Whoever thought that a simple banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" could spark a six-and-a-half-year outcry?

Thursday marked the day that a former senior high school student was finally freed from the court system's long and arduous grasp. Yes people, I am talking about Joseph Frederick.

Since we were all much younger people when little Joseph's crime initially took place, allow me to explain his story. In 2002, high school senior Joseph Frederick was suspended from an Olympic torch relay at his high school in Juneau, Alaska, for displaying a sign reading "Bong Hits for Jesus." The school's accusation? The sign promoted illegal drug use. He faced suspension from school due to his antics.

[continues 421 words]

Students for a Sensible Drug Policy could be seen on campus last week running a "bake sale"; pun intended; to help raise money for their trip to Washington, D.C., for the 10th annual SSDP conference.

Nov. 21-23, about 20 Ohio University SSDP members are planning to attend the national event, lobbying congressional and senate leaders in an attempt to open up the discussion of drug policies in the country and their respective states, explained Erin Dame, president of OU's chapter of SSDP.

[continues 744 words]

Ohio Considers Banning Hallucinogen

Lee Eubanks didn't really like the high he got from smoking salvia.

It made him paranoid, and whenever he used it, said Eubanks, 17, of Milford, he felt almost paralyzed.

He got a much better buzz from alcohol and marijuana.

But salvia is cheap and legal - and it doesn't show up on a drug screening, so he kept using it.

"It would free me from the problems I was dealing with and just allow me to run away from them," he said.

[continues 608 words]

STATE Rep. Fulton Sheen, a Republican from the western part of Michigan, is a reliably conservative vote on most issues, from opposition to abortion to support for the National Rifle Association. Originally, he predictably regarded the idea of legalizing marijuana use for certain suffering patients as a bad one. But that was before he saw it ease the symptoms of his dying brother. "When I saw the relief it gave him, it changed my mind," he said. As a result, he will vote yes on Nov. 4 for state Proposal One.

[continues 281 words]

A man with ties to an imprisoned snitch and an embattled DEA agent has been arrested and ordered to testify before a grand jury investigating how a series of lies led to the arrests of 23 people.

Darren Transou's testimony on Tuesday is expected to detail his link to informant Jerrell Bray and describe Transou's role in a Mansfield cocaine case that imploded because of Bray's perjury and poor police work, according to interviews and court records.

Transou was picked up last month in Detroit on a warrant identifying him as a material witness in an investigation.

[continues 883 words]

MANSFIELD -- Richland County's heroin problem will be the focus of upcoming segments on "Nightline" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Nightline" producer Katie Hinman got the idea after reading a state wire story in which a Drug Enforcement Agency agent compared Ohio's heroin problem to Miami's cocaine quandary in the 1980s.

"I'm an Ohio native," Hinman said. "It's one of the reasons I was so surprised at how aggressive the heroin problem has become."

METRICH Enforcement Unit officials referred Hinman to Richland County, which has a reputation for heroin in Shelby and Plymouth. Producers and reporters also visited Willard in Huron County. The story has been in the works since spring.

[continues 357 words]

Judge John M. Durkin declared the Youngstown house to be a public nuisance on Aug. 27.

YOUNGSTOWN -- The city's strategy of filing lawsuits to have drug houses declared public nuisances, boarded up and padlocked is effective because it bars drug dealers from returning to them -- and hits the property owners in the pocketbook, city officials said.

Their comments came in the wake of a magistrate's order that keeps a reputed South Side drug house closed for a year after final disposition of the lawsuit, or until the property owner resolves the matter.

[continues 669 words]

Jim Payne is looking forward to the ribbon cutting on Aug. 29 for the Dawson-Bryant Elementary School.

Over the past couple of years, the school superintendent has seen the renovation of the high school building and the construction of a middle school and the phased construction of the elementary.

"We are going to celebrate what's gone on the past couple of years trying to get that ready," said Payne, who added the elementary has more classrooms, four new tech labs, an expanded library with a computer lab and a music room that leads right onto the stage in the cafetorium. In all it has about 25,000 more square feet of space.

[continues 455 words]

White, Suburban Ohioans First Hooked On Prescriptions

Heroin abuse among white youth and young suburban adults is increasing in Ohio, according to a new report released Wednesday.

The report, which detailed drug trends in the state, attributed the increase to more young people becoming hooked first on prescription drugs.

''For some youth, they start off with prescription drug abuse and it's not a strong enough opiate and then they go to heroin,'' said Amanda Conn Starner, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.

[continues 412 words]

The New York TImes editorial ("Afghan opium trade can be reined in, but only with years of relentless work," Aug. 6) which The Enquirer chose to repeat, does little but illustrate the mind set that helped George Bush get the U.S. into an unnecessary war. Talk about the "mother" of unnecessary wars! That would be the worldwide war on drugs. If all drugs were to be legalized everywhere tomorrow, the war on Afghanistan would evaporate like the summer dew.

David E. Gallaher

[end]

Acquittal of Officer Who Fatally Shot Mother Spurs Mixed Reactions in City

LIMA, OHIO - The fatal, split-second decision Police Sgt. Joseph Chavalia made the night of Jan. 4 widened the divide in the already racially tense city of Lima.

