County school board members agreed Monday to begin an investigation into the possibility of developing a student drug testing policy. The move is the board's first step in what school district officials say will be a deliberative process, one without a predetermined solution. "My preference is we study it first, get our information and then make an informed decision," said school Superintendent Carrell Boyd, in the board's regular meeting Monday night. The board approved the formation of a committee to investigate the issue and provide a report in the spring. [continues 378 words]
When the Nelson County Board of Education decided to implement a random drug-testing policy for its students, it also included the school board in the pool of potential subjects. But Superintendent Dr. Janice O. Lantz had been subject to drug tests for several years before the board approved the policy. "I have my CDL (commercial driver's license) and I'm a bus driver," Lantz said. "I've been part of the rotation for several years." Nelson County is one of the counties Scott County is studying as the Scott school district is preparing to institute its drug-testing policy. [continues 589 words]
If a police officer is allowed to use Kentucky bourbon, then they should be allowed to use Kentucky-grown cannabis / marijuana (Former Oldham Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Possession of Pot, Nov. 28, 2007), without persecution. It's time to re-legalize the relatively safe God-given plant cannabis for responsible adults since it's safer than alcohol, especially compared to whiskey. Cannabis hasn't killed one person in over 5,000 years of documented use compared to cigarettes which kill over 1,000 Americans daily, and it is less addictive than coffee. There is no rational reason to lose a job for responsible use of cannabis, because of discredited reefer madness laws that should be appealed. Stan White, Dillon, Colo. [end]
Iusue: Steve Pavey Our View: A well-deserved award Most parents in Hardin County and the surrounding area don't know who Steve Pavey is. But their children probably do. A Kentucky State Police trooper, Pavey has spent countless hours in schools over the last several years talking to children about the dangers of drugs and what drug use can do to those who take them, as well as the people around them. For many children he has been the voice on the many drug-use pitfalls that are in society. [continues 286 words]
A former Oldham County police officer who handled the county's only drug-sniffing police dog has pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and has been sentenced to 90 days in jail. But Gerald W. Colston will avoid jail time if he meets a number of conditions in the next year, including 100 hours of community service, according to the court order issued last Wednesday by Oldham District Judge Diana Wheeler. Colston, 38, was arraigned Sept. 4 after being charged with growing four marijuana plants outside his home on Rose Island Road. The charge is a misdemeanor. He resigned Aug. 31 from the police department, where he had worked for eight years. [continues 165 words]
When Scott County Schools and Scott Countians Against Drugs started looking into random drug testing for high school students, they looked at schools where it worked. "New Jersey and New Hampshire have national models," said Bob Leonard, co-chair of SCAD. "One of the people we looked at was Lisa Brady of New Jersey." Brady was principal of Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, N.J., when that school started testing students for drugs. In an article from the Student Assistance Journal, Brady said, "... after implementing Hunterdon's program, student drug use was dramatically reduced." [continues 494 words]
It's coming. And soon. By the time the 2008-2009 school year begins, Scott County schools plan to have a random drug testing policy in place. "Within the next several weeks, I will recommend to the board that we approve a drug testing initiative for our secondary schools," Superintendent Dr. Dallas Blankenship said. "In the meantime we are doing studies on timetables, the cost and the best way to implement this program." The schools and Scott County Against Drugs have been having a dialogue for almost two years on such a program and it is close to reaching fruition. [continues 531 words]
Says Amending, Extending Sentences Is Uncontitutional FRANKFORT -- Not unlike dozens of other Hardin County Drug Court candidates, Amanda R. Gaddie chose the rigorous get-clean program over jail time when a judge threatened revocation of her 90-day probated sentence for a 2003 drug possession conviction. But when she failed to show up for the first day of Drug Court, Gaddie faced consequences far greater than her original 90-day sentence. Because of her failure to comply with the strict Drug Court regimen, she was sentenced to the maximum for a misdemeanor drug crime -- 12 months in county jail. [continues 302 words]
Taylor County Schools are a step closer to requiring students who participate in extracurricular activities or drive to school to take random drug tests. At their regular meeting Tuesday, Taylor County School Board members discussed a drug testing policy presented by Taylor County High teacher Debbie Hinton on behalf of a committee appointed to study the issue. While students at Taylor County Middle School would be included, Hinton said, the testing would focus on the high school. "Students who participate in anything that is a voluntary activity could be tested," Hinton said. [continues 862 words]
Legislation Makes Large Dent In Production; Focus Turns To Interdiction ELIZABETHTOWN -- The warfront against the illegal stimulant methamphetamine is changing as less of the drug is being produced in small local labs and more of it is being imported from Mexico to satisfy a steady demand for it. Despite efforts in recent years to educate the public about its dangers, federal, state and local drug experts say the meth-using population seems to be holding steady. While estimated numbers of users appear constant throughout the state, domestic production of the drug appears to be on the decline in most parts of the state, aside from Jefferson and Bullitt counties. [continues 1301 words]
