Discussion About Sentencing, Prison System, More DAYTON - When staffers at ThinkTV Channel 16 and 14 joined members of the legal community to put together a public affairs program on tough-on-crime policies, they weren't quite sure what to expect. But they found out in a hurry. "I think viewers will be surprised that in the past 30 years the U.S. prison population has increased 500 percent, Ohio prison budgets have gone from $50 million to $1.7 billion and increased incarceration rates have disproportionately affected blacks, who are imprisoned in Ohio at a rate eight times higher than whites," said Gloria Skurski, executive producer of the hour-long Justice for All? [continues 251 words]
LEBANON -- A former Warren County sheriff's deputy specially trained in street drug crime was sentenced on Thursday to six months in prison after being arrested for possession of a pipe used to smoke crack cocaine. Michael E. Moore, 35, of Batavia, had been recognized for his work as school resource officer at the Warren County Career Center in 2002 before returning to patrol duties in Deerfield Twp. The deputy, with special training in street drugs, particularly "understanding and addressing methamphetamine," according to his personnel file, became the subject of an undercover investigation after Hamilton County authorities shut down Interstate 71 on New Year's Eve in 2003. [continues 289 words]
White House Official Fears Young Marijuana Users Will Face Problems Later On Exasperated by pessimism about the "war on drugs," John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, says: Washington is awash with lobbyists hired by businesses worried that government may, intentionally or inadvertently, make them unprofitable. So why assume that the illicit drug trade is the one business that government, try as it might, cannot seriously injure? Here is why: When Pat Moynihan was an adviser to President Nixon, he persuaded the French government to break the "French connection" by which heroin came to America. Moynihan explained his achievement to Labor Secretary George Shultz, who said laconically: "Good." [continues 669 words]
Charged With Possessing Cocaine, Methamphetamine PAMPA, Texas -- Rick Roach got elected district attorney in West Texas on a vow to rid the streets of drug dealers and users, and he went after them mercilessly. Drugs, drug usage, drug trafficking has become a scourge in our society, Roach thundered during closing arguments at a drug trial that sent a 30-year-old man to prison for 60 years in 2001. Few guessed, until recently at least, the hypocrisy behind it all: Roach himself did drugs. [continues 261 words]
COLUMBUS | The Ohio Senate on Wednesday approved and sent to the House legislation establishing legal standards for law enforcement officers to use in testing and charging individuals suspected of driving under the influence of drugs. Sen. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, the sponsor, said that while standards exist for determining driving under the influence of alcohol, there currently are no standards for determining the level of drugs such as marijuana and cocaine in an individual's system. Without an established level of impairment, cases against individuals charged with driving under the influence of drugs can vary from court to court, he said. The vote was 30-1, with Senate Minority Leader C.J. Prentiss, D-Cleveland, casting the only "no" vote. [continues 57 words]
U.S. Needs New Approach to Scourge, She Tells Civic Club KETTERING - Retired Florida Judge Eleanor Schockett was speaking to such a square crowd that they didn't even get the little joke in her introduction about the fact she doesn't do drugs. That didn't mean the 50 Kettering Rotarians weren't receptive to her message at their meeting Wednesday. They listened to Schockett's argument that everything from marijuana to narcotics should be made legal, and regulated by the government. From the very start, they agreed that the war on drugs has failed to reduce demand, and that a new approach is needed. [continues 334 words]
If Miamisburg's school board votes to allow drug testing of some high school students, the district will be in a minority. That won't make it wrong. Nationally, the vast majority of schools don't test students for drugs, mostly because of cost. But Miamisburg administrators say they have a growing drug and alcohol problem, and they think testing would discourage some kids from drinking or using illicit drugs. A 16-member committee has been talking about what to do since April, and it has drafted a proposed policy that's thoughtful and comprehensive. (Read it at miamisburgcityschools.org.) [continues 427 words]
