Shasta Union High District Board May Include All Extracurricular Activities High school officials know it's just as easy for the first chair violinist to drink on the weekend as it is for the star quarterback. So the Shasta Union High School District board of trustees will talk Tuesday about expanding the random drug-testing policy from just sports to all extracurricular activities. Currently, every Monday morning the district tests randomly selected athletes for drugs. Trustees will discuss the advantages and disadvantages to expanding the policy to other after-school programs. [continues 344 words]
Stephan Lilly's hands are cuffed behind him as he's led toward me amid a chorus of deranged howls and mad pounding on cellblock doors by other inmates. He sits on a plastic chair, his eyes glazed by the meds he takes to silence the voices in his head, and asks quietly if good behavior will reduce his sentence of 25 to life in half. No, I tell him. It doesn't work that way in a three-strikes case. [continues 1647 words]
SAN DIEGO - The discussion is set to be held behind closed doors. But at least a couple of local medical marijuana users hope to get a chance Tuesday to try to talk county supervisors out of appealing last week's court decision to throw out the county's controversial bid to overturn California's medical marijuana law. "I want to try to appeal to their humanity," Vista resident, business owner, husband, father and spinal cord victim Craig McClain said Friday. "Yes, definitely, I'll be there." [continues 985 words]
Citizens would be safer from impaired drivers without cannabis prohibition. A recent letter exposes how cannabis prohibition isn't working ("Where is concern for marijuana victims?" The Reporter, Nov. 19). I can remember, as a child, my uncle telling his father that he was going "drinking and driving" which, through education, happens less and less. Presently, without laws defining when smoking cannabis can be too much, it all gets ignored with contempt. When responsible cannabis users have a bold, legitimate and acceptable legal limit that people understand not to cross, the situation will change. Through education and regulation, there are fewer drunken drivers on the road; there is reason to believe the same can be achieved with cannabis users. Prohibition and regulation are two different things. [continues 51 words]
A judge on Wednesday upheld California's law permitting the use of medical marijuana for medical purposes, rejecting a lawsuit by three counties challenging the decade-old statute. San Bernardino, San Diego and Merced counties argued that local governments shouldn't be bound to uphold state laws that are weaker than the federal blanket ban on marijuana. San Diego Superior Court Judge William R. Nevitt Jr. wrote in his ruling that counties would not be breaking federal law by giving out state identification cards to marijuana patients. [continues 290 words]
A letter writer certainly uses an awfully broad brush when he lays all blame for the very real tragedies that have befallen his family solely on a green plant ("Where is concern for marijuana victims?" The Reporter, Nov 19). I am unaware of a single credible drug law reform activist who advocates either driving while intoxicated or the indiscriminate use of marijuana by teenagers. I am aware of many teachers, law enforcement officers, judges and Christian ministers who advocate removing marijuana from the black market. Consistently teens report that marijuana is easier for them to buy than is alcohol or tobacco. That's because those two drugs are sold by licensed, regulated vendors who check ID. All the criminal drug dealer wants to see from our kids is the cash. [continues 99 words]
A judge Wednesday upheld California's law permitting use of medical marijuana, rejecting a lawsuit by three counties challenging the decade-old statute. The counties argued that local governments shouldn't have to uphold a state law weaker than the federal blanket ban on marijuana. San Diego County sued California and its health services director in February. San Bernardino and Merced counties joined the suit. [end]
Ruling Rejecting County Suit Upheld A Superior Court judge refused to overturn California's medical marijuana laws yesterday, upholding last month's preliminary ruling that rejected San Diego County's lawsuit against the state. Judge William R. Nevitt Jr. ruled that state law enforcement officials are not obligated to arrest and prosecute people who violate federal laws. The ruling favored the state and a handful of patients and advocacy groups that joined the case after it was filed early this year. [continues 360 words]
SAN DIEGO -- Medical marijuana advocates declared victory and San Diego County officials mentioned the word "appeal" Wednesday when a Superior Court judge rejected -- for the second time -- the county's controversial challenge to overturn California's "Compassionate Use" act. Superior Court Judge William R. Nevitt, reaffirming the tentative ruling he issued Nov. 16, rejected the county's argument that California's voter-approved Compassionate Use act should be pre-empted by federal law. Federal law says marijuana has no medicinal value and its use is illegal in all situations. [continues 827 words]