Here's a wake-up call for parents of high school students: Most teens know exactly where to go if they've got spare cash and want to buy illegal drugs. "It's so easy," was the unanimous response of the current members of The Courier-Journal's High School Round Table when asked if it would be difficult for them to buy drugs. Federal studies conducted in 2005 show that American teens use marijuana more than any other drug. Half of all respondents reported having tried drugs by the end of high school. [continues 1826 words]
How bad is the drug problem in our county? Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force Director Cheyenne Albro told the crowd of 60 attending a community drug forum Wednesday that the question is one of the most common ones he hears when speaking about drug issues. The answer is less than heartening. "Per population, your drug problem here in Princeton and Caldwell County is just the same as L.A., Miami, New York and other areas," he said. "All the same drugs that you deal with in other areas eventually find their way here," he added. [continues 796 words]
Scott Countians Against Drugs say their job will never be done. But they intend to keep on trying and this week SCAD, the community and the Scott County schools will join forces to observe Red Ribbon Week. "The sad part about SCAD," Johnny Griffin, SCAD chairman, said, "is that we'll be around for 25 more years fighting the same battle." SCAD will pass out red ribbons, stickers and pledge cards in the 15 public and private schools participating in Red Ribbon Week. The schools are also participating in grocery bag decorations. [continues 373 words]
Dawn Can't Stay Clean, So The State Takes Away Her Kids Tonio Smith stares mutely out the window as his mother, Dawn Nicole Smith, slumps, smoking, in a stained chair. The 8-year-old's eyes are solemn beneath black bangs as his mother stares unseeing into some middle distance. His father, Tony Smith, who long ago moved in with another woman even though he is technically still Dawn's husband, gathers his children's clothes and their important papers from a house strewn with trash, beer bottles and food. He's taking the four kids he had with Dawn to a new home. Garbage bags serve as luggage. It's May 2007. Tonio and his three younger siblings are leaving their eighth home since 2004, the latest Lexington area rental unit to start out nice enough but soon reflect the chaos of a drug-addled family life. [continues 887 words]
Kentucky Needs More, Better Drug Treatment Programs This past week, reporter Mary Meehan and photographer David Stephenson have recounted Dawn Nicole Smith's struggle with prescription drug abuse. It's a painful, ugly story that started before Smith was born and will outlive her as her five children make their way through the world. It's a complex story about the link between abuse and addiction, each nurturing the other, generation to generation. Smith's story ripples beyond her family to the foster homes, courts, recovery programs, churches, hospitals and jails where she's spent time and the courts, schools, social workers and foster homes that will try to fill the voids for her children. [continues 580 words]
BARBOURVILLE, Ky -- Deep in the Appalachian woods, Kentucky State Police Trooper Dewayne Holden's Humvee struggled up what once was an old logging trail. As his three-truck convoy stopped at a clearing atop a 3,000-foot ridge, Holden grabbed a machete and joined eight other armed troopers and National Guardsmen, hiking toward a hill under some power lines. But the pot growers had beaten them to the prize: Gone were the 40 to 50 marijuana plants worth as much as $100,000 that Holden spotted from a helicopter more than a week earlier. Only six spindly plants and some fresh ATV tracks were left. [continues 680 words]
BARBOURVILLE, Ky. - Deep in the Appalachian woods near the Knox-Bell county line, Kentucky State Police Trooper Dewayne Holden's Humvee belched smoke and roared as it struggled up what once was an old logging trail. As his three-truck convoy stopped at a clearing atop a 3,000-foot ridge, Holden grabbed a machete and joined eight other armed troopers and National Guardsmen, hiking toward a hill under some power lines. Keeping an eye out for nail pits, pipe bombs and poison-snake booby traps, they found fresh ATV tracks. [continues 1718 words]
Nurses throughout Kentucky spent Friday learning about the extent of the state's methamphetamine problem - and what they can do to help themselves and others. The Kentucky Nurses Association held its biannual health care summit Friday at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green. Meth was the topic of choice because it impacts not only individuals and families, but also entire communities, according to Susan Jones, president of the association and a nursing professor at Western Kentucky University. "We want to provide information and to challenge people to do something about it," she said. "Everybody has a part in this." [continues 428 words]
Should all Kentucky counties and all Kentucky schools test their student athletes for drugs? Well, can't we agree that drugs are found more commonly in schools today then they were 30 years ago? And can't we also agree that probably most of those consuming narcotics today are teens between the ages of 15 and 18 years old? On any given day, I could have walked the hallways of my high school and spied two people standing off to the side and trading something in their hands while classes were changing. [continues 149 words]
FRANKFORT - Sheriff Marvin Lipfird and his deputies rounded up 20 more drug dealers last week in Harlan County and confiscated another load of prescription painkillers destined for Eastern Kentucky's black market. The drug problem, Lipfird said, just doesn't seem to be going away, despite the best efforts of local, state and federal authorities. "We need more personnel," said Lipfird, who has seven deputies helping him patrol an expansive mountain county that has been ravaged by illegal drugs and by increases in other crimes addicts commit to get money to feed their habits. [continues 521 words]
Inside Kentucky