Re "Helriggle death may be revisited," Jan. 14: Finally someone gets it. Greene County Prosecutor Bill Schenck and Assistant Prosecutor Suzanne Schmidt have said what everyone else was afraid to say: "Some cases beg for their day in court. This case needs to be aired." Schenck wants to get to the bottom of what led to the deadly raid. The testimony of Kevin Leitch and questions about why he changed his story seem like a good place to start. When Schenck meets with the investigators, he must convince them to hear the case again. [continues 52 words]
CINCINNATI - Carter Singleton says he was weak and lost 80 pounds in five months from cancer when he followed a friend's advice to smoke marijuana, which helped him get back his appetite and gain weight. Now, Singleton is awaiting trial on a felony charge of growing marijuana -- which he admits he grew in his basement for personal use. If convicted, the 65-year-old could go to prison for one to five years or be placed on probation. "Carter is not the type of person to intentionally violate the law, but he was desperate," said his lawyer, Larry Keller. [continues 123 words]
Sharon Helriggle will never stop asking herself, "What if?" That's true of any parent who loses a child to violence. But for Helriggle and her husband, Mike, the litany of "What ifs" only grows longer with time. It grew longer still with the recent release of a Montgomery County Sheriff's Office investigation into the shooting death of her 23-year-old son, Clayton Helriggle, in a 2002 raid on a Preble County farmhouse. The report is an administrative review of the practices and training of the Preble County sheriff's now-disbanded regional SWAT team. There it is, in black and white, on page 21 of the 31-page report: [continues 440 words]
AKRON (AP) - Summit County has passed a pioneering law designed to make it easier to convict people for driving while drugged. The law, which took effect Aug. 26, is part of an emerging effort to raise awareness of "drug driving" and to make drugged drivers as accountable as those who drive while drunk. The Summit County law establishes a limit for the amount of cocaine permitted in a motorist's blood. Summit County Councilman Paul Gallagher, the sponsor of the law, said the level needed for a conviction is the lowest level of cocaine that can be detected accurately with existing testing methods. [continues 367 words]
XENIA-Federal prosecutors Wednesday filed a lawsuit seeking forfeiture of a $132,250 home in the 1100 block of Shorter Drive in Wilberforce, where federal agents claim they seized about 600 pounds of marijuana and $37,000 in cash in a July 24 raid. There are no recorded liens on the home, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Dayton. A Trotwood nightclub and four homes in Greene and Montgomery counties also were raided as sites suspected in a drug and money-laundering operation, Drug Enforcement Administration officials said. The drug discovery marked the largest single seizure of marijuana in either county, said Russ Neville, the agent in charge. Eleven to 15 suspects are thought to be involved in the ring, he said, but no arrests were made. [end]
COLUMBUS -- Ohio's resistance to increasing funding for methadone treatment has caused waiting lists to form at clinics that legally provide the substance. Critics say this has led to the growth of black-market methadone sales and an increase in the potential for overdoses. Methadone chemically blocks an addict's drive to get high from heroin, morphine, OxyContin and other opiates. Although also an opiate, methadone is created in a laboratory and satisfies addicts' cravings without getting them high. Its supporters say it allows addicts to live stable and productive lives without enduring physically and psychologically painful withdrawal. [continues 424 words]
Some vendors of tactical police equipment -- specialty weapons, body armor, high-tech gadgetry -- market their wares as though they're selling to soldiers of fortune, rather than local police. Their advertising displays take on qualities of comic books. In special police operations, though, macho swagger and menacing uniforms are a poor substitute for training, discipline and common sense. The results can be tragic, as Preble County learned the hard way when its well-equipped but woefully unprepared SWAT team stormed into a farm house to execute a search warrant for drugs on Sept. 27, 2002. [continues 384 words]
A Deadly Raid Shooting Prompts Questions About Lack of Training, Poor Planning, And an Encounter at an Eaton Bar EATON - After an evening of heavy drinking on Sept. 17, off-duty Preble County sheriff's Deputy Terry Petitt flirted with a group of men half her age at the 230 Club in downtown Eaton, paying special attention to 23-year-old Clayton Helriggle, witnesses said. "(Petitt) wanted us to touch the hole in her jeans," located in the upper thigh area, Tim Suter, a high school classmate of Helriggle's who was at the bar that night, later told investigators. [continues 2484 words]