NORCO - Water rates and medicinal marijuana dispensaries are among issues going before the City Council today at 5:30 p.m. The owner of Hidden Valley Golf Course also may get approval to prepare a specific plan to build homes on his property. A Proposition 218 hearing on water rates already approved by the council in March will give ratepayers their legal right to protest. And a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries will be re-enacted just days after an applicant was denied a business license to operate such a facility in the city. The meeting will be held in the City Council chambers, 2820 Clark Ave. in Norco. [end]
Hollister - The San Benito County Sheriff's Office Is Receiving $330,000 in State Grants to Combat the County's Methamphetamine Problem. The sheriff's office will add an extra deputy and fund an additional Hollister police officer to work in conjunction with the county's United Narcotics Enforcement Team, Undersheriff Pat Turturici said. The sheriff's office will begin receiving the grant money this month, he said. Turturici called methamphetamine use in the county an epidemic. "It's easy to make, it's cheap to make and it's highly addictive," Turturici said. [continues 411 words]
Strathmore Elementary pupils are learning not just how but why they should say no to illegal drugs in the 10-week Too Good For Drugs program, which teachers started including in their kindergarten through fifth grade classes Nov. 19. "It's gone beyond 'Just Say No,'" said Barbara Johnson, Strathmore's program coordinator. "The program helps the kids figure out why they might want to do drugs, and to think about that situation." Johnson trained teachers for the 10-week program, which gets children to think about the things that make them feel good or bad and what they can do about them in a fashion that bolsters their self-esteem. [continues 379 words]
Cannabis Dispensary Accuses City of Infringing on Constitutional Rights TRACY -- The medical marijuana dispensary, which was ordered to close by the city of Tracy, has filed a request for an administrative hearing and vowed to continue operating. Oakland attorney James Anthony said the Valley Wellness Center is a legal medical cannabis collective and would remain open under the threat of fines and citations. "It causes no harm, and it provides a beneficial community service on a nonprofit basis," Anthony wrote in an e-mail. "The city's legal position -- that anything not explicitly permitted is therefore prohibited -- is dubious and infringes on constitutionally protected property rights." [continues 197 words]
Kids call it robo-tripping or skittling -- downing high doses of cough syrup or pills to get high off dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant commonly found in over-the-counter medicines. A new study concludes that robo-tripping is sharply on the rise among teenagers -- a finding worrisome to any parent who's wondered about that bottle (or two or three) of Robitussin or Coricidin in their kid's medicine cabinet. Calls to the California Poison Control System's 24-hour hotline involving teen abuse of the ingredient ballooned by 15 times over six years, from 23 in 1999 to 375 in 2004. Although they represent a tiny fraction of all calls made to the hotline -- fewer than two in 1,000 - -- the uptick worries Ilene B. Anderson, a senior toxicologist for the system and senior author of the study. [continues 637 words]
Locals prescribed marijuana to fight pain and illness may soon be breathing cloudy sighs of relief, with a nonprofit group announcing Monday through a lawyer that it would fight city plans to close its downtown medical marijuana dispensary. Tracy code enforcement officer Pat Zona told the Valley Wellness Center Collective in a Nov. 22 letter that it would expose itself to daily fines if it continued selling marijuana. The letter gave the wellness center until 5 p.m. today to appeal. [continues 196 words]
The same complaint has been heard for a decade: San Francisco police have needlessly harmed mentally ill people in crisis. In a city that prides itself for its progressiveness and humane treatment of the disadvantaged, mental health experts say officers are too quick to fire, turning run-ins with people behaving irrationally into deadly shootings. While other cities with far fewer mentally disturbed people were instituting special training, San Francisco moved slowly, even though a quarter of all calls to police involve the mentally ill. [continues 1765 words]
People's Park in Berkeley Has Long Been a Symbol of Activism. Debating Its Future, Some View It As Sacred Ground; Others See It As a Blight on the Community. BERKELEY -- Once an international symbol of political activism, Berkeley's People's Park is suffering an identity crisis. Homeless flock to the park for free food and clothing. But residence counselors in nearby University of California dorms warn students to stay away. Cleanup crews in the university-owned park regularly remove needles, crack vials and other drug paraphernalia from the grounds. [continues 1366 words]