"Police department! Get on the ground!" he yelled for the third time that night at a figure ducking in and out of cover in an upstairs bedroom doorway illuminated by a light in the room.

Sergeant Chavalia wrote in his report about the drug raid how he twice ordered the person to get on the ground when he heard gunshots.

[continues 1345 words]

LIMA, Ohio - The Rev. Jesse Jackson weighed in yesterday on the Monday "not guilty" verdict for the Lima Police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Lima mother during a Jan. 4 drug raid in her home while she held her infant son in her arms.

Tarika Wilson, 26, was killed that night by Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, and her 13-month-old baby, Sincere Wilson, who was shot in the shoulder and hand, with an injured finger amputated afterward.

Sergeant Chavalia, who has remained on paid administrative leave for the last six months, was acquitted Monday of misdemeanor negligent homicide and negligent assault. The sergeant is white; Wilson was black.

[continues 811 words]

Jury Determines His Actions Weren't Negligent

LIMA, Ohio - Police officers filling the cramped courtroom breathed a sigh of relief, and family members of Sgt. Joseph Chavalia gasped and whispered, "Thank God."

And those who loved Tarika Wilson cried out in anger and frustration as a judge read the two "not guilty" verdicts for Sergeant Chavalia yesterday.

"We're supposed to take this with a smile? We're supposed to believe in justice?" asked an incredulous Ivory Austin II, whose half-sister was shot to death by the veteran police officer during a Jan. 4 drug raid at her home.

[continues 1381 words]

A family member of the woman who was fatally shot during a police raid at her home seven months ago filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Toledo against the City of Lima and police Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, claiming a violation of civil rights.

Darla Kaye Jennings filed the lawsuit on behalf of Sincere Wilson, her 1-year-old grandson who was injured when his mother, Tarika Wilson, 26, was shot. The lawsuit asks for compensation for Sincere's injuries as well as seeking an end to "police abuse by requiring that high risk search warrant executions be limited to situations where they are truly needed and where the least amount of force necessary to the situation is employed."

[continues 288 words]

Defense Says Sergeant Did 'Everything Right'

LIMA, Ohio - No onedisputes the fact that Sgt. Joe Chavalia couldn't see who he was aiming at when he shot Tarika Wilson with her 1-year-old son in her arms.

The question before jurors hearing evidence in the case against the veteran Lima police officer is whether he was justified in pulling the trigger.

Special Prosecutor Jeff Strausbaugh told the jury yesterday that what Sergeant Chavalia did was criminally negligent -- that he should have had a clear target before pulling the trigger.

[continues 919 words]

LIMA -- The community and other watchful eyes from around the nation will learn today the circumstances that led to a police sergeant shooting and killing an unarmed biracial woman during a drug raid.

Opening statements in the trial of Lima Police Department Sgt. Joe Chavalia will begin at 9 a.m. with Special Prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh laying out the facts he believes proves the officer is guilty of negligent homicide and negligent assault in the Jan. 4 shooting death of Tarika Wilson inside her home at 218 E. Third St.

[continues 854 words]

BOARDMAN -- The township's DARE police officer returns to the department's patrol division next week because of decreased manpower and falling budget numbers.

The department, which staffed 63 officers in 2006, has dropped to 51 with three more officers expected to leave this year either through retirement or resignation.

The township received an $18,000 state grant last year to help fund the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, but the officer's pay, with salary and benefits, is $84,000, Chief Patrick Berarducci said.

[continues 356 words]

Panel of 8 Whites to Weigh Case With Racial Overtones

LIMA, Ohio -- After a full day of questioning, a jury of four white men and four white women was seated yesterday to decide the fate of a Lima police sergeant charged with shooting a biracial woman and her young son during a drug raid.

Joseph Chavalia, 52, is charged with negligent homicide stemming from the Jan. 4 death of Tarika Wilson, 26, and negligent assault for the wounding of 1-year-old Sincere Wilson. Both charges are misdemeanors.

[continues 775 words]

The Stark County drug culture has produced needless and unprecedented violent crime in our community, but it does not have to continue. To fix it, we must first understand where law enforcement went wrong.

In years past, we had an active, professional and capable Stark County Metropolitan Narcotics Unit. It was Stark County's first line of defense against the drug problem and the related gang activities and violent crime.

Under the leadership of Sheriff Tim Swanson, this unit has lost its effectiveness and its reputation. Every time I see an article about violent crime in Canton, I think this did not have to be. The Metro Unit was the single most effective deterrent to drug-related violent crime, and Swanson has let us down. Where there is a greater likelihood of apprehension, crime is reduced.

[continues 161 words]

Task Force Recommends Creating Web Site To Identify Houses And Cleanup Efforts

Summit County should create a Web site identifying all properties that have been tainted by methamphetamines, a county task force recommends.

The site would provide a much-needed resource for home buyers and renters when they are deciding where to live, members said.

The Summit County Methamphetamine Property Awareness Task Force - a mix of health agencies, county leaders and law enforcement - wrapped up several months of discussions last week about how to better inform residents about properties damaged by meth.

[continues 396 words]