Allowing sniffing dogs in the schools to seek out evidence of drugs and/or requiring either teachers or students to submit randomly to humiliating drug testing tells both our teachers and our students that they are not to be trusted or respected and creates an atmosphere of hostility and intimidation. That there is little sign "of students rising up in indignation over proposed searches," - as David Shapiro stated in his Oct. 10 Volcanic Ash column - is not a reason to proceed. Rather, it is a dreadful warning sign of kids' sad ignorance of or insensitivity to erosions of our freedoms produced, perhaps, by a failure to teach them adequately about our constitutions and our Bill of Rights. [continues 529 words]
The Boulder Valley School District is standing behind high school administrators after the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday accused them of "committing felonies" by seizing students' cell phones, reading their text messages and making transcripts. The ACLU of Colorado sent a letter Wednesday to the school board demanding changes at Louisville's Monarch High School after at least 13 students reported having their cell phones taken and their text messages read at the end of last school year. [continues 620 words]
The pro-marijuana organization behind the referendum that made penalties for pot on the University of Colorado campus no greater than those for alcohol is encouraging suspended running back Ricky Williams to join the Denver Broncos. Officials with SAFER, or Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, will unveil a billboard across the street from Invesco Field in Denver at noon tomorrow supporting Williams' notorious use of marijuana and encouraging him to push for a spot on the Broncos. Williams, who just completed an 18-month suspension from the NFL for violating the league's drug policy for the fourth time, filed for league reinstatement yesterday and is awaiting approval. [continues 196 words]
Many Students Unfazed, but Experts Say They're Listening It started as the carrying on of an annual tradition to engage high-schoolers in global concerns. But the Conference on World Affairs discussion on "STDs: Sex, Teens and Drugs" that some Boulder High School students were required to attend in April has sparked a firestorm of controversy on the local, state and national levels. And the debate only seems to be heating up. Parents, teachers, psychologists and TV personalities are weighing in on what advice is valuable for today's students and what "lessons" should be kept out of schools. [continues 1274 words]
At certain weekend parties in Manatee County, we are told, along with consuming plenty of beer and marijuana, teens liven up the evening with a game they call "Trust." The host puts a big bowl on the living room coffee table, and the entry fee for "playing" the game is a handful of pills. When all have made a contribution, the host stirs the contents, then invites guests to dig in. Each takes a handful and washes the pills down with a drink. [continues 667 words]
A Des Moines Man Is Fighting for the Right to Use Marijuana in Religious Services Carl Olsen is the last member of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church. The church, which blends Christianity with ceremonial marijuana smoking, had thousands of members in the '70s and early '80s, Olsen says. "The members would get together [and] smoke marijuana. It causes an intensification of the spirit. It causes a deeper understanding between people, and when you put that into a group setting it's magnified," Olsen says. "Everyone thought we were protected by religious freedom." [continues 630 words]
Illegal Immigrant Charged With Drug Possession, Trafficking OCALA - A man who was pulled over by Marion County sheriff's deputies for running a red light on Friday had thousands of dollars worth of methamphetamine concealed in two stuffed animals, according to authorities from the Sheriff's Office and law enforcement agents in the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. Sheriff's officials said Lt. Ruamen DelaRua stopped a gold-colored Mitsubishi for failure to stop at the stoplight at the intersection of Northeast Seventh Street and Baseline Road. [continues 216 words]
The Oakland County Jail is again officially over its inmate capacity, triggering a process that could lead to prisoner sentence reductions and early releases. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard issued an inmate overcrowding emergency declaration on Wednesday, Feb. 14. If prisoners are released early, it would be the sixth time since August 2005 that the county has reduced inmate sentences due to inmate crowding. The jail is currently housing about 1,859 inmates, which is 31 over its capacity of 1,828. [continues 256 words]
Narcotics in Midland affect people of all ages and backgrounds and there is a greater increase of use among males, said Lt. Seth Herman of the Midland Police Department's special investigations division. Herman was one of several guest speakers at a Monday night public forum discussing illegal drugs in the Midland community. Representatives from the Midland County Sheriff's Office were also present at the gathering at the Martin Luther King Center. The forum was held "to make our community aware of illegal drug activity" and to introduce the public to resources to help eradicate the problem, said Gabriel Dye, chairman of the Midland Crime Prevention Commission that sponsored the event. [continues 526 words]