The Governor's Office of Emergency Services will begin distributing $29 million in grant funds to combat methamphetamine distribution and sales -- nearly half a million going to Humboldt County. "OES's methamphetamine enforcement programwas so successful and the need so great that Gov. (Arnold) Schwarzenegger increased its funding this year, and we are now able to expand the program to fight this destructive drug," said OES Director Henry Renteria in a press release announcing the grants. "Last year, this program enabled local law enforcement agencies to rescue 152 children, arrest 955 suspects, confiscate 321 weapons, dismantle 46 meth labs and seize more than $6.9 million in drug money and assets." [continues 53 words]
A letter writer certainly has my sympathy for the tragedies he and his family have suffered ("Where is concern for marijuana victims?" The Reporter, Nov. 19). However, we should note a few things: First, marijuana is already illegal and that didn't prevent those problems. Second, the offenders in those cases could be prosecuted for impaired driving - just like drunken drivers - regardless of whether the drug they took is legal. Third, if deaths on the road are the concern, then alcohol wins all the prizes, hands down. No other drug, or combination of drugs, even comes close to the toll that alcohol takes on the roads. [continues 110 words]
Students May Protest and File an Appeal After Officials Halt Publication Over Opinion Pieces Call for Legalized Pot and Greater Sexual Freedom. Carson High's student newspaper has run afoul of school authorities for the second consecutive week, this time over articles that argue for legalized marijuana, the benefits of masturbation and greater sexual freedom among teenagers. After consulting with his superiors, Principal Kenneth Keener decided to postpone Wednesday's scheduled publication. He said that three signed opinion pieces needed better writing and alternative viewpoints. [continues 514 words]
Methamphetamine is one of the most addictive and destructive narcotics plaguing our community today. California produces up to 85 percent of the nation's methamphetamine, and the San Francisco area is one of the nation's leading methamphetamine distribution centers, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency and the National Drug Intelligence Center. Methamphetamine is a community problem and requires a community response. Methamphetamine use is not confined to a single demographic, but is now seen in a variety of age groups, regardless of economic status. High school and college students, white-collar and blue-collar workers are using the drug. [continues 290 words]
FIGHTING DRUGS HAS NOT been something at which the nation has excelled. Not only do marijuana, heroin and all forms of cocaine remain difficult-to-combat issues, but methamphetamine has added exponentially to the problems. In fact, the methamphetamine problem is bigger than most drug problems. It affects so many more people than the users, particularly because it poisons the environment as well as the users. It's different than most drug problems. As a manufactured drug, its highs are higher and its addictive power broader and more intense, at least for most people. And sadly, it's an intensely California problem. [continues 272 words]
From Drug Regulations to Immigration Rights, Students Promote Their Causes Across Country After studying drug regulations in their public policy class, Eric Gorin-Regan and Daniel Walter were hooked - on public policy, that is. One year later, their interest would take them and fellow student Matt Nazareth to Washington, D.C., to lobby about drug policy issues as part of a developing political student group called Students for Sensible Drug Policy, or SSDP. "We were excited about doing it," Gorin-Regan said. "(We) found that drug policy is the kind of subject where the more you learn about it, the more you're interested in it." [continues 628 words]
Editor: On behalf of the McDowell Drug Task Force and the Camarena family, I would like to pay a special tribute to the wonderful students and staff at the 17 elementary schools who went the extra mile in decorating their schools for Red Ribbon Week. In the 21 years that I have been going to the schools with this program, there had never been such an outpouring of energy and working together as there was this year. The number of telephone calls about the quality of the decorations was beyond belief. [continues 213 words]
We're Not Winning the War on Drugs. Two decades ago, the state government launched the Campaign Against Marijuana Production (CAMP). Agents fanned out through the woods and took to the skies to find and destroy illegal pot gardens, especially in Northern California. The results were dramatic. In its third year, 1985, officers uprooted nearly 170,000 marijuana plants from isolated patches. Growers even appeared to get the message, or at least they grew more cautious. By 1990 the number of plants found dropped to about half the peak, and it stayed at that manageable level through most of the '90s. [continues 416 words]
Dylan Darling's article, "A dangerous crop," fails to address the role prohibition plays in creating the conditions that put law enforcement officers such as Troy McCoy at risk and allow violent gangs to thrive. We waste billions of taxpayer dollars each year trying to control the supply of marijuana and arresting hundreds of thousands of Americans - -- 88 percent of whom are arrested for possession, not sale or manufacture. Meanwhile, marijuana use increases -- nearly 100 million Americans have used the drug -- and violent criminals enjoy an exclusive franchise on the market. [continues 140 words]
