Treatment for Adolescents Hampered Local providers have little trouble identifying the gaps in services for substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery. There's a need for more recovery, long-term residential treatment and detoxification facilities. Women need additional help as they try to get out of the two-fisted grip of domestic violence and addiction. Programs are needed that specifically address methamphetamine's deadly grip. And there's always a need for more funding. But tackling these are just the short-term solutions, providers say. If this region is ever to get its arms around its substance abuse problem, more prevention and treatment programs must be available for adolescents to keep them from becoming the next generation of drug abusers. [continues 838 words]
Addicts Can Turn to Several Local Agencies By 1993, Brenda Oldham was at a point where "everything in my life hurt." She was in an abusive relationship that forced her to deal with her abusive childhood. She had turned to crack cocaine for solace 11 years earlier after learning two relatives had been abused. When she later tried to get away from crack, the social drinker since 18 went from "cute" umbrella drinks, to shots of gin, to drinking from the bottle. [continues 1797 words]
Struggle For Answers Continue Numerous agencies in Daviess County can detail a wide range of efforts to address substance abuse at the prevention, treatment and recovery stages. Local law enforcement has made combating drugs -- particularly methamphetamine -- a top priority. And city and county governments have provided funding for programs they hoped would reduce a problem whose impact is felt throughout the community. Despite these efforts, most involved in the fight against substance abuse admit the problem is not getting much better. And that lack of progress has led to frustration. [continues 1224 words]
Review Process Applications for centers must be reviewed by a panel of representatives from the Kentucky Housing Corp., the Corrections Cabinet and the Governor's Office for Local Development. The panel will recommend choices to the governor. Several other agencies plan to apply for the Recovery Kentucky grants to build treatment centers for substance abusers. Among local groups: Brighton Center, one of Northern Kentucky's largest social service agencies, coupled with Boone County to apply to build a recovery center on property owned by Gateway Community Technical College off Sam Neace Drive in Boone County. The center would serve women. [continues 1070 words]
I'm writing in regard to a May 15 Readers Write letter -- "Kipling no place for treatment center." There are people -- addicts -- who need and desire help. They need to be supported to be successful. They surely don't need the negativity that they seem to get so often. There are so many families that have been affected by alcohol and drugs. Mine has; however, we are getting through it because of the desire to make it. If the letter writer's family has not been affected by addiction -- good luck -- and I hope it never is, but hers is one of the few that hasn't. [continues 55 words]
Proposal to Be Outlined Sunday Transitions Inc. will sponsor a presentation Sunday on the residential recovery center it hopes to build and operate in Latonia for 100 male drug addicts. The recovery center would be modeled on the Healing Place in Louisville, which has been offering detoxification, residential and continuing care for men and women for 15 years. Sunday's session will include a short video on the Healing Place with stories of people who have recovered there, according to Mac McArthur, executive director of Transitions. It will run from 2 to 4 p.m. at Latonia Baptist Church on Church Street. [continues 353 words]
Dear Editor: As a parent of three children in the Danville School District, I want to applaud the district as well as local law enforcement for the Wednesday drug sweep at DHS. Drug activity is one of the most destructive forces permeating our society, and I am glad to see the message being sent to students that drug use will not be tolerated. I am sure that people will claim a violation of privacy, but because they are minors they don't have the same expectation of privacy that adults have, nor should they. Young people need to understand that the actions taken yesterday are in their best interest and the authorities whether it be school administrators or police officers are trying to protect them from heading down a pathway that only leads to tragedy. I hope the students found to be in possession will be punished, but will also get some help while they still can be helped. [continues 193 words]
Purer, Deadlier Form Arriving From Mexico PADUCAH - A different form of mass-produced meth-amphetamine is moving into western Kentucky, law enforcement officials said, and replacing its predecessor. Crystal meth, a purer and deadlier version of the narcotic, is the new drug of choice and has been gaining popularity for about six months, said McCracken County Sheriff's Capt. Jon Hayden. The drug is mass-produced in Mexican "superlabs" and is more potent and faster-acting than its predecessor, which is often made in labs hidden in houses, Hayden said. [continues 267 words]