Missing Woman May Help Identify Gunmen MARION OAKS - Marion County sheriff's detectives are searching for a 25- year-old woman who might help them find four masked men who reportedly shot a 17-year-old to death and critically wounded a 27-year-old man in what appears to be a drug-related home invasion. Investigators have identified the woman as Summer Dawn Wolfrom. Wolfrom was described as a white woman with brown hair, 4 feet 11 inches tall, and weighing about 145 pounds. [continues 729 words]
At a recent brainstorming session with fellow Ledger folks, the business editor posed a question. From my experience in being a small business owner and working with small business owners, what is the most dreaded and horror-filled moment a business owner could face? I guess he expected me to need to think about it, but my answer was front-and-center the instant he asked. It was a phone call back in 1990 or so telling me an employee had fallen from a scaffold and was being taken to the hospital. If you have ever experienced such a moment, it's a moment you will never forget. It's a moment when you would prefer bankruptcy over the news you have just been given. [continues 447 words]
A Massachusetts proposal unveiled this week giving schools the option to test students for drugs - provided a parent gives consent - is intended to crack down on drugs in a state with one of the nation's highest rates of teen substance abuse. If the plan passes, Massachusetts will join a growing list of states and officials considering testing as a tool to counter drugs in schools - a measure widely supported by the Bush administration. The White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy just wrapped up a four-state summit on the values of student drug testing. [continues 1073 words]
Afghanistan's Opium Poppy Crop Is At A Record Level Trafficking And Use Are Rising In Iraq WASHINGTON -- Afghanistan's opium poppy crop this year is set to break all records, surging past the peak levels reported under the Taliban regime, top American and international counter-narcotics officials said. At the same time, U.N. and U.S. officials are increasingly worried by signs of a nascent drug trade developing in Iraq, where smugglers are taking advantage of the continuing chaos and unguarded borders. [continues 1229 words]
Ardmore Police Department officials say the drug arrests in recent weeks clearly shows the negative impact narcotics have on children and what officers are doing to protect these innocent victims. Capt. Leroy Johnson, APD Criminal Investigation Division, said the arrest of three people early Wednesday by APD Fourth Shift officers also resulted in two small children being placed in protective custody. "That's makes 16 children placed in protective custody in recent weeks," Johnson said. "These children are innocent victims of what their parents or other relatives or caretakers are doing. And it's very traumatic for these children." [continues 474 words]
MONTEGO BAY (IPS) - "Traditionally people have had it, and put it in bottles with rum and used it for various ailments. Over the years, it got demonised by the United States," Freckleton told IPS. Called ganja in Jamaica, mention of marijuana, or cannabis, tends to conjure up images of hedonistic tourists smoking "weed" with easy-going Jamaicans.. The reality for thousands of Jamaicans has been far different, however. Possession of marijuana, even in the small amounts present in a ganja cigarette, popularly known as a spliff, is a criminal offence. The police every year drag hundreds of Jamaicans -- most of them poor young men -- before the courts, where they are fined sums as low as five U.S. dollars, but left with a criminal record. [continues 988 words]
It is encouraging to read an article like Alicia Priest's "Middle Class Addicts" and feel like we may be starting to get a more straightforward and honest dialogue in the media about the significance of drugs and their place in our culture. Market value is so absurdly inflated that it causes far greater suffering than simply that of the drugs to the users themselves, and there is a blind refusal to even entertain the notion of valid medical indications for drugs like cocaine or heroin. Most importantly, addict demonization plays out some of the ugliest tendencies in human nature when we adversely prejudge a distinct segment of the population and wind up burning some beautiful people at the stake. [continues 115 words]
BEHIND the political chatter over Rush Limbaugh's all-too-human admission of drug addiction is a more important question: Why would someone of his stature risk everything for a drug? Scientific research has begun to give us the answer, showing that repeated exposure to drugs and/or alcohol changes brain functions in fundamental, long-lasting ways - and revealing genetic and environmental vulnerabilities to addiction as well. Ongoing research will provide more insights in the future. As commissioner of the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), I learned not to be surprised when famous, highly successful, people found themselves in the grip of some chemical addiction. [continues 545 words]