Inquiry Of Preble County Slaying Ends DAYTON | Clayton Helriggle had a pistol -- not a blue plastic cup -- in his hand the night a police officer shot and killed him during a drug raid at Helriggle's rural Preble County farmhouse, according to a report by Montgomery County sheriff's investigators released Wednesday. The report describes how a Preble County sheriff's unit, specially trained to handle high-risk situations, changed its plans at the last minute. The report states that the unit set off a flash-bang grenade after -- instead of before -- some police officers entered the house, and other officers shot at dogs in the house in the seconds after they entered to serve a search warrant on Sept. 27. [continues 1153 words]
Special Prosecutor: Case Far From Over EATON - A Preble County grand jury on Tuesday declined to indict Preble County Sheriff's Emergency Services Unit officers in the shooting of 23-year-old Clayton Helriggle, and a special prosecutor called his death a justifiable homicide. The jury also declined to indict any of the four other people living with Helriggle in the Lanier Twp. farmhouse on any charges stemming from a marijuana-trafficking warrant served by the special police squad when officers stormed Helriggle's house on Sept. 27 in a heavily armed raid. [continues 892 words]
SAN FRANCISCO - An author of how-to books on growing marijuana and avoiding the law was convicted Friday of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy charges. The federal jury concluded that Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja," was growing more than 100 plants, conspiring to cultivate marijuana and maintaining a warehouse for a growing operation. Rosenthal, 58, faces a maximum of 85 years in prison when sentenced June 4. Several people in the courtroom, including Rosenthal's wife and daughter, wept as the verdicts were read by a court clerk. [continues 313 words]
LAS VEGAS - Smoking tobacco in public places may be illegal in other states, but you can light up almost anywhere in Nevada. Need a drink? They're free in casinos, if you gamble. Las Vegas Boulevard is crowded with hawkers handing out pictures of naked women who will come to your hotel room for a private strip tease or something more. Prostitution is legal in most parts of Nevada. And soon, you may be able to legally smoke marijuana. If Nevada voters give their approval, it would no longer be a crime for anyone 21 or older to possess up to 3 ounces of pot o enough for between 150 and 250 marijuana cigarettes o within the state's borders. [continues 764 words]
Clayton Helriggle Lived Young and Free Before Shooting WEST ALEXANDRIA - Clayton J. Helriggle wore tie-dyed T-shirts, corduroy pants with patchwork insert flares, attended Woodstock commemorations and followed The Grateful Dead on tour. Friends said the hippie lifestyle of his parents' generation fascinated the 23-year-old, who died Sept. 27 when a Preble County police officer shot him during a drug raid. What happened in less than five minutes that Friday night is not clear. Neither is whether police had been investigating Helriggle or some of his roommates in the three days leading up to the raid. [continues 345 words]
The nation's top anti-drug official opposes state Issue One, the proposed constitutional amendment that would require treating certain drug offenders instead of jailing them. John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, on Wednesday called Issue One a bad idea. "It will weaken the tools that the institutions have to get people into treatment," said Walters, who coordinates all federal drug programs and spending. But Ed Orlett, director of the group backing the issue, said new tools are needed in America's war on drugs. [continues 164 words]
Preble Man Slain During Raid Outside West Alexandria EATON | The Greene County prosecutor and his first assistant have been appointed special prosecutors in the case involving the Sept. 27 fatal shooting of Clayton J. Helriggle by a member of Preble County Emergency Services Unit. Helriggle, 23, was shot during a drug raid at his home south of West Alexandria. Preble County Prosecutor Rebecca J. Ferguson handed the case over to William Schenck on Wednesday after speaking with Helriggle's family, according to a media release from her office. Suzanne Schmidt, first assistant prosecutor in the Greene County office, will assist Schenck. [continues 144 words]