R. Scott Weddle's May 10 letter said the Herald-Leader was liberal, because it didn't credit George W. Bush for being a states' rights advocate on the issue of allowing oil companies to drill for oil in a federal wildlife preserve. He must have forgotten that the Bush administration is currently arguing against states rights before the Supreme Court. In the case before the court, Valerie Corral, a cancer patient, was arrested by the Bush administration for daring to possess and grow medical marijuana with a doctor's prescription in a state that long ago voted to legalize medical marijuana. [continues 132 words]
Say The Ingredients Are Common Shelf Items Walter Faulkner has a photo of former Mayor Charles Wylie cutting a ribbon at the grand opening of Faulkner's Central Food Mart on Alexandria Drive in 1970. City officials were celebrating the opening of the business. But 35 years later, officials are accusing Faulkner of illegally selling kits used to smoke crack cocaine. The accusations anger the 71-year-old Faulkner, who maintains that he is innocent and has always run an honest, clean business. He was among 34 either arrested or cited on allegations of selling so-called brown bag specials, consisting of a vial used for smoking cocaine, scouring pads and a lighter. [continues 724 words]
MANCHESTER - If he wasn't at rock bottom, Steve Collett wasn't far from it, shivering inside a portable toilet that served as his shelter on a cold winter's night. Fresh out of jail with nowhere else to go, Collett started praying to Jesus, seeking help from the shambles he had made of his life because of drugs and crime. When daylight arrived, Collett stepped out of that plastic privy into a new day, having made peace and vowing never to return to his old ways. [continues 774 words]
Abuse Adds To Peril In A Setting That's Already Dangerous PINEVILLE - Inspectors responsible for finding loose rocks and malfunctioning equipment inside coal mines now have a different sort of hazard to look out for -- drug addicts. The Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing has for the first time begun training its inspectors to identify miners who might be under the influence. "We realize the drug culture is out there in our society," said Paris Charles, head of the state agency. "So, it stands to reason that it's in the mines also." [continues 290 words]
Smuggling Is Up As Laws Close Labs Police and prosecutors fear they are seeing the leading edge of a new methamphetamine scourge in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. They say a purer form of the illegal stimulant -- called "ice" -- is being imported from the Southwest and Mexico, replacing a less powerful form of the drug that users create in makeshift labs. With the arrival of this potent crystallized meth comes a new, organized wave of crime that deals in shipments costing tens of thousands of dollars, officials said. "Ice is to meth what crack is to cocaine," said Tony King, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's field office in Louisville. "It's not just Kentucky, it's nationwide." [continues 895 words]
Willie Park's grandson (Independent, May 5) has learned an important lesson: Life is not fair. Unfortunately, he has also learned that if you take responsibility for your actions and tell the truth (admirable traits), you will be penalized by the Lawrence County school board's policies. On the other hand, if you lie and deny any responsibility for your actions (dishonorable traits), you get a free pass by the school board. What on earth were they thinking, or were they not thinking of the consequences their actions send to their students? These students are in training to set the stage for the rest of their lives. Is this the message we want to send to our youths? [continues 161 words]
LOUISA - The Lawrence County School District is trying to crack down on drug use among its students, but one family says school officials are going too far and unfairly punishing those who should be given another chance. Willie Parks, of Louisa, said his grandson Dusty Branham, 18, has been put in alternative school and is not allowed to attend Lawrence County High School functions - including his senior prom - because a drug-sniffing dog with the Kentucky State Police reportedly found prescription-pill residue in his car during a search at the school a few weeks ago. The district regularly brings in dogs for unannounced searches in the hopes that it will quash drug use. [continues 522 words]
Mac McArthur is about to mail a 55-page document he hopes saves the lives of hundreds of Northern Kentuckians. The document is an application. McArthur is director of Transitions Inc., a substance abuse center that is partnering with the Kenton County Fiscal Court to try to persuade the state to build a million-dollar recovery center in Kenton County for drug addicts and alcoholics who are homeless or in danger of becoming so. The Fletcher Administration plans to build 10 such centers around the state, at least one in each Congressional district. But the Fourth District is a big district geographically; we think a center needs to be built in the three-county area. [continues 454 words]