Pot and politics fueled the 14th Annual Freedom Rally Saturday, where 50,000 people gathered on Boston Common for "Hempfest," an event sponsored by the Massachusetts Cannibis Reform Coalition and the National Organization for the Reform of the Marijuana Laws. Event planners wanted to use the event - whose theme was "Fight Terrorism, End Prohibition" - to question the Bush administration's idea of tying marijuana users to terrorism to justify an expansion of the "War on Drugs," according to Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Dr. Ethan Nadelmann. [continues 739 words]
ZACAPA, Guatemala -- An exploding drug trade aided by extensive government corruption has turned Guatemala into the primary safe haven for Colombia's cocaine headed through Mexico to the United States, according to U.S. and Guatemalan authorities. An estimated 200 metric tons of cocaine passed through Guatemala last year, more than two-thirds of U.S. consumption of the drug, according to State Department officials. The increased flow - nearly triple the amount estimated a decade ago - has turned parts of Guatemala into lawless zones ruled by family-controlled transit cartels, a development all too clear in this dry and dusty frontier state. [continues 585 words]
ZACAPA, Guatemala - An exploding drug trade aided by extensive government corruption has turned Guatemala into the primary safe haven for Colombia's cocaine headed through Mexico to the United States, according to U.S. and Guatemalan authorities. An estimated 200 metric tons of cocaine passed through Guatemala last year, more than two-thirds of U.S. consumption of the drug, according to State Department officials. The increased flow - nearly triple the amount estimated a decade ago - has turned parts of Guatemala into lawless zones ruled by family-controlled transit cartels. [continues 374 words]
Corruption Fueling Drug Trade, Authorities Say ZACAPA, Guatemala - An exploding drug trade aided by extensive government corruption has turned Guatemala into the primary safe haven for Colombia's cocaine headed through Mexico to the United States, according to U.S. and Guatemalan authorities. An estimated 200 metric tons of cocaine passed through Guatemala last year, more than two-thirds of U.S. consumption of the drug, according to State Department officials. The increased flow -- nearly triple the amount estimated a decade ago -- has turned parts of Guatemala into lawless zones ruled by family-controlled transit cartels, a development all too clear in this dry and dusty frontier state. [continues 707 words]
Colombian Farmers Raising Less, Although Effect On Market Unclear EL TOPACIO, Colombia -- For the first time in at least a decade, the amount of coca grown in Colombia is falling sharply, largely the result of an aggressive, U.S.-backed aerial fumigation campaign. Repeated spraying by crop dusters plus government programs to encourage farmers to pull up coca plants have reduced Colombia's coca, the source of cocaine, by 38 percent to 252,000 acres in the past three years, according to a United Nations study released this year. [continues 839 words]
The U.S.-Backed Effort to Eradicate Colombian Coca Plants Is Working, Killing 38% of the Crop. Farmers and Guerrillas Are Feeling the Pinch. EL TOPACIO, Colombia -- For the first time in at least a decade, the amount of coca grown in Colombia is falling sharply, largely the result of an aggressive, U.S.-backed aerial fumigation campaign. Repeated spraying by crop dusters plus government programs to encourage farmers to pull up coca plants have reduced Colombia's coca, the source of cocaine, by 38% to 252,000 acres in the past three years, according to a United Nations study released this year. [continues 2286 words]
U.S.-Led Herbicide Spraying Has Cut Acreage Dramatically, U.N. Finds EL TOPACIO, Colombia -- For the first time in at least a decade, the amount of coca grown in Colombia is falling sharply, largely the result of an aggressive, U.S.-backed aerial fumigation campaign. Repeated spraying by crop dusters plus government programs to encourage farmers to pull up coca plants have reduced Colombia's coca, the source of cocaine, by 38% to 252,000 acres in the past three years, according to a United Nations study released this year. [continues 1294 words]
Maryland antidrug activist Joyce Nalepka said she was barred from the public ceremony in which Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. signed a medical-marijuana bill into law. Mrs. Nalepka, who fought against the bill that reduces penalties for possession of marijuana for medical reasons, said police singled her out of the crowd and turned her away from the bill-signing ceremony in the governor's reception hall in the State House. "I was casually walking along with the crowd when a police officer came to me and said, 'You can't go in,' " said Mrs. Nalepka, a Silver Spring grandmother who for 25 years has led grass-roots opposition to drug legalization. [continues 617 words]