Lewisburg police Sgt. Kent Moore, an 11-year veteran officer with extensive weapons training, fatally shot Clayton Jacob Helriggle, 23, in a drug raid at the man's Preble County farmhouse Sept. 27, according to Preble County Sheriff's Office records. Lewisburg police Chief John Wright has refused to identify the officer from his department involved in the shooting at 1282 Ohio 503, south of West Alexandria, but said that officer was placed on administrative leave immediately. Sheriff's office records list Moore as the only Lewisburg officer who is a member of the Preble County Sheriff's Emergency Service Unit, a group of 15 officers from agencies throughout the county specially trained to handle water rescue, drownings, hostage situations and high-risk operations, such as serving search warrants. [continues 973 words]
House Candidate Also Supports Lower Prescription Costs COLUMBUS | An outspoken advocate of lessening criminal sanctions for marijuana says a vote for him in his race for an Ohio House seat is a vote for legalizing the drug for medical use. To push the issue, which he says is just a small part of his agenda, Kenneth Schweickart, a Democrat, has to win his race first - and the odds are stacked against him. Schweickart, 32, narrowly upset a union-backed Democrat in the primary, but he faces a labor-supported Republican incumbent, Jim Hughes, in a district that is 59 percent GOP. Green Party candidate Alan Amstutz also is on the ballot. [continues 709 words]
WEST ALEXANDRIA | Montgomery County sheriff's detectives found a loaded pistol at the scene of Clayton Helriggle's fatal shooting, but no blue plastic cup near the shooting scene, Sheriff Dave Vore said Wednesday. Helriggle, 23, was shot by police Friday night during a drug raid at a Lanier Twp. farmhouse near West Alexandria. The Preble County Sheriff's Office said Helriggle was shot as he walked down a staircase carrying a handgun. Helriggle's friends said he was carrying a blue plastic cup. [continues 822 words]
Informant Said Pot Was Being Sold At Farmhouse LEWISBURG -- A tip from an informant about marijuana trafficking led Preble County authorities to send the sheriff's emergency services unit on a surprise drug raid to a rural farmhouse on Sept. 27, Sheriff Tom Hayes said Friday. The specially trained police squad rarely is assigned to serve a search warrant, Hayes said. But last week, Preble County sheriff's commanders had learned that more than a dozen men might be at the home, so they sent the emergency services unit. The unit's 15 members are equipped to handle drownings, water rescues, and hostage and other high-risk situations. [continues 687 words]
I CANNOT HELP BUT RESPOND TO THE SEPT. 18 article "U.S. official warns of teen pot use." No credible study has ever concluded that marijuana is physiologically addictive in humans in the sense that alcohol, cocaine and other such drugs are. There is anecdotal evidence, among a minority of chronic pot smokers of many years' duration, of something akin to a psychological dependence upon the associated behavior and ambience of pot smoking. An addiction, however, has two other required components, tolerance and withdrawal, neither one of which is physically evident with marijuana smokers. Tolerance means ever larger doses of the drug are required to produce the same effect. Withdrawal means physiological changes occur--heart rate, respiration, nausea, etc.--from sudden cessation of the drug. No reliable studies have shown that these events occur with marijuana usage, especially the level of usage found among most teenagers. [continues 285 words]
Slain Man's Roommates Say He Was Unarmed EATON - Preble County law-enforcement officials declined to talk publicly Monday as they turned information about Friday's fatal shooting by a police officer of a 23-year-old man over to detectives from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Montgomery County investigators, called in by Preble County Sheriff Tom Hayes, also said they would not talk about their review of the shooting by a member of a Preble County's emergency services group -- officers from a number of police departments who are trained to handle drownings and hostage and other situations. [continues 1019 words]
Father Denies That Dead Man Held Pistol WEST ALEXANDRIA -- A police officer fatally shot a Preble County man Friday night during a drug raid at a farmhouse in West Alexandria, prompting outrage from his family and an investigation by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Clayton J. Helriggle, 23, was killed by a single shotgun blast fired by a Lewisburg police officer, according to the Preble County Sheriff's Office. "The officer encountered Mr. Helriggle holding a pistol and the officer fired one round from a shotgun," said Preble Sheriff's Capt. Mike Simpson. [continues 417 words]
