The director of the Fourth Judicial District's Drug Task Force issued a public apology Friday to a Seymour man who was wrongly accused of a crime, but said the man's attorney caused a delay in dismissing the charges. Task Force Director Mack Smith's two-and-a-half-page single-spaced statement includes one sentence that offers a direct explanation of how James Russell Kitts came to be misidentified as a drug dealer during an undercover operation. "The identification of James Kitts as the seller of the purchased drugs was based on information garnered from various sources, including but not limited to, Sevier County 911 records and Tennessee motor vehicle registration records," Smith wrote. His name "was not arbitrarily pulled out of a hat and there was certainly not an intentional plan or design to charge an innocent man with these crimes." [continues 344 words]
A simple apology would go a long way to helping matters in wrong-arrest case For the most part law enforcement officers try to do what's right. Sometimes, though, things go wrong. And when law enforcement makes a mistake, lives are affected. A Seymour man knows just how the wrongly accused feel. Due to what appears to have been mistaken identity from an incorrect address, James Russell Kitts was charged last month with trafficking in illegal drugs. That followed an indictment from the Sevier County Grand Jury, based on actions by U.S. marshals and local law enforcement. A grand jury can only deal with the information it is given, and in this case the jurors got information that turned out to be very, very wrong. [continues 309 words]
District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn pledged Thursday he would look into how a Seymour man wound up wrongly charged with trafficking in drugs. James Russell Kitts was arrested June 25 after U.S. Marshals and Sevier County deputies served a warrant based on a presentment issued in January. The information in that presentment - an indictment issued in secret by a Grand Jury that and sealed until the suspect is arrested - came from the Fourth Judicial District Drug Task Force, according to officials. [continues 167 words]
SEVIERVILLE - Call off the drug testing and all those hastily scheduled meetings. In response to a July 2 opinion by the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, the Sevier County Board of Education has decided to hold off on its new drug-testing policy for athletes that went into effect just the day before. Sevier County high school athletic directors had scheduled a number of meetings this week to inform athletes about the new policy and distribute parental consent forms. The actual drug testing was slated to start July 31. [continues 318 words]
Tennessee has made major progress over the past year in combating methamphetamine, according to state law enforcement officials. Through initiatives like the Meth-Free Tennessee Act, the Meth Offender Registry, and educational campaigns like the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference's Meth Destroys Campaign, Tennessee has seen a drop in meth lab seizures and a general increase in awareness about the drug. "The new laws have made it more difficult to make meth in Tennessee, which is making our state a safer place to live," District Attorney Al Schmutzer of Sevierville said. "Law enforcement is working to keep people from trafficking meth into our state, but it's important that Tennesseans arm themselves with facts about this dangerous drug." [continues 328 words]
Editor: My wife and I broke the law. And I would do it again. According to Monday's Supreme Court ruling, when your body begins failing and you are wasting away due to cancer, tough luck. My wife was unable to tolerate any opiates, oxycontin made her violently nauseous, and we had been to three different pain clinics without success. No appetite and constant pain coupled with the knowledge that this time the doctors are right. You only have months left to live and the Supremes say, "Suck it up - too bad, we will put you in jail if you use the drug suggested by your general practitioner and oncologist." After all, if we allow seriously ill people to use this natural herb, others will fake having a terminal disease. [continues 201 words]
The Food and Drug Administration's official ban on dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids (ephedra) will go into effect Monday. On Feb. 6, the FDA issued a final rule prohibiting the sale of dietary supplements containing ephedra "because such supplements present an unreasonable risk of illness or injury" and stated that the rule would become effective 60 days from the date of publication. "In December, we advised consumers to stop using ephedra products, and we asked responsible companies to stop selling them," said FDA Commissioner Mark B. McClellan. "We intend to use this regulation to make sure consumers are protected by removing these risky products from the market." [continues 206 words]
Would you live near a house where there was a potential for a deadly explosion? Would you stay at a hotel where dangerous chemicals were right next door? Would you drive behind a car that was filled with toxic materials? Knowingly, we wouldn't do any of these things. Unknowingly, we may have - or may be doing so now - right here in Sevier County. Homes, hotel rooms and vehicles have all been sites for alleged methamphetamine labs. Right here in Sevier County. [continues 276 words]
The community was invited to attend a methamphetamine lab seminar Monday, sponsored by the Sevier County Family and Community Education Clubs of the U.T. Agricultural Extension Service, in order to gather information on the growing drug problem in Sevier County. Captain Randy Parton and Det. Loren Kirby of the Sevier County Sheriff's Department spoke to about 30 people on how to spot a possible meth lab, the dangers of meth and how to protect families and the community. "In Sevier County, we are seeing more meth labs and meth users everyday," said Parton. [continues 430 words]
Teamwork Is Important In Much Of What We Do Every Day. In the morning parents divide the tasks that need to be done as the day starts. The children have to be readied for school, and things run much smoother if each parent does their part. After the kids get on the bus or are dropped off at school, we head to work and team up with others to accomplish the job at hand. Most people must interact with fellow workers and customers on a daily basis, and teamwork is essential to be efficient. [continues 236 words]