ANNAPOLIS -- The Montgomery County grandmother leading a national antidrug crusade said the opposition paid top dollar to win passage of a medical-marijuana bill in the Maryland General Assembly but that she's hoping her low-budget lobby can persuade the governor to veto the legislation. "I think their money won out over our facts," said Joyce Nalepka, whose small group of volunteers faced a $50,000 lobbying effort by the District-based Marijuana Policy Project, a group dedicated to decriminalizing marijuana use. [continues 560 words]
ANNAPOLIS - The Maryland Senate yesterday passed bills authorizing the use of radar cameras to catch speeders and condoning marijuana use for medicinal benefits. The radar-camera bill, mandating a $100 fine per speeding ticket, had faced stiff opposition led by Republican lawmakers, who repeatedly managed to postpone a vote and tried to gut the legislation with several amendments. The Democrat majority in the Senate shot down most of the amendments Tuesday and brought the bill to a vote yesterday. The bill passed 30-17, with 10 of the Senate's 14 Republicans voting against it. [continues 812 words]
Hostages From Crashed Plane Will Remain Safe, Statement Warns, Only If Rescue Efforts Cease. BOGOTA, Colombia -- Leftists guerrillas issued a statement Saturday acknowledging for the first time that they are holding three U.S. government contractors who crashed in a plane in rebel-held territory 10 days ago. Saying they shot down the aircraft Feb. 13, rebels with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, referred to the three kidnapped Americans as "CIA agents." The rebels demanded the immediate cessation of rescue efforts in a small area surrounding the crash site in the mountains of southern Colombia. The communique made no mention of the two other crew members, an American and a Colombian intelligence official, whose bodies were found near the crash site, shot at close range. [continues 585 words]
The recent flap in the news regarding the prosecution of the two Air Force pilots for mistakenly killing friendly Canadian troops while on patrol in Afghanistan should be classified as the height of stupidity. The ones that should be considered for prosecution are the idiots who dreamed up the idea of mandatory medications for the pilots. One would be in serious trouble if caught driving while on speed. To be on mind-altering drugs or drugs to alter the nervous system is a serious offense. [continues 140 words]
The execution-style slaying of an off-duty Baltimore police detective this past weekend rattled a police force that has become the target for a new breed of violent thugs. Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley said the fatal attack was yet another blow to the city's embattled police department. "This has been a really rough stretch for us," he said. It was the third incident in eight days in which Baltimore police have been hit by gunfire; five were wounded. [continues 644 words]
Ambassador Advises Cutting Off Aid To An Elite Unit For Allegedly Stalling Probe Into A 1998 Bombing That Killed 18 Civilians. BOGOTA, Colombia -- The U.S. ambassador to Colombia has recommended suspending funding to this country's most elite air force unit, saying it has been stonewalling an investigation into a bombing four years ago that killed 18 civilians. Ambassador Anne W. Patterson also has pledged to help Colombian investigators in their efforts to track down three U.S. citizens who allegedly participated in the bombing of the tiny village of Santo Domingo in December 1998, U.S. congressional sources said. [continues 1358 words]
Drugs: The Indictment Breaks New Ground In Relations Between The U.S. And Colombia. BOGOTA, Colombia -- The United States announced the indictment of the leader of Colombia's feared paramilitary army on drug charges Tuesday, the first time such a high-ranking figure in the outlaw group has faced the possibility of U.S. justice. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft said the U.S. would seek the extradition of Carlos Castano and two other leaders of the right-wing paramilitary group for allegedly transporting nearly 15 tons of cocaine into the United States since 1997. [continues 686 words]
Right-Wing Militia Chief Accused Of Drug Trafficking Bogota, Colombia -- The United States announced the indictment of the leader of Colombia's feared paramilitary army on drug charges Tuesday, the first time such a high-ranking figure in the outlaw group has faced the possibility of U.S. justice. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the United States would seek the extradition of Carlos Castano and two other leaders of the right-wing paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, for allegedly transporting nearly 15 tons of cocaine into the United States since 1997. [continues 416 words]