In the long history of coal mine enforcement, it's a rare thing for a coal operator to spend time in prison, even when clearly negligent practices lead to injury and death. That's why the sentence imposed on former operator Robert Ratliff by U.S. District Judge David Bunning, in the first such case he has handled, is so welcome. Judge Bunning has struck a blow for safer mines and saving miners. He has warned those who run these inherently dangerous workplaces they will be held personally responsible, up to and including time behind bars. [continues 333 words]
Drug Tied To Rise In Child Neglect, Abuse Think of methamphetamine cases clogging court dockets and an image of an unkempt addict standing before a judge comes to mind. But meth is taxing the local justice system in another way. Hardin County Family Court, which handles cases such as child support and custody, divorce, neglect and abuse, must help children who suffer from neglect and abuse because their parents are strung out on the drug, or because adults cook and sell it. [continues 398 words]
Even After An Accident, The Law Does Not Allow Testing Of Miners Blatant mine safety violations were not the only thing investigators found in Cody Mining No. 1 in Floyd County following an explosion that killed one miner and seriously injured two others. They also found a bag of marijuana and the dead miner's urine tested positive for the synthetic narcotic painkiller hydrocodone. So how serious was drug use in the mine? Frankly, investigators do not know. That's because current law does not allow drug testing of the survivors, even after the most serious accidents. [continues 110 words]
PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- In a rare move, a federal judge sentenced a former coal mine operator yesterday to 60 days in prison for safety violations that led to an explosion in 2003, killing a miner and injuring two others. Robert Ratliff Sr., 52, is the first miner convicted of safety violations in Eastern Kentucky sentenced to prison in more than a decade, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Davis Sledd, who prosecuted the case. The sentence comes after Ratliff's company, Cody Mining, was fined $536,050 last year -- the largest federal penalty ever in Kentucky -- for safety violations related to the explosion. [continues 695 words]
PIKEVILLE - A private hospital will receive public funding from coal severance tax revenues to treat young drug addicts in Eastern Kentucky. Pikeville Medical Center will receive $750,000 over the next two years to help pay for a juvenile drug rehabilitation center, state Sen. Ray Jones II, D-Pikeville, said yesterday. Coal severance tax money historically has been used for economic development, including development of industrial parks and extension of municipal water lines into communities where mining has fouled wells. Jones said the state budget included an additional $1.5 million in coal severance tax revenues to Operation UNITE, an anti-drug project in 29 mountain counties. [continues 238 words]
Arrests in sales of 'crack' kits send clear message Lexington police made a strong statement last week with the arrest of 24 people for selling pre-packaged works for crack cocaine use. The "paper bag" order -- a glass vial used for smoking, scouring pads to clean the vial and a butane lighter -- is packaged to sell to addicts quicker than a Happy Meal. The fact that such marketing is so widespread and open -- sold at gas stations and corner markets -- makes it clear that these arrests were long overdue. [continues 152 words]
Canadian Import Found Growing In Logan County A highly potent form of marijuana originating in British Columbia and gradually making its way into America in recent years appeared in southcentral Kentucky late last month. South Central Kentucky Drug Task Force agents discovered 34 growing plants of the substance, commonly called "B.C. Bud," in Logan County. The drug contains 15- to 25-percent concentrate of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is the primary intoxicant in marijuana. The organically grown marijuana plants of the 1970s only had a 2-percent THC content, according to a 2000 report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. [continues 326 words]
Like Explosives, Statistics Should Be Kept Out Of The Hands Of The Unqualified. Unfortunately, user-friendly statistical packages now let anyone take a data set and crunch a few numbers to reach a misleading and inflammatory conclusion. The user understands neither the difference between correlation and causation nor the critical distinctions between independent and dependent distributions that may account for the results. So it was when the Herald-Leader recently stirred the Fayette County schools' black-white disciplinary pot in an article about the Kentucky Center for School Safety's 2004 report and the so-called racial disparity in discipline rates. [continues 691 words]
