Pubdate: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA) Copyright: 2005 New England Newspapers, Inc. Contact: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/897 Author: Anne Harrison Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1168/a01.html MISPLACED PRIORITIES ON CHILD PROTECTION Let me see if I have this straight. A 43-year-old man who pleaded to facts sufficient to warrant a guilty finding to a misdemeanor charge of criminal harassment was sentenced to three years probation with the possibility of having his sentence erased at the end of his probation (Eagle, Aug. 17). Some teens with clean records and good grades stupidly sold a small amount of marijuana to an undercover police officer who had continually asked them for it, and they face two years in jail (Eagle, July 22, most recently.) As a former juvenile court magistrate, I am very glad I moved to a county where the district attorney has his priorities straight and our children are protected! ANNE HARRISON Lenox - --- MAP posted-by: Josh