ARAUCA, Colombia - Under pressure from United States-based Occidental Petroleum and the U.S. government, the Colombian military has redeployed its forces to protect a key oil pipeline, leading to an explosion of violence in the undefended countryside. The army has reassigned most of its troops in the province to patrol the pipeline, which is jointly owned by Occidental and the Colombian state oil company. Leftist guerrillas battling the government shut down production for months in 2001, but this year attacks on the pipeline have plunged. [continues 1032 words]
Policy: Paramilitary Force Is Backing U.S. Program To Help Farmers Give Up Illegal Coca Crop. SIMITI, Colombia -- A fledgling U.S. program to eradicate cocaine in central Colombia has gained a notorious ally: a right-wing paramilitary army that the State Department has labeled a terrorist organization. The so-called self-defense forces, responsible for the majority of massacres in Colombia's bloody internal conflict, have thrown their support behind a U.S. alternative development program that seeks to persuade farmers to give up their profitable coca crops for legal products such as beans, chocolate and cattle. [continues 2015 words]
A Year Ago Lisbon Decriminalized Drug Use. Views Differ On Whether The Policy Is Effective. PORTO, PORTUGAL - In the shadowy labyrinth of cobblestone streets around this port city's 12-century Se cathedral, heroin addicts have long been selling drugs and shooting up. Police had hoped that the narcotics-infested neighborhood would change after Portugal's decision to decriminalize the use of all drugs. But a year after the sweeping initiative took effect, they say the scene, and their jobs, have changed little. [continues 1092 words]
MILL CREEK -- The investigation into an illicit methamphetamine lab explosion June 30 that sent a fireball through a local residence and injured two women has turned into a homicide case. District Attorney Task Force agents said Teresa Hicks, who was burned on 50 percent of her body, when the lab exploded in her kitchen, died Monday at Integris Baptist Burn Center in Oklahoma City. District Attorney Mitch Sperry said late Tuesday Hicks' death changes the focus of the case. "It ups the ante," Sperry said. "It's now a homicide case." [continues 318 words]
Two rural Ratliff City women demonstrated early today in front of the courthouse protesting a $10,000 bond that allows a Kingman, Ariz., man freedom pending the outcome of his trial on a drug trafficking charge in Carter County District Court. Angela Cortez said she and her mother, 78-year-old Lois Butler, were calling for an increase in bond in the case charging 54-year-old Jimmy V. Martin with trafficking methamphetamine. "My purpose for being here is I want that bond upped," Cortez said. "His bond when he was arrested was $250,000. It was then reduced to $10,000 and he had been running for a year when they caught him. We (Carter County) taxpayers had to pay for them to extradite him from Arizona back to Ardmore." [continues 611 words]
Guerrillas Have Killed Officials And Ravaged Property To Try To Force The Government Back To The Negotiating Table. SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia -- News of his impending execution came to Mayor Nestor Leon Ramirez on a white sheet of paper. A guerrilla commander handed the note to a farmer, who delivered it to Ramirez. It read: "For the good of your health, you must leave the city. If you do not, you will become a military target." But Ramirez, leader of this bustling town, decided to ignore the message, which arrived this month. [continues 1769 words]
EDITOR: Thank heavens the county has found the funds to restore some of the services curtailed at its libraries. Too bad it's at the expense of Airlie Gardens, another valuable cultural resource. One just has to read any newspaper's police blotter or watch an episode of Judge Judy et al to see the huge amount of a community's taxpayers' money that goes to respond to incidents involving drunkards, deadbeats, domestic abusers, stabbers, shooters, robbers, drug dealers, and the like, not to mention the cost of prosecuting, defending, and incarcerating them. If we would vote for stiffer penalties for this collection of low-life, we might discourage such behavior and have money left over to support our priceless educational and cultural resources. Maryrose Miller, Wallace [end]
Dublin-Laurens County Drug Unit Officer's Suit Alleges Slander, Libel An officer of the Dublin-Laurens County Drug Unit has filed suit against District Attorney Ralph Walke alleging slander, libel and breach of duties/responsibilities as district attorney. Christopher Brewer filed suit against Walke, both individually and in his official capacity as district attorney, through Savannah attorney Derek J. White. The suit alleges that "as a result of Walke's inaccurate perception of (Brewer's) testimonies in legal proceeding, (Walke) has told members of the community that he would not prosecute any criminal cases that involved any investigations or arrests performed by (Brewer)" and that "on March 13, 2002 (Walke) told (Brewer's) employer and supervisors that (Brewer) had committed perjury on at least six different occasions and subsequent to the alleged statements (Walke) had (Brewer's) supervisor