Authorities Point To Gaps In Laws STANTON, Ky. -- A Powell County man's arrest last year provided police with a crucial clue as to why prescription narcotic abuse in Eastern Kentucky was surging again. When police arrested Shan Faulkner for allegedly stealing packages from a shipping center in Stanton, they found 240 sedative and painkiller tablets - -- all from an online pharmacy in Florida. Further investigation revealed that at least 15 other companies were shipping drugs to Eastern Kentucky, with one UPS center receiving up to 200 packages a day, authorities said. [continues 1332 words]
Did anyone notice that Kentucky's growth rate among Ohio Valley states clearly beats all the surrounding seven states in at least one area: growth in prison population? In the number of prisoners in state and federal corrections, Kentucky's rate of growth, compared with the average of the seven surrounding states, is not twice, not three times, but almost four times the average rate of all seven surrounding states, up 8.5 percent from 2003 to 2004. Our prison population has increased four times as fast as that of the surrounding seven states. Is this because we have that many more criminals in Kentucky? Or possibly because our sentencing policies are now the harshest in the region? [continues 160 words]
Shops Accused Of Selling Drug Paraphernalia In a citywide crackdown, police yesterday raided 24 convenience, grocery and liquor stores they say were selling illegal kits used for smoking crack cocaine. By late afternoon, 24 suspects had been arrested on Class A misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, Capt. John Jacobs said. Twelve others were issued citations for the same charges in a daylong raid that involved 50 officers at sites scattered throughout Lexington. More stores could be raided in the coming months as police try to wipe out what they describe as a widespread problem. [continues 456 words]
Combatting Drug Requires Law Enforcement, Treatment, Lieutenant Governor Says In a visit to Bowling Green on Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Steve Pence outlined a "multi-faceted approach" to fighting what he called the methamphetamine epidemic. Pence's plan includes enhanced enforcement, more treatment options and more education in schools about the dangers of the drug. "Without this comprehensive approach, I think we're going to keep seeing the same problems," Pence said Wednesday at a meeting of the Bowling Green Noon Rotary Club. [continues 655 words]
'RECOVERY KENTUCKY' CALLS FOR PROGRAMS A 100-bed regional substance abuse recovery center for males may be built on a four-acre lot at the north end of Kipling Drive adjacent to J.R. Miller Boulevard near the Owensboro Country Club, a local agency said Wednesday. The $3.3 million facility would be part of Gov. Ernie Fletcher's "Recovery Kentucky" initiative to build 10 such facilities across the state using a peer mentoring system for the homeless and recovering alcoholics and addicts. But that all depends on Lighthouse Recovery Program being chosen to act as administrator for the facility, J.D. Meyer, the agency's board chairman, said during a presentation at the Catholic Pastoral Center on Locust Street. The initiative calls for two facilities in each congressional district, and two districts already have one each. Elizabethtown and Bowling Green, both in the 2nd District, have also expressed interest in having a recovery center, Meyer said. [continues 483 words]
Smoking, alcohol abuse also down The use of cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs continues to decline among most groups of Oldham County students, according to an annual survey. Results from the Kentucky Incentives for Prevention survey by Challengers, an anti-drug organization in Oldham County, indicate a dramatic decrease in student smoking. Less than half the number of sophomores and seniors who reported smoking when Challengers started surveying students in fall 1999 reported smoking this year. The proportion of sophomore smokers dropped from 32 percent in 1999 to 12 percent this year. For seniors, the decline was from 40 percent to 19 percent. [continues 625 words]
It is a contradiction for the U.S. to be both a beacon of freedom and the world's leader in incarcerations. But that's been true for years now, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics recently reported that the U.S. prison population has risen again, now topping 2.1 million. That growth of about 900 new inmates per week between mid-2003 and mid-2004 is largely due to such 1980s tough-on-crime initiatives as "three strikes and you're out laws" for repeat offenders, mandatory sentences even for non-violent drug crimes, and laws that restrict early releases. [continues 192 words]
Target Corp. took an important step recently by removing cold, allergy and cough remedies from its shelves and selling them only from pharmacy counters. The reason for the move was to keep the medicines out of the hands of criminals who use them to make methamphetamine. Another reason was the growing number of state and local restrictions on the sale of the medications. The restrictions apply to all over-the-counter drugs containing pseudoephedrine, including children's medicines, tablets, liquids and gelcaps. [continues 272 words]