Backers of proposal don't have facts, Resnick, Moyer say By Kristy Eckert e-mail address: keckert@coxohio.com Columbus Bureau COLUMBUS | The trio of billionaires backing the ballot issue that would mandate treatment instead of jail for certain drug offenders are smart, but maybe not about Ohio, two state Supreme Court justices said Wednesday. "They're all highly respected people," said Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, who with Justice Alice Robie Resnick announced opposition to Issue One and sent a letter to its backers telling them why. "We simply don't understand why people of this prominence . . . would single out Ohio as a place to claim there's not adequate treatment." [continues 531 words]
Group Plans to File Signatures, Force Vote on Issue COLUMBUS - A group that would require Ohio to treat many nonviolent drug offenders rather than incarcerate them appears to have collected enough signatures to put the proposal on the November ballot. But Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery and four county prosecutors, at a news conference Tuesday, blasted the group's proposed constitutional amendment, which would give certain nonviolent drug offenders two chances in treatment programs before facing limited jail time with their third offense. The amendment would require the state to spend $38 million a year on the effort for the first six years. [continues 620 words]
Three Overdoses In Brookville Reveal Problem People stealing and then eating patches used to administer powerful painkillers such as morphine and OxyContin is the latest form of drug abuse to hit the Miami Valley. On Thursday, three Brookville men were rushed to the hospital for treatment after Brookville Police Chief Andrew Papanek said they apparently ate pain patches normally used to administer drugs through the skin. He said the drug ingested was Fentanyl, a synthetic opiate 10 times more powerful than morphine. [continues 406 words]
WASHINGTON - Margaret Rice hopes her community is not on the verge of losing its war against terror. Not the terrorism of some network of America haters planning to bomb public places. Rice, 63, fears the terror in her own building on Central Avenue in Dayton. She worries about the scourge that once was a priority in the highest levels of government and was covered often in the media, and that now seems like an afterthought: The drug and crime problem in public housing. [continues 432 words]
Even Prosecutors Believe She Was Dupe Of Boyfriend DAYTON - Her appeals exhausted, Carol Lee McGonegal began her eight- year prison sentence Friday while her attorney prepared to seek a commutation of her drug case sentence to Ohio Gov. Bob Taft. Attorney Jon Paul Rion said the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review McGonegal's case a couple of weeks ago, setting the stage for her sentence to begin. Rion noted that many in law enforcement are supporting a lesser sentence for McGonegal, including representatives of the U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Attorney's Office, Drug Enforcement Administration, Dayton Police Department and a regional drug task force. [continues 257 words]
Critic Says Treatment Should Be First Option COLUMBUS | Gov. Bob Taft and others lavished praise on Ohio's drug court system Thursday saying it is threatened by a November ballot initiative that would divert nonviolent drug offenders into treatment rather than prison. What was supposed to be the unveiling of a study on drug courts turned into a session where Taft, a judge and a drug court graduate told tales of the system's successes. Taft told reporters the $200,000 study, funded by a federal grant, was not yet available. Ed Orlett, who is leading the drug-reform ballot initiative, the Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies, attended the press conference and called it a "fiasco." Orlett's campaign, part of a national effort to change drug laws, is circulating petitions to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. The amendment would send non-violent, first- and second-time drug offenders to treatment rather than jail. [continues 424 words]
The Dayton Daily News came dangerously close to an insight at the end of the March 28 editorial, "Turn on Colombia no great danger." The editorial stated: "Given that the United States is where much of (the drug cartels') profits come from, so should the United States be where some of their trouble comes from." Quite so. And the best way to diminish their profits is to address the demand for drugs in the United States. Even the conservative Rand Corp. has concluded that, dollar for dollar, providing drug treatment to U.S. cocaine users is 10 times more effective than drug interdiction, and 23 times more effective than coca eradication. Given these figures--and the fact that fumigated crops are simply replanted on uncultivated lands--one might conclude that the people crafting our drug war policies are dimwits. But this would presume that the drug war really is about drugs. Arguably, fumigation is really about forcing the rural Colombian poor from their lands, so that oil companies can exploit the crude underneath. The Dayton Daily News say, "By now, it's all about drugs." No, it's still about taking the repression of the Colombian people, and their crude, all the way to the bank. [continues 244 words]
