didn't show up? Considering the wacky antics of our state legislators, it could happen. You bet it could happen.

Seriously though it appears as of Friday that Speaker of the House, Todd Hiett, R-Kellyville, is digging in his heels and refusing to go along with Gov. Brad Henry's proposal for a second special session in 2005. Henry wants to give more money to the Department of Corrections to hire more correctional officers (we used to call them prison guards) and also to adequately fund the state's commission to organize centennial celebrations for Oklahoma's 100th birthday in 2007.

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Oklahoma has been tremendously successful in reducing the production of methamphetamine during the past year, but there is more work to be done. After all, this epidemic of drug abuse stretches far beyond our borders. The law we passed last year to restrict the sales of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine, is credited with a dramatic reduction of meth labs in Oklahoma. In some areas of the state, meth lab seizures have dropped by as much as 90 percent.

Our achievements have led other states and the federal government to use Oklahoma's new law as a blueprint for fighting meth. More than 30 other states are following Oklahoma's lead.

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As Oklahoma makes progress in cracking down on methamphetamine labs, Mexican-made versions of the drug are coming into the state in growing quantities, the head of Oklahoma's drug agency said Wednesday.

Drug agents are turning their attention to the Mexican drug cartels, which recently have added meth along with drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and heroin, said Lonnie Wright, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

Agents think the cartel is shipping the drugs to about 20 "very major people that are bringing in tons of marijuana and multiple kilograms of cocaine" in Oklahoma, he said.

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This week, Enid Public Schools began drug testing for students in eighth through 12th grades who participate in activities sponsored by Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.

Students submitted to scheduled tests this week, and the district could conduct as many as 12 random tests throughout the year.

As testing began, some students and parents expressed displeasure with the process, and students passed out information outlining why they believe the new policy is not a deterrent to drug use.

Which begs the question: Where were these students and their parents when the issue was first discussed as far back as last November? At that time, Enid Board of Education formed a study group to look into specifics of the drug testing program.

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Neither Enid Public Schools superintendent nor the board president were surprised to learn some students are protesting the school's new drug testing policy.

"I'm not a bit surprised," Superintendent Kem Keithly said, adding members of the drug testing committee, made up of parents, students, teachers and one administrator and board member, took its time studying the issue and settled on what they thought was the best model for testing.

Board President David Meara also wasn't surprised at the timing of the protests.

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Oklahoma needs a clear law regarding the payment of court costs on the filing of forfeitures by county district attorneys.

The Phoenix reported recently that Muskogee County District Attorney John David Luton has been billed $20,871 on 228 cases since 2004 by the county court clerk for court costs on civil forfeiture cases.

Luton says his office does not owe the fees, and a survey of other DA offices in the state show that some pay the costs, others don't. Richard Gray, the DA for Adair, Cherokee, Sequoyah and Wagoner counties, said he hasn't been paying the costs. Mike Boring, district attorney for Beaver, Harper, Cimarron and Texas counties says he pays because the money helps the court clerk's office.

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U. S. Senator Tom Coburn was backing views of Oklahoma crime fighters including Claremore Police Chief Mickey Perry in challenging a proposed federal law that would replace Oklahoma's powerful and effective legal tool against illegal methamphetamines.

Former narcotics undercover agent Perry praised the state law as "highly effective" in erasing "meth labs," that used over-the-counter drugs to manufacture highly-addictive, dangerous and illegal drugs.

Meth and crack cocaine are commonly considered the most lethal of all addictive chemical substances in the underworld. One usage, it generally believed, results in life-long, hard-to-cure addiction. Lives by the millions have been wrecked by these made-from-chemical killers. Moments of ecstasy quickly resolve into stark madness from which users are never cured but, with tough restraint, are "recovering addicts."

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The $1.3 million settlement between various law enforcement agencies and Walgreen Co. looks to us to be a good way to bring this issue to a close.

The settlement between Walgreen and investigators closes the case on possible violations by Walgreens pharmacies of a state law restricting sales of over-the-counter cold pills containing pseudoephedrine, which can be used to make methamphetamine.

Enid Police Department and Garfield County District Attorney's Office are two beneficiaries of the settlement. They will split $333,333. Walgreen will pay the remainder to several agencies, also including Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control and U.S. Attorneys for Northern, Eastern and Western districts of Oklahoma, as well as the Eastern District of Texas.

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Congress Still Takes Care Of The Common Folks Sometimes.

After Oklahoma's brilliant methamphetamine law was passed, meth lab busts dropped from hundreds a year to a handful. Meth-related sentences dropped from 50 to 26 per month since the law was passed. Many other states looked at Oklahoma's law as a way to fight their own methamphetamine problems.

Measures were introduced at the federal level to fight the problem, but the big pharmaceutical companies attempted to water down the proposal.

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