Cannonsburg Efforts to educate the community about the most prevalent manmade drug in the United States were successful Tuesday as about 150 people turned out for an extensive, in-depth training workshop concerning methamphetamine. The workshop was sponsored by ALERT Regional Prevention Center to educate the FIVCO region about the production, distribution and use of the highly addictive drug, commonly referred to as "meth." Program participants were exposed to the various types of meth, including information about packaging, amounts and prices. [continues 730 words]
LIBERTY - The purchase of a trained dog to sniff out drugs and help in searches was approved Monday by Casey Fiscal Court. The cost is $7,500. The anticipation of extra state inmates with the proposed addition to the Casey County Detention Center is one of the reasons for the purchase. It also can help the city and county officers, schools, road department and emergency medical service personnel when they conduct searches. Jailer Tommy Miller said drugs are a problem at the jail especially with work release inmates. [continues 252 words]
Sometimes, after dragging yourself from what seems like the depths of hell, just the breathing of fresh, clean air is enough to shout about for years to come. That's what Debbie Dumas and Beverly Martin thought, anyway. That's what any of us would think had we managed to wrench free from the demands of alcohol or illegal drug addictions and settle into a stable lifestyle. But sometimes other folks think people like Dumas and Martin should be rewarded with more than a new life. They want them to have an abundant new life. [continues 691 words]
Black Professionals Need To Plug Drain On Family, Community In a restaurant that valued presentation over portion size, and with a jazz singer crooning in the background, four people prattled on about a favorite topic of the middle class: finding reliable domestic help. Chatter continued until one woman explained why she needed it: She was rearing alone the four children of a drug-addicted sister. Suddenly, talk got real. The man in the group had sole custody of his children because his ex-wife was a heroin addict. [continues 627 words]
A new system which allows doctors, pharmacists and police to access prescription records via the Internet may put a dent in the drug abuse problem. But it is no defense against a thief, possibly armed with a gun walking into the local drug store and demanding drugs. Such was the case Thursday when a man who said he had a gun entered a Flemingsburg pharmacy and demanded OxyContin. Unable to determine if what he had in his pocket was really a gun or only his hand, the pharmacist wisely turned over the drugs. [continues 313 words]
One goal is cutting police lab backlog INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mitch Daniels announced an assault yesterday against methamphetamine, ordering new procedures to deal with children exposed to the drug's production and beefing up the state's police labs to process cases more quickly. "There is no overstating the damage this drug is inflicting to Indiana," Daniels said in his office, surrounded by state and local law enforcement officials. "There is no step we can take that is too strong to combat this drug." [continues 658 words]
With Next Year's Budget Already Reduced By $78,000, Federal Funding Could Be Completely Erased State and federal budget cuts cost the Greater Hardin County Narcotics Task Force $78,000 this year. The task force, which covers Hardin, Nelson and Grayson counties, receives most of its money from federal grants. Now, those grants are in danger of being cut completely or drastically reduced and the task force is being forced to look at ways to tighten its budget. "It hurts us," said Wayne Edwards, director of the task force. "But it's not critical yet." [continues 638 words]
The Courier-Journal is to be commended for focusing attention on the problem of substance abuse in mines. As you have reported a number of times in your newspaper, there appears to be an increasing incidence of substance abuse in mining operations, which presents a safety and health concern not only for the abuser, but also for other miners. At the same time, your April 5 editorial seriously misrepresents the efforts of the Mine Safety and Health Administration to address this issue. In fact, MSHA has taken a leadership role, within the bounds of our statutory authority, to stop drug and alcohol abuse in mining operations in Kentucky and throughout the country. [continues 138 words]
A western Kentucky police chief credited by his mayor with helping combat methamphetamine in their town was indicted this week on two meth-related charges. Authorities said the indictment reflects the illegal drug's pervasiveness. Bobby Sauls, police chief of Sebree, a town of about 1,700 in Webster County, faces five to 10 years in prison on each felony charge if convicted. Sauls was indicted Wednesday and is to make an initial appearance May 6 in Webster County Circuit Court. [continues 420 words]