During the late years of the Clinton administration, Washington decided to help the government of Colombia in the war against drug cartels/Marxist rebels. But that war had been going on for decades, and many pictured the United States being drawn into an endless, unwinnable fight, as in--of course--Vietnam. So American aid was limited. It was concentrated around the sending of helicopters, which could be used only against drugs, not against revolution. That pretty much didn't work. Now the Bush administration wants to end the distinction between fighting drugs and fighting rebels, on the grounds that the distinction is murky, that the enemy is the enemy. Others respond that this change is precisely the sort of "mission creep" critics of the Clinton initiative warned of, that Washington is on a slippery slope and that, well, "Vietnam." [continues 213 words]
Dayton's Human Rehabilitation Center, the city-owned and -operated 459-bed minimum-security facility on Gettysburg Avenue, can be a resource for the region. But it could collapse from neglect unless Dayton and Montgomery County begin serious, fast-track negotiations designed to get it consolidated under the management of Sheriff Dave Vore. For consolidation to work, the rehab center has to be put on good footing and its 100 or so employees have to land on their feet. But consolidation, done right, would represent a victory for both the city and the county. [continues 600 words]
LOS ANGELES - Robert Downey Jr., still recovering from drug problems that led to his arrest more than a year ago, has signed on to star in a film based on the popular British miniseries The Singing Detective. The film, being financed by Mel Gibson's Icon Productions, is to begin shooting in April, Downey's publicist, Alan Nierob, said. Downey has turned down several other offers while undergoing drug rehabilitation therapy, Nierob said. [end]
PIKETON (AP) - A former police chief of this southern Ohio community has been sentenced to one year in prison for stealing money and drugs from his department. Nathaniel Todd Boothe pleaded no contest to charges that he took marijuana from the department's evidence room and smoked it in his office. He also admitted to stealing about $600 from a department drug- enforcement fund. He returned the money before he was charged with the crime. He was sentenced Jan. 30. Boothe's felony conviction for theft in office means he never can wear a police badge again. [continues 157 words]
Spouse Found At Friend's Home With Drugs, He Says FRANKLIN - A Franklin police officer's wife faces drug charges after she was arrested last weekend by her husband at the home of an acquaintance of the couple. Gina Dunham, 38, was arraigned Tuesday in Franklin Municipal Court on three counts of drug abuse and one count of drug paraphernalia, all misdemeanors. She is free on $1,400 bond. Police said Dunham had two Didrex - an amphetamine - in her possession as well as some marijuana and a smoking device. [continues 112 words]
Governor Says Plan Would Undermine Current Program COLUMBUS - A proposed ballot issue that would send first- and second- time offenders of drug possession laws to treatment instead of jail would undermine Ohio's drug treatment programs, Gov. Bob Taft said Wednesday. The Campaign for New Drug Policies is pushing to place the issue on the November 2002 ballot. The campaign, backed by three billionaires, has successfully persuaded voters in California and four other states to soften drug laws. Taft said judges and drug treatment professionals in Ohio are concerned the proposal would undermine Ohio's drug treatment program. [continues 170 words]
Ohio could have a new drug war next year. The Campaign for New Drug Policies wants to put a measure on the ballot that would require treatment for all first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders. The idea was adopted in California, and there are efforts to put it on the ballot in Michigan and Florida. Meanwhile, supporters are charging that the Taft administration is illegally trying to stymie their efforts. They have a paper trail wherein administration officials discuss how to defeat the measure. The Taft people say the idea is "de facto decriminalization" of drug use. [continues 136 words]