But Conviction of Man With a Pound of Marijuana Upheld Medical-marijuana patients who take the drug from one place to another for personal therapeutic use can't be convicted of transporting narcotics under California law, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday. A law signed by then-Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 filled a gap in the state's 1996 medical marijuana initiative, Proposition 215, the court said in a unanimous ruling. That gap was Prop. 215's failure to address whether the initiative expressly protected patients or their caregivers from being prosecuted for transporting marijuana. [continues 382 words]
State high court decision protects patients who carry marijuana for their own use. The action expands defense options, attorney says. SAN FRANCISCO -- People charged with transporting marijuana may avoid conviction if they can show that the drug was for their personal medical use, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday. In a 6-1 decision, the state high court said California's medical marijuana law protects patients who transport even relatively large quantities of the drug if they can show that the amount was consistent with their medical needs and recommended by a licensed physician. [continues 446 words]
California Targets Immigrants With Familiar Medium MERCED, Calif. -- Fotonovelas -- pocket-sized picture books popular in Mexico -- have gotten a California makeover that authorities hope persuades immigrant laborers to resist the easy-money temptation of the methamphetamine trade. Thousands in the meth-plagued Central Valley have read the bilingual graphic-novel story of Jose, a farmworker who creates tragedy for his family by working for a drug ring. "No Vale La Pena," or "It's Not Worth It," has inspired a Spanish-language docudrama, and police agencies from Tennessee to Colorado have requested copies of both projects. [continues 500 words]
Made For Latinos, Movie Springs From A Fotonovela Fotonovelas -- pocket-sized picture books popular in Mexico -- have gotten a California makeover that authorities hope persuades immigrant laborers to resist the easy-money temptation of the methamphetamine trade. Thousands in the meth-plagued Central Valley have read the bilingual story of Jose, a farmworker who creates tragedy for his family by working for a drug ring. "No Vale La Pena," or "It's Not Worth It," has inspired a Spanish-language docudrama. Police from Tennessee to Colorado have requested copies of both projects. [continues 500 words]
California Needs A Commission To Give A Thorough Look At Current Laws The stars seem to be aligning for California to establish an independent, professional commission to put some order in the state's chaotic system of prison sentences. First, it's been 30 years since California moved away from a discretionary system of judicial sentencing to its opposite: a rigid system of mandatory punishments prescribed by the Legislature. It's time to evaluate that shift and consider changes. Today, judges in California have little flexibility. Sentences in some cases are unduly long. Too many of the state's sentencing guidelines are too complex and spread throughout the Penal Code, making them difficult to understand and apply. There is widespread recognition that the current system does nothing to encourage good inmate behavior in prison or provide incentives for inmates to prepare for life on the outside. Second, intense attention in recent years to single, high-profile violent crimes has brought about "drive-by" penalty escalations without attention to their effect on public safety, recidivism and cost. It's obvious now that ad hoc action to create more and longer sentences for all sorts of offenses isn't working. [continues 325 words]
To The Editor, I'm writing about: "Council members push for return of DARE drug program" in last week's edition. Common sense tells us that the DARE program should deter our youth from using illegal drugs. But it doesn't. DARE graduates are more likely to use illegal drugs -- not less. Common sense tells us that the Earth is the center of the universe and our solar system. But it's not. Common sense tells us that prohibiting a product should substantially reduce the use of the product that's prohibited. Actually, prohibition tends to substantially increase the desire for the product that's prohibited. [continues 92 words]
Most Of Those Arrested Are Back On Street; Officers Kicked In Door Of Wrong Address A week after more than 100 law enforcement officials swept through three Merced County cities to crack down on gang violence, only two of the seven people arrested during the pre-dawn raids remain in jail. The Nov. 17 sweep -- which involved four SWAT teams and law enforcement agencies from three counties -- netted one major suspect, Jairo Lua, who is in jail charged with the Oct. 29 killing of Michael Wallace, said Deputy District Attorney Dave Elgin. [continues 669 words]