retrieve warrants prepared by (Brewer) from (Walke's) office because (Walke) refused to prosecute the warrants solely because they were prepared by (Brewer)." The reasons behind Walke's alleged statements and actions are not known by Brewer or his attorney. "That's what we're trying to find out," said White. "We do think it will come out in discovery." White said Laurens County Sheriff Kenny Webb has not made any move to remove Brewer from his job, but he feels sure if the district attorney won't prosecute Brewer's cases it will eventually affect his job. "The sheriff is responsible to the people of Laurens County," said White. "Why should the sheriff keep him on the payroll? Down the line of course I think Mr. Brewer would be released." White explained that if any case Brewer brings to the district attorney won't be prosecuted, then criminals can commit those crimes without worrying about punishment. "Not only has Mr. Brewer's professional character been attacked but the people of Laurens County will have to pay," said White. White said the district attorney has the right to choose which cases he prosecutes on behalf of the people. The suit also indicates that Walke allegedly made statements that Brewer is "involved in illegal activities with attorneys in the Dublin Judicial Circuit" and that Brewer, as well as other deputy sheriffs on the drug unit, were "receiving monies, illegally, to insure that certain cases would not be prosecuted." Brewer has been a deputy with the Laurens County Sheriff's Department for more than 10 years. He has been a member of the Interstate Criminal Enforcement Team and Drug Unit for at least four years, according to a Laurens County Sheriff's Department spokesman. Efforts to reach Walke and Brewer before presstime failed. The suit shows that on April 18, 2002 Brewer requested Walke correct and retract the libelous and slanderous statements. Walke received the request on April 19, 2002 and on April 23 declined to retract his "libelous and slanderous statements" concerning Brewer. The lawsuit was filed May 17, 2002 - 28 days after Walke received notice of Brewer's request. Attached to the law suit is also a letter from Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker's office addressed to White dated April 23, 2002, stating that Walke has "no intention of retracting" any statements he allegedly made since "none of the statements were defamatory or libelous in any fashion." The letter also states that Senior Assistant Attorney General John C. Jones would be representing Walke and all correspondence should be directed to him. Efforts to reach Jones before presstime also failed. The suit alleges Walke committed libel by "printing false information about (Brewer's) professional character and being; writing false information about (Brewer's) professional character and being; and by providing false information about (Brewer's) professional character and being to others for public dissemination." The suit also implies that as a direct result Brewer was "personally and professionally humiliated, embarrassed and upset. His peace of mind, happiness, and feelings were irreparably wounded as a direct and proximate result of defendant placing him in a false light before the public; his peers; and most importantly, his employer." The suit goes on to allege Walke committed slander when he "imputed to (Brewer) his involvement in illegal activities, with attorneys and other members of the Laurens County Sheriff's drug unit, crimes punishable by law; charging (Brewer) with committing perjury, a crime punishable by law; and making charges against (Brewer) in reference to his trade and profession, calculated to injure him therein; and providing the above false information to others for public dissemination." The suit also alleges Walke breached his duties and responsibilities as district attorney "by failing to prosecute any and all criminal activities properly brought to (his) attention by (Brewer) as a peace officer; by imputing to plaintiff, as a peace officer, acts of perjury; by imputing to plaintiff, as a peace officer, the committing of crimes punishable by law; and by disseminating false information about plaintiff, as a peace officer." White said Walke has 30 days to answer the suit then a "discovery" will take place. A discovery is the process of gathering all information before trial, usually within a period of six months. White said Brewer filed the suit to protect his reputation, his future and his family. He said Brewer hasn't considered any monetary gains he may receive from the suit. "It's not the money," said White. "We haven't even talked about money. It's his job he's trying to save. He's trying to keep a roof over his family's head by keeping a job." [end]
Dublin District Attorney Ralph Walke said Thursday he wanted to respond to a lawsuit filed against him by a member of the Dublin-Laurens County Drug Team to assure the people of this circuit he will continue to perform his duties as district attorney in a manner that is both legal and ethical. Walke said in a press conference he believed the lawsuit filed against him both personally and as District Attorney by Laurens County Sheriffs Deputy Christopher Brewer stemmed from an investigation began by the "Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Sept. 13, 2000 of allegedly illegal activities on the part of the law enforcement officers arising from an incident on July 9, 1999 related to a drug investigation." [continues 824 words]
