Pubdate: Thu, 07 Apr 2011 Source: Almaguin News (CN ON) Copyright: Almaguin News 2011 Contact: http://www.almaguinnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3732 NOT DONE LIGHTLY Consequences. It's a word that's been on our minds a lot this week. That's because of an announcement that arrived late last week from our local OPP detachment about a major sweep of alleged, suspected drug dealers in five of our communities. Attached to the release were 13 names of individuals. Some we recognize, some we don't, but all will face consequences, not just from the arrest, but from having their name published here in the local paper of record. And we suspect that our readers have some understanding of those consequences, if not from personal experience, than in acknowledgement of how acute their own curiosity would be if our decision regarding the names of those charged had gone the other way. Case in point, hardly a week goes by here at the News in which we don't receive at least one inquiry about why our very popular OPP Files (which will return shortly) do not contain the names of those charged by police. The answer is invariably the same. That we don't have the resources to follow every court proceeding through, and in the age of the Internet we would find it unfair to publish a name related to a charge without also publishing the final outcome of the court proceedings. How would you like to be linked forever via Google to a charge that was thrown out of court? That said, we do publish some names. These names are generally related to more serious offenses under our criminal justice system, and related to activities that the community finds serious, dangerous or both. For instance, at the moment we are following through the court system charges for child molestation and a lethal traffic accident. And while we certainly do not draw a comparison from either of those offenses to the ones charged against the 14 individuals in this week's report about the sweep, we do think the common element to them all is that publishing does serve the public good. That good is that people in this area need to be fully aware of the drugs that are becoming more readily available in these parts and the dire consequences they can have. The current prescription drug addiction epidemic is not just tempting people to waste their lives away in a narcotic haze, but to literally put them on the line as they delve into more and more dangerous concoctions to get their highs. With that in mind we vow to do our best to follow all of the charges through to their conclusion. This is a country that still mostly respects the concept of innocent until proven guilty, the exception being some current drinking and driving measures. The OPP, by the extent of their efforts, have shown that they are taking a stand. We will follow to see where it leads them. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.