Conservationists have every right to be outraged about the harm to the environment that results from marijuana growth. I share their anger, but my anger is directed at federal legislators who refuse to do little more than throw recreational hikers and arrest warrants at a chaotic marijuana policy that rewards growers while trashing the environment on Mount Diablo. Love it, hate it or show indifference about marijuana policy in the United States, but know this: Marijuana is not the problem. Prohibition is the problem: It artificially inflates the price of marijuana, making it worth its weight in gold. And just like strip miners on American Indian land, drug war profiteers will continue raping the environment because prohibition makes doing so very profitable. [continues 88 words]
If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. [continues 61 words]
I am, at the least, a fourth-generation alcoholic. So is my wife, Deirdre. Our 22-year-old-daughter, Carrick, is a recovering heroin addict. Most members of our family have been successful professionally -- Deirdre's father was an attorney and judge; my side brims with journalists who kept the proverbial pint flask in their desk drawers. My great-grandfather was run over by a trolley car while covering a story in 1904 -- still reporting, probably inebriated, but certainly a broken man who was estranged from his family. Many of his progeny shared his taste not only for booze but also for the illusory camaraderie that goes with it in bars and binges. [continues 2965 words]
LAKE COUNTY -- Those using marijuana for medicinal purposes in Lake County may soon join almost 3,000 of their counterparts statewide who have access to county-issued identification cards to protect their legal rights under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, and the more recent Senate Bill 420. The county Board of Supervisors will consider adopting an ordinance implementing the Medical Marijuana ID Card Program and establish dispensation fees. The Compassionate Use Act was passed in 1996 by 56 percent of California's voters, and protects patients with a recommendation from a medical doctor for any debilitating illness, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Some common ailments for which a doctor may prescribe medical marijuana include arthritis, cachexea, cancer, chronic pain, HIV or AIDS, epilepsy, migraine and multiple sclerosis. [continues 499 words]
The same way cannabis wins yet loses, the Santa Barbara City Council should lose their seats as well ["Stirring the Pot," Nov. 14]. Further, government's effort to perpetuate persecuting, prohibiting, and exterminating cannabis (a?k?a kaneh bosm/marijuana) is biblically fallible, since Christ God Our Father indicates He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the first page (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only Biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that it is to be accepted with thankfulness (see 1 Timothy 4:1-5). Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
A Citrus Heights man broke his neck early Friday after he allegedly tried to retrieve his confiscated marijuana from the Wheatland Police Department. "It appears he was coming back to break into the building and get it," Police Chief Dan Boone said of the suspect, Kenneth Oraga, 47, who could face burglary charges. Oraga was transported to a Placer County hospital with a broken neck. His condition was not available Friday night. According to Boone, Officer Marc White arrested Oraga on Nov. 12 on Highway 65 for allegedly driving under the influence. [continues 233 words]
DEPUTY Norma Silva leads a line of inmates down a long corridor. The air smells stale. Sunlight slants through the window slits above her head, drawing hash marks on the concrete floor in front of her. Silva has put in almost two years at North County Correctional Facility, a massive 3,400-bed jail in Castaic. She barely needs a backward glance to catch her charges flashing gang hand signals. "Keep looking forward, gentlemen," she says, not breaking stride. "No talking. Hands in your pockets." [continues 2546 words]
AFTER the GOP took that thumpin' in the November elections, President Bush wants the voters to give his party and his leadership a second chance. That makes this a good time for Bush to use his presidential pardon power to give others a second chance. This holiday season, Dubya should not limit his presidential pardon power to one lucky turkey. Thanks to draconian federal drug sentences, the number of federal prisoners reached a record 193,989 on Nov. 9 -- that's a steep increase from 150,000 in 2003. The prison population is not growing because the feds are locking up drug kingpins. As the U.S. Sentencing Commission noted in a 2002 report, while the 1986 federal drug law promised to go after "serious" and "major" traffickers, the majority of federal cocaine offenders performed low-level functions. The percentage of biggies behind bars is shrinking, while the low-life chump class grows. [continues 715 words]
Jury Takes Just Two Hours to Return Verdict; Medical Marijuana Defense Fails. A federal jury took only two hours Wednesday to convict Merced marijuana activist Dustin Costa of growing and dealing the drug, a conviction that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. Costa, 60, was also convicted of possession of a firearm "in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime." Because of a prior marijuana cultivation conviction in Stanislaus County, Costa faces a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence. The firearm charge carries an additional five-year mandatory minimum, making 15 years the least amount of time Costa will spend in prison. [continues 508 words]