Harlan Boy, 14, Puts Anti-Drug Logo On His Race Car CORBIN - No license. No worries. Fourteen-year-old Nathan Vanover simply slammed his foot on the pedal, gunned the engine and took off. His only concern was whether he was going fast enough. Vanover, a Harlan County resident, took to the Corbin Speedway yesterday to prepare for the track's opening race in his '80s-model Camaro. From the stands, it's impossible to tell that Vanover is two years away from being legally able to drive on the roads. On the track, he's just another racer in the stock car Pure Street division. [continues 676 words]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A western Kentucky police chief who had been credited by his mayor with helping combat the scourge of methamphetamine in their small town has been indicted on two meth-related charges. Bobby Sauls, police chief of Sebree, a town of 1,700 about 100 miles southwest of Louisville, was indicted Wednesday and faces five to 10 years in prison if convicted on each count. A hearing is set for May 6. The charges stem from an investigation by a Kentucky State Police special drug enforcement unit. [continues 187 words]
ASHLAND - The FIVCO Area Drug Enforcement Task Force (FADE) is facing a financial crisis. The multi-county drug task force will have its federal grant funding cut by $80,000, or 34 percent, for the 2005-06 fiscal year. FADE expects to receive $156,000, compared with $236,000 for the current year. As a result, FADE will ask its member cities and counties to shoulder a larger share of the burden. The task force's board of directors, meeting in special session, voted Monday to request that the city councils and fiscal courts that are over the police and sheriff's departments that have officers in FADE pick up 75 percent of the cost for those officers' salaries and benefits, rather than the customary 50 percent. [continues 500 words]
Researcher Finds Flaws In Public Housing's One-Strike Rule Over and over, the same story: "They denied me ... They said I had a criminal background ... I didn't do any time, I spent one year on a stat [a period of time where the court file remains open, but charges are dismissed if no further arrests occur]. They told me I could get a hearing, but I didn't want to bother. What good would it have done? I got three kids -- one boy and two girls. I just keep moving around, living here and living there." [continues 863 words]
Paranoid Growers, Outnumbered Cops, Guardsnakes: Dispatches From The Pot Belt THE OLD MAN'S STORY begins in a cabin in the deepest hills of Eastern Kentucky. "The state police," he says, emphasizing the pole, "come up the road on his four-wheeler. I could hear him coming from a long, long way. He comes up and I'm sitting on the porch and he says to me, 'Could I buy a glass of water?' He was so thirsty, said he was 'terrified' driving up these hollers, looking for pot." [continues 3134 words]
The death of a miner in Pike County last week should remind everyone that digging coal is a dangerous business, requiring the sober and determined efforts of everyone involved. It certainly can't be done safely by anybody who is on drugs. That's why the effort to push a drug testing bill through the General Assembly must continue, despite the yawn it got during this year's session. Union spokesmen were concerned that the proposal was overly broad, but there was no intent to require drug tests for everyone at mines where fatalities or serious injuries occur. Specifics were to be worked out by the Office of Mine Safety and Licensing, and approved by the Kentucky Mining Board and a legislative review panel. There was no reason to assume those regulations would overreach. [continues 255 words]
In response to Gary L. Tracy's March 26 letter, "Change the law": The letter writer apparently has only secondhand information. No one is rewarded or encouraged to smoke crack cocaine. Crack is a national problem, an addiction that is found everywhere. It's wonderful when a child born to an addicted woman has a chance to be with a good family while the mother is on the mend. Sure, the baby does go through withdrawal, but that doesn't mean the child will become an addict later in life. [continues 83 words]
Larger Lockups Paid To Keep State Inmates JACKSON - Breathitt County has become the 37th Kentucky county to lose its jail since 1983, when the state began enforcing new standards on old jailhouses, some of which were compared to medieval dungeons. That was then. Now officials in counties with small jails say they're closing their doors because they can't afford to keep them open. "Every one of us has got a bigger pipe going out than we've got coming in," Breathitt Judge-Executive Lewis Warrix said Tuesday, referring to costs. [continues 795 words]
Interns From UK Will Help Prosecuters University of Kentucky law students will team up with law professionals to help combat a growing drug problem in rural Kentucky. U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell joined University of Kentucky President Lee Todd yesterday to announce that $1 million in federal funds has been earmarked for the UK College of Law Rural Drug Prosecution Assistance Project. Through the program, students will work as summer interns in offices for commonwealth's attorneys, U.S. attorneys, the state attorney general and circuit court judges. The program provides some stipends. The project also offers salary grants and tuition aid for graduates to work with the legal system. [continues 387 words]