Latin America: Hard-Liner Uribe Becomes Next President After Promising To Step Up The War Against The Nation's Leftist Guerrillas. BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombians elected as their next president Sunday a hard-liner who promised to aggressively confront this nation's leftist guerrillas, an option that promises to broaden the country's bloody internal war. With 98% of the vote counted, conservative career politician Alvaro Uribe had won almost 53% of the ballots, enough to avoid a runoff election. His major opponents conceded defeat. [continues 1282 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia -- A month after peace talks collapsed, this is what Colombia's war looks like: In the countryside, leftist guerrillas have demolished bridges, detonated car bombs and killed soldiers and police in small groups. In the cities, people go on Sunday bike rides, dine at fine restaurants and attend fashion shows. In other words, the war looks pretty much the same as it did before Feb. 20, when President Andres Pastrana ended negotiations with the country's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. [continues 1251 words]
FLORENCIA, Colombia -- State Department officials have concluded that an alternative development plan aimed at slashing drug crops has failed, a decision that raises doubts about the U.S.-backed effort to eradicate the primary source of cocaine on America's streets. Farmers in southern Colombia who signed voluntary agreements to eliminate coca, the source of cocaine, in exchange for aid have eliminated little or none of their harvest and have no intention of doing so before a deadline later this year, according to a confidential State Department report. [continues 1256 words]
FLORENCIA, Colombia - State Department officials have concluded that an alternative-development plan aimed at slashing drug crops has failed, a decision that raises doubts about the U.S.-backed effort to eradicate the primary source of narcotics on America's streets. Farmers in southern Colombia who signed voluntary agreements to eliminate coca, the source of cocaine, in exchange for aid have eliminated little or none of their harvest and have no intention of doing so before a deadline later this year, according to a confidential State Department report. [continues 571 words]
LIMA, Peru, - President Bush pledged today to help President Alejandro Toledo of Peru fight Marxist guerrillas on Peru's border with Colombia, saying that countering violence and drug trafficking in the Andes was crucial to maintaining the stability of the region. "We will help him in this effort," Mr. Bush said at a joint news conference with Mr. Toledo at the Presidential Palace, only three days after a car bomb killed nine Peruvians outside the American Embassy. "That's part of the reason why I'm here." [continues 980 words]
MONTERREY, Mexico, March 22 -- President Bush called today for a "new compact" for global development by insisting that rich nations give foreign aid to poor nations only if poor nations undertake a broad range of political, legal and economic reforms. "Pouring money into a failed status quo does little to help the poor, and can actually delay the progress of reform," Mr. Bush told the presidents and prime ministers of 50 nations gathered here for a conference on global aid to the developing world. "We must accept a higher, more difficult, more promising call." [continues 839 words]
The Bombing Of Santo Domingo Shows How Messy U.S. Involvement In The Latin American Drug War Can Be. SANTO DOMINGO, Colombia -- Death came to Santo Domingo as its people celebrated life. Villagers were planning a street fair that bright December morning, but a battle had broken out between the Colombian army and leftist rebels in the nearby jungle. The villagers heard a military helicopter roar overhead. Seconds later, an explosion ripped through this collection of wood huts on the edge of Colombia's northeastern plain. Two children were cut down as their grandmother made them breakfast. A father was eviscerated as his sons watched. A nursing mother was nearly decapitated, her 3-month-old baby still in her arms. [continues 5188 words]
BUTUTO, Colombia -- The subcommander's voice was hard and low, with no room for argument. "You must wait with us here as detainees," he said. With those words, my assistant and I, along with our local guide, became captives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for 24 hours. The FARC took our wallets, notebooks and camera and kept us under armed guard in a small wooden hut by the side of a broad, slow river in southern Colombia. We waited. We worried. And we got the smallest hint of what life must be like for the hundreds of kidnapping victims held by the FARC in hide-outs throughout Colombia. [continues 782 words]