State Blue Ribbon Panel Says the Legislature Should Enact Laws Requiring Corroborating Evidence If Such Testimony Is Offered. The state Legislature should limit the use of testimony by jailhouse informants in criminal trials, according to the latest report issued by a blue ribbon commission examining problems of wrongful convictions in California. The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice said lawmakers should enact a statute barring convictions based on the testimony of an in-custody informant, unless the account is corroborated by independent evidence. [continues 756 words]
Humboldt State University's National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws chapter has sent two students to the Students For Sensible Drug Policy's International Conference at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Terra Kopf, president of NORML, and Chelsea Hansen, NORML vice president, are attending the conference from Thursday to Sunday. The conference features a lobbying day on Capitol Hill on Friday, speakers and workshops on Saturday and Sunday featuring the likes of Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune, Bill Press of MSNBC and all prominent cannabis activists. For more information about the event, visit www.ssdp.org/conference. [end]
The Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday to legislation that would set most marijuana-related crimes as the lowest law enforcement priority for the San Francisco Police Department. The board voted 7-3 to approve the legislation, sponsored by Supervisor Tom Ammiano. Under the legislation, the city's police force would be directed to essentially ignore most marijuana offenses unless the crimes involve minors, acts of violence, sales on public property or driving under the influence. Police officials have said the legislation is consistent with department policy. In other action, supervisors confirmed the reappointment of Bill Lee and Sue Lee, no relation, to the city's Planning Commission for terms expiring in 2010. [end]
Bruce Mirken says he has a simple solution to the pot garden problem in the north state. Legalize it. "When marijuana is outlawed, only outlaws will grow marijuana," said Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in San Francisco. "What we have is the guaranteed result of the laws we have." Many of the law enforcement officers who spend their summers and early falls raiding the gardens and the prosecutors who try to convict the growers agree that the state's marijuana laws should be changed. But they want to see them made more strict, putting more of a pinch on those who grow pot. [continues 1006 words]
A former Fowler High School student who was suspended for possessing a speck of marijuana on school grounds is suing the school district, contending it has double standards when disciplining students. Jonathan Carl Coch Simonian said in his U.S. District Court civil lawsuit that the Fowler Unified School District violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution. His evidence: When he got caught with a tiny amount of marijuana at Fowler High School, he was suspended for three months during the 2004-05 school year. When the daughter of a school board member came to school possessing drugs or alcohol, or was high on them, she was not disciplined, the civil complaint states. [continues 647 words]
Suppose you lived in one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities. In fact, centuries hence, historians reflexively would name it along with Athens, Paris, Rome and London for its contributions to the arts, science, political economy, philosophy. Whom would you name as your city's most influential citizen? Nancy Pelosi? She does own at least a footnote in history as the first female speaker of the House of Representatives. But her legacy is yet to be made; whatever happens or doesn't happen on Capitol Hill over the next two years may leave her contented with her name on an office building annex. [continues 350 words]
All letters or articles regarding relaxing marijuana laws, promised medical benefits and how harmless its use is ring hollow to me. Recently, there seems to be an increase in such articles in The Reporter and other area newspapers. None of the writers show any concern for those such as my 17-year-old son killed 25 years ago in Washington state when a pickup truck carrying eight people left a party, the driver under the influence of an afternoon getting high. [continues 172 words]
As soon as north state law enforcement teams learn the whereabouts of illegal marijuana gardens, they start planning their raids. Often supported by federal grants -- and sometimes National Guard troops -- the officers don camouflage gear and hiking boots before invading pot plantations. The officers say their motivation for the raids is threefold -- stop illegal activity, halt damage to the environment and protect the public. "The longer those things (marijuana) stay out there, the more likely it is that some citizen is going to stumble into it," said Alan Foster, a special agent with the National Park Service who works out of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. [continues 390 words]
Inside California