Regime Finally Banned Cultivation Of Poppies KABUL, Afghanistan - A former top official in the Taliban's anti-drug program acknowledged Thursday that the Taliban, while trying to create a pure Islamic state, was deeply involved in the drug trade. ''I didn't have any financial or official authority, so I had to resign. I was just a symbol,'' said Najibullah Shams, who once headed the Taliban's anti-drug office in the capital. The Taliban, which took control in 1996, allowed farmers to grow poppies, the plant used in the production of heroin, and took a share of the profits. It was not until 1999, facing stiff international pressure, that the Taliban reversed itself and banned poppy production. [continues 386 words]
CLEVELAND - About 36,000 college students won't get federal financial aid and low-interest loans this fall because of drug convictions. Under a law that is being fully enforced for the first time this year, students convicted of drug possession become ineligible for federal financial aid for one year. Students convicted of selling drugs can lose aid for two years. Students deemed ineligible can be reinstated for aid if they undergo a rehabilitation program that includes random urine tests. But critics say the law does not define rehabilitation and that such programs are often costly. They also argue that the law amounts to a second punishment. The law, a provision of the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998, went into effect last fall but is being fully enforced for the first time this school year. [end]
Home-Brew Labs Represent Serious Problem, Police Say Richard S. Wells had a penchant for cooking. In July 1998, the 40-year-old Greenville resident toiled in his basement over an aluminum pot next to eight cans of starter fluid, a container of denatured alcohol and crushed ephedrine capsules in a jar labeled "flour" while his ex-wife and son slept upstairs. Then his house blew up. "The guy was cooking meth in his basement, and it exploded," Darke County Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Whittaker recalled last week. Wells received burns to 25 percent of his body and caused $10,000 in property damage while producing 81 1/2 grams of methamphetamine for personal use. A water-heater pilot light sparked some flammable ether to cause the fire, police reports said. [continues 1263 words]
Danny Kyllo was not growing rhododendrons in his house on Rhododendron Drive in Florence, Ore., in 1992. He was growing marijuana, which when cultivated indoors requires high-intensity lamps that generate considerable heat and, in this instance, generated a Supreme Court case. Monday's decision merits attention because the opinion for the closely divided (5-4) court was written by Justice Antonin Scalia. He is commonly, and not improperly, called a "strict constructionist." He describes himself as an "originalist," meaning he construes the Constitution by reading the text as its words were used and understood by those who wrote them. [continues 574 words]
Forty minute before our flight home, WHIO reporter Don Mills and I are sprawled on the busy sidewalk in front of the Bogota Airport looking for drugs planted in our luggage. Paranoia can be a healthy thing in Colombia. The week before we'd gone to sea with Coast Guard landing parties off South Florida and climbed through tramp freighters with Customs agents at the Port of Miami. We'd seen how resourceful drug smugglers can be in hiding contraband and how violent they can be in getting it back. We weren't taking any chances. [continues 956 words]
FRANKLIN--The Franklin city council has pledged $5,000 for the Warren County Regional Drug Task Force after county commissioners refused to increase funding, saying it was the responsibility of local communities. The $5,000 was already earmarked in the Franklin police budget for the task force, said Police Chief Robert Rockwood. Task force Director John Burke appeared before council Dec. 18 to make the request. The regional task force targets mid-to high-level drug dealers and producers, freeing regular patrol officers from having to do that time-consuming duty, he explained. [continues 214 words]
News makers LOS ANGELES--Michael Douglas says he's glad law enforcement officials have praised his new film Traffic, even though it questions the effectiveness of the drug war. "Everyone who sees the movie comes out of it with a different reaction," Douglas said. "We screened it for the DEA and U.S. Customs, and they're happy with it, believing it shows how tough their job is. Other people see it and think the message is that the war on drugs is futile." In the film, directed by Steven Soderbergh, Douglas plays a presidentially appointed anti-drug czar who discovers his daughter is an addict. [end]