A new statewide effort to crack down on the spread of methamphetamine was launched Thursday as a result of the 2003 Tennessee General Assembly. The MethWatch program aims to combine a public information campaign with an intelligence collection system to curtail the boom of methamphetamine production in Tennessee. Tennessee is ranked second in the nation in meth production, according to officials. The drug is known to be volatile and deadly while it is being produced and is highly addictive. "Meth abuse is reaching epidemic proportions in Tennessee, particularly in rural communities," said Governor Phil Bredesen in a public statement. "I want to get serious about cracking down on the problem...The only way to truly address the problem is to get everyone working together from TBI to local law enforcement officials, from retailers to citizens." [continues 279 words]
The Fourth Judicial Drug and Violent Crime Task Force wrapped up 2003 having made 61 arrests and seizing a total of $782,040 in drugs. The number of methamphetamine labs busted increased from two in 2002 to 15 in 2003. Task Force Director John Evans said his agents work at all hours, without overtime pay, to get the job done. "I'm proud of them," he said. Attorney General Al Schmutzer Jr. said he was pleased with the task force's accomplishments and their ability to work closely with other agencies. From 2000 until 2003, the task force has worked cases leading to a total of 554 indictments. There were 182 from 2003 alone. [continues 170 words]
Whether it's methamphetamine, prescription pain medication, alcohol or other illicit drugs, addiction and alcoholism are a blight on our society. Addiction, including alcoholism, is a disease that destroys the user's mind and body. But it also takes its toll on society. Drug and alcohol abuse leads to higher crime rates, increases the spread of diseases like AIDS and hepatitis, increases the instances of domestic violence, and generally decreases the quality of life for everyone. But in all reality, many addicts and alcoholics themselves don't approve of their own behavior when under the influence of a drug or when trying to get more. The addiction has grown beyond their control, causing them to behave in ways shocking to their family, themselves and society in general. [continues 260 words]
The rise of methamphetamine use in Sevier County is cutting the lives of addicts short and damaging their bodies severely along the way. Methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug, has been around for years but did not become a problem in Tennessee until the mid-1990s. In the last five years, the problem has skyrocketed, with a dramatic increase within the last year. The 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse estimated 8.8 million people, or four percent of the population, have tried meth at some point in their lives. [continues 1209 words]
As the use and manufacture of methamphetamine in Sevier County grows, so do the hazards associated with the drug. The hazards of methamphetamine include dangers to the community in general, the officers busting the labs, health personnel, the environment, and to the meth makers, meth addicts and their families. Crime factor As with other drugs, meth manufacturing and use often leads to other crimes, so as meth use rises, so does the potential for an increase in other associated crimes. Methamphetamine users experience an intense "crash" after the drug wears off, and will often turn to crime to fund their habit, according to law enforcement officials. [continues 1195 words]
As methamphetamine spreads throughout the state - Tennessee is ranked second in the nation in meth production - it is good to see retailers and law enforcement take a stand together to battle the drug. Methamphetamine, also called meth, crystal, crystal meth, speed and crank (not to be confused with crack, which is a pure form of cocaine), is a highly addictive and dangerous central nervous system stimulant that is made from household chemicals widely available at a variety of retailers. There are several ways to make meth, and some of the ingredients include salt, rubbing alcohol, drain cleaner, red phosphorous (which comes from the striking pads of matchbooks) and ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, usually marketed as bronchodilators or cold medicine. [continues 208 words]
Editor's note: The Mountain Press received several letters from subscribers to www.mapink.org in response to our Sept. 13 editorial concerning the connections between illegal drug use and terrorist activities. The following letter is representative of their views. -j.p. Editor: Referring to your editorial of Sept. 13 concerning illegal drug use supports terrorism - somewhere along the way, the media has lost its sense of worth and responsibilities. It used to be that the press acted as a constant challenger to the statements made by the government. The Soviet Union had a paper like this - it was called Pravda. But, consider history, did alcohol drinkers in the '20s support terrorism? No doubt, they supported organized crime, but citizens came around to the nonsense of alcohol prohibition, recognized that no country in the world will ever be alcohol free, and then, ended prohibition in order to deal with alcohol use as a public health issue, instead of a criminal justice issue. Why do we, as a society, allow for this? There are three entities that can control the manufacture and distribution of drugs in America (well, really, anywhere). They are: the government, the free market system and Al Capone. Why do we leave such serious items as marijuana, heroin and cocaine issue to the neo-Al Capones? If the War on Drugs was effective, wouldn't drug use go down? Wouldn't we see the end to violence on our streets, an end to overdoses? Drug Prohibition, like Alcohol Prohibition, will never work. So let's quit this crusade and take away the commodity of the criminals. Mike Smithson Camillus, N.Y. [end]
As the country remembered the victims of the terrorist acts of Sept. 11, 2001, on its two-year anniversary yesterday, many of us pondered what role we may play in the war against terror. If you use illegal drugs, even marijuana, you may be supporting the enemy with every toke. According to the White House's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, 12 of the 28 terror organizations identified by the U.S. Department of State in October 2001 traffic in drugs, and drug income is the primary source of revenue for many of the more powerful international terrorist groups, including Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaida network, which was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. [continues 193 words]
GATLINBURG -- The annual statewide DARE conference is being hosted this week by Gatlinburg Police Department. About 200 DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) officers from all over Tennessee will participate in daily classes Monday through Thursday. The classes will update and energize them for a new year of teaching children about the hazards of drugs. The week's activities will be kicked off tonight at 8 p.m. with a public parade on the Parkway which features Retro Bill, the National DARE Safety Buddy. [continues 231 words]
