Cuts Force Area Police To Pull Plug On DARE Youth-Education Effort Three years ago, then-Gov. Jane Swift cut the DARE drug-education program's line item in the state budget from $4.3 million to zero, leaving local police departments to decide whether to retain DARE on their own dime. Because most Massachusetts communities have been struggling with fiscal crises since that time, the oft-maligned program became an obvious area to trim from many police budgets. Paul Anderson, a former Burlington DARE officer who has served as co-president of the Massachusetts DARE Officers Association for the past year, has watched his beloved program begin to peter out. The association doesn't officially track the number of police departments that maintain DARE, but Anderson offers anecdotal evidence of the decline. [continues 694 words]
CHELMSFORD - The Police Department is still awaiting the outcome of a grand-jury investigation into the actions of Officer Mike Horan, who was placed on paid administrative leave in November. Horan was relieved of his duties as the department's DARE officer because of the results of an internal investigation, which is still ongoing. Police have declined to reveal the nature of the probe, but sources told The Sun Horan may have stolen as much as $20,000 from the DARE program and possibly other programs. [continues 132 words]
CHELMSFORD -- The police officer who headed the town's DARE program is under investigation for the alleged theft of as much as $20,000 in Police Department funds, sources said yesterday. Police Chief Raymond McCusker confirmed that police have launched an investigation into Officer Mike Horan, who has been placed on paid administrative leave. But McCusker declined to comment on the nature of the inquiry. "I don't discuss personnel issues," McCusker said. "When and if we can discuss it, we will." [continues 173 words]
You're Rush Limbaugh and you wonder how it went so wrong so quickly. Just two weeks ago, your "dittoheads" were lined up at the altar of your ignorant utterances, yelling amen to every skewered fact you uttered. And on weekends, you got paid a boatload of bucks to show the rest of the world that you knew even less about football than you did about public policy. Life was good, you thought. No, life was great! Now you look around and you can't believe what you see. First, you win the "Trent Lott Foot-in-Mouth Award" for saying that a pro-bowl quarterback, who happens to be African-American, was overrated because of the bias of the "liberal" sports media. Yeah, like John Dennis, Jerry Callahan, and Fred Smerlas. [continues 621 words]
BILLERICA -- Arguing that the punishment doesn't fit the crime, fired Billerica police Officer Dean Royston said administrators had their minds made up long before a hearing last week. Royston, 45, was fired after it was determined he bought and used marijuana, provided false information during an investigation and violated numerous departmental regulations. "It was more like a lynching than a hearing," said Royston, who is black and the department's only minority officer. "Now I know how my ancestors felt." [continues 768 words]
Billerica's School Committee made the right decision Monday allowing student lockers to be searched without warning, or in the presence of the student concerned on a random basis. While we cringe at trampling a student liberty, the safety of all students and the self-preservation of the school itself overrides all privacy issues in this matter. The scale between student rights vs. student safety must tilt toward the latter in this era of school violence. The committee members didn't act in haste; they gave the matter first reading last June. The decision reflects a sound policy that will allow officials to use their judgment in balancing constitutional rights against safety. [continues 104 words]
BILLERICA Without discussion, the School Committee unanimously voted to adopt a policy that would allow school officials to inspect students' school lockers and desks on a random basis. "The rights of inspection of student's school lockers and desks is inherent in the authority granted to school committee members and administrators," reads policy 5206. The policy places demands on school officials to use their judgment in protecting the students' constitutional rights to personal privacy and to act in the best interest of the schools. [continues 382 words]
Selectman Anxious For Answers About Drugs Missing From Dracut Police DRACUT It's been more than four months since approximately $80,000 in marijuana went missing from the police station, and selectmen are wondering when they will be able to start asking questions. So far, selectmen have held off looking into the incident so as not to disrupt the investigation by District Attorney Martha Coakley's office. But with little word on the progress of that probe or how long it might drag on, Selectman Jim O'Loughlin is speaking out. [continues 629 words]
BOSTON In a year when lawmakers spared few education and health care programs from cuts, they set aside $37 million for substance abuse treatment and prevention more than the state spends annually to run any state college. That $37 million is also more than the state spends on community policing, or expanding half-day kindergarten programs to full day, or running the state Attorney General's office. Some policymakers said that treating substance abuse should be last on the priority list. But drug treatment advocates said the money is necessary. [continues 898 words]
Coca is everywhere in Bolivia. In some places, it's used legally in tea or as something to chew on. In others, it's illegally turned into cocaine for equally illegal export around the world. The Bolivian government, under pressure from the United States, has been trying to cut back the production of the abundant leaf that is used to make cocaine. But any changes to the coca business affect the lifestyles of some of the poorest people in one of South America's poorest countries. [continues 1200 words]
N.H. State Police Claim DEA Disrupted Cocaine Bust By Holding Informant In Lowell The agent in charge of the New England field division of the Drug Enforcement Administration denies his transfer to Texas is linked to a probe of his agents responsibility in a thwarted New Hampshire drug raid. John Gartland, who has been with the DEA for 31 years, has been transferred to Houston. New Hampshire State Police have demanded answers about a drug investigation that was foiled last year when an informant was detained in Lowell on the day of a planned bust in New Hampshire. [continues 408 words]
Reports Asked On Use Of Money Seized In Raids LOWELL --The state law regarding drug forfeiture accounts run by Lowell's police superintendent should be changed to allow for more public control of the money, city councilors said this week. Following a report by The Sun that found $500,000 from two accounts controlled by Police Superintendent Edward F. Davis III has been used to buy everything from food to new cruisers since 1995, city councilors said they should have more input in how the money is spent. [continues 1058 words]
PELHAM, N.H. -- Pelham High School principal Barry Connell says he's seen a lot in his 30 years as an educator and very little shocks him anymore. But when he first learned of the sharp rise in the use of designer drugs such as Ecstasy among Pelham teens and his students, he was frightened. "This scares me," said Connell last night before a group of parents at the high school. "Very little scares me," Police officers spoke last week to more than a dozen parents who came to learn of relatively new designer drugs such as Ecstasy that has become popular in Pelham as it has in suburban communities throughout the country. [continues 368 words]
