Pubdate: Sat, 26 Oct 2002
Source: Sun Herald (MS)
Copyright: 2002, The Sun Herald
Contact:  http://www.sunherald.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/432
Author: Karen Nelson, The Sun Herald
Note: Part 1a, http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1966/a07.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

Fighting Back: Part 7c

CITIZENS: 'STRAIGHTEN UP OR LEAVE'

LUCEDALE - Ask Pam Touchard what state law has to say about bond revocation 
on a drug case and she'll say, "I've got it right here," and read aloud 
from the law books.

She's no lawyer. She's a 32-year-old mother of four children. She teaches 
third grade at Agricola Elementary in George County. But she has come to 
know some aspects of the law out of necessity for her well-being and the 
well-being of the community where she has lived all her life: George County.

Two years ago, the rural South Mississippi county had the reputation of 
being easy on drug cases. Whether it was possession or dealing, few who 
were arrested went to jail. As that reputation grew, so did the county's 
problem with methamphetamine, said Touchard.

The problem of home-cooking the strong, illegal stimulant was so widespread 
by early 2001 in the county of 19,000 that an unofficial poll indicated the 
drug affected one in three families.

But when it touched Touchard, things began to change.

Meth use hits home

A close member of Touchard's family got tangled up with the drug without 
Touchard realizing it.

"It was a total surprise when I got a call to pick that person up at the 
jail," she said.

Touchard began asking questions. She talked with judges who wondered how 
she could not have known about the problem. Her relative promised to quit 
the drug, but while Touchard was getting up to speed on the issue, the 
relative was arrested again for methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine is referred to as "poor-man's cocaine," an assistant 
district attorney explained. Easily manufactured at home, it provides a 
terrific high when first taken, but subsequent doses do not give the same 
effect, leaving the user "chasing" the first high. It is highly addictive 
and physically dangerous.

Drug rehabilitation seemed to work for her relative until Touchard, now 
more aware, began noticing signs of relapse - staying out late, manic 
behavior. She went to the courts and law enforcement for help and no one 
seemed to care, she said. "No one could tell me what to do. I had nowhere 
to turn."

So Touchard began speaking out in the community and organizing support. By 
June 2001 the county held its first drug education seminar. One hundred 
seventy people attended. They learned what to look for, learned about the 
law and how to report drug crimes. And they looked into starting a 
Crimestoppers program in the county.

At an August 2001 meeting, 450 attended.

Citizens group empowered

The group, calling itself George County Citizens Against Drugs, began to 
speak with authority. It began monitoring the courts and the prosecution of 
drug cases, finding that people were being arrested and bonding out 
repeatedly without having their first bonds revoked.

People arrested for methamphetamine were back using and selling the drug 
again within days.

Dividing into small groups, Touchard's organization began to ask why cases 
were being continued, why bonds weren't being revoked and why people 
weren't required to stay in jail when they had been arrested repeatedly for 
felony drug crimes. They kept up with the court docket and logged the 
sentences handed out for drug- and alcohol-related crimes.

They began attending court and following cases, and things began to change.

On July 17, 2001, the county held its first drug trial since 1999, she 
said. The message to drug users and dealers changed from "It's OK, we're 
going to give you another chance," to "If you do drugs in George County, 
you're going to pay a high price," she said.

With that, people awaiting prosecution were more interested in entering a 
plea and the overloaded court docket began to clear. A new assistant 
district attorney, ex-police officer Dustin Thomas, pushed cases, and 
judges handed out tough sentences.

"I'd like to think the message is that we're tougher," Thomas said. "That's 
what I want to convey. You have to send a tough message to these people. To 
keep people from using drugs, they have to be scared something will happen 
to them."

He and state law enforcement both say they are seeing a turn-around for the 
county. And one of the most helpful things Thomas said he has is citizens 
who come and talk to him about who and what they're seeing.

But there are still frustrating cases.

Sending bad message

David Finch, a user in his 40s, was sentenced in May to 10 years with five 
to serve for two methamphetamine charges.

"Four months to the day, he was back home," Thomas said. "The Mississippi 
Department of Corrections sent him home on house arrest. It was a bad 
message to the community.

"Judge (James) Backstrom had the authority to put Finch on house arrest, 
and didn't because obviously he felt that wasn't the right course, yet here 
he is," Thomas said.

But on the other side, a couple arrested for having the materials needed to 
cook methamphetamine insisted on taking their case to trial recently and 
lost, Thomas said.

"The jury convicted them within 45 minutes, and Judge (Kathy) Jackson gave 
them each 25 years," he said. "All of a sudden more people wanted to plead 
their cases."

Circuit Court Judge Jackson said she thinks the county is in the process of 
turning things around.

"Anytime citizens get involved, it's good," she said. "They come to court. 
They ask questions. I try to answer them."

Taking a different tack

Jackson is about to begin a special drug court in George and Greene 
counties, funded by the counties, to try and handle the burgeoning cases of 
drug use and the myriad crimes and problems that go with them. The program 
will include rehabilitation, strict and random drug testing and a lot of 
accountability.

"I told the George County supervisors when I asked them for the money (to 
set up the program), 'We can send everyone in George County between the 
ages of 15 and 30 to the penitentiary or we can try to do something different,'

" she said.

There's a distinct lack of rehabilitation programs for offenders, Jackson 
lamented. The state doesn't sponsor them.

Touchard is excited about the drug court coming.

"It fits perfectly into everything that's happening," she said. 
"Everybody's afraid of Judge Jackson. No one wants her to be their judge, 
and if they have to answer to her every week, they'll either straighten up 
or leave George County.

"And that's what we want: Straighten up or leave."

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drug prevention help

There are programs either available or being created in South Mississippi 
to help individuals before they get into drugs or help them get out before 
it's too late. They include:

Drug court: Circuit Court Judge Kathy Jackson has secured $15,000 from 
Greene County and is requesting $25,000 from George County for a drug 
court. She says methamphetamine labs in those rural counties have become a 
major problem. Likely to use the program are people charged with alcohol or 
drug abuse or crimes that stem from abuse, such as forging checks or felony 
shoplifting. The two-year program includes in-house treatment, then weekly 
meetings with the court administrator, probation officers and the judge. It 
offers counseling, help with job searches or work toward a GED and frequent 
and random drug testing.

Drug prevention: The Jackson County Children's Services Coalition and the 
Gulf Coast Mental Health Center in Gulfport are the two agencies in South 
Mississippi this year that have received Mississippi Alliance for 
Prevention grants through the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. Gulf 
Coast will teach children in the Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center 
how to refuse drugs and alcohol and how to cope with their feelings. The 
Children's Services Coalition will use the $100,000 it receives over three 
years to teach decision-making, leadership and better parent relationships 
to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in Gautier, Ocean Springs and 
Pascagoula schools.

Parent accountability: Ocean Springs City Judge Matthew Mestayer and 
Pascagoula City Judge Michael Fondren have instituted programs that hold 
teens more responsible when they are caught drinking. The judges learned 
from advocates and law officers that teens who were ticketed for drinking 
were passing the hat at parties to pay their fines. Some of the youths were 
paying up without even letting their parents know they were in trouble. 
Mestayer now requires that parents accompany teens to court. He also has 
used some innovative methods of punishment such as requiring teens to spend 
evenings at City Court, where they learn firsthand about the crimes 
associated with alcohol abuse.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D