Raleigh smartly joins other North Carolina cities in adopting an approach that offers hard-core criminals hard time or a hand up Talk about an offer too good to refuse. The City of High Point, and the City of Durham not too much later, rounded up a group of chronic criminals, and offered to direct them to jobs, housing, food and clothing. Refuse the help by stubbornly following a life of crime, the offer went, and the book would be thrown at you hard, by local, state and federal prosecutors looking to lock you up for the maximum time possible. Raleigh police plan to adopt the program soon, beginning in Southeast Raleigh. The program was applied to the West End neighborhood of High Point beginning two years ago, and it has happily been credited with cutting crime by 33 percent. The decrease has held. [continues 414 words]
MORGANTON - A new program slated for Burke County in the coming year will target drug users. But the program is intended to help those convicted of drug charges. In turn, the Burke County Drug Treatment Court will help the community, says Reva Cook, director of the Catawba County Drug Treatment Court. The court has existed in Catawba County since 2001. A similar court will start in Burke County in January. It has seen limited success. Those chosen for drug court have been convicted of drug charges, aren't doing well on probation - aren't meeting with their probation officer or aren't meeting the terms of their probation - and are at risk of going back to jail, Cook says. [continues 335 words]
In response to "Burke to get drug court" (Aug. 20): Burke County's drug court is definitely a step in the right direction, but an arrest should not be a prerequisite for treatment. Would alcoholics seek help for their illness if doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Likewise, would putting all incorrigible alcoholics behind bars and saddling them with criminal records prove cost-effective? The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with drug offenses accounting for the majority of federal incarcerations. [continues 53 words]
CHAPEL HILL - A Chapel Hill man was accused last week of pedaling while he peddled. He was charged with maintaining a late-model Next Avalon Comfort Bike for selling crack cocaine. Police nabbed him as he ran into some woods in the Northside neighborhood. He might have escaped on his seven-speed Comfort Bike, but the chain fell off with police in hot pursuit. Police took custody of $3.25 in cash, along with his two-wheeler, which police estimate to be worth about $20. [continues 146 words]
Idle Comment Every state in the Union has laws harassing convicted sex offenders by maintaining Internet registries which include offenders' addresses and photos. Apparently publishing that database has been so successful - crimes by sexual predators are nearly at zero across the nation - it is being followed by the creation of Internet registries to publicize the names of people convicted of making and selling methamphetamine. Four states have approved the registry; six more are considering it. The argument is that meth offenders are as dangerous to the public as sex offenders, and should be tracked. That's true, if for no other reason than to help meth users find a nearby dealer and provide real estate brokers and landlords a ready source of clients. [continues 222 words]
Phillip Charles Ray has been in Lenoir County Jail for more than a year after being picked up on an assault with a deadly weapon charge. He's still waiting for a judge to hear his case. Ray's case is one of hundreds of examples why area jails are overflowing and taxpayers are regularly demanded to build more jails and state prisons. In June 2005, the most recent statistics available, one in every 136 U.S. residents was in prison or jail. [continues 1313 words]
Law enforcement officers slog through waist deep water, slashing through underbrush with machetes. Eventually they stumble on what they've been searching for: a field of thousands of marijuana plants, the home of someone's intricate drug production operation. But this isn't South America. It's Onslow County. On Thursday, county law enforcement officials cut down about 11,000 marijuana plants that were growing in a field in the Back Swamp area near the Duplin County border. Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said his department has never before captured so much weed at once. [continues 331 words]
HIGH POINT - Two years ago, 12 suspected drug dealers and their families were summoned by the police to a meeting where they faced police officers, ministers, social workers and residents from High Point's West End neighborhood. The group told the dealers: We're tired of seeing our neighborhood ravaged by dope. Stop selling drugs on our streets right now. If you quit dealing, we will help you find jobs, housing, food and clothing. If you continue, you will be arrested and vigorously prosecuted. [continues 1754 words]
LUMBERTON -- They began their careers as fresh-faced men in their early 20s - -- C.T. Strickland and Steven Lovin as uniformed Robeson County deputies, Roger Taylor as a sheriff's dispatcher. They rolled up their sleeves, earned their law enforcement certificates and went to work vowing to uphold the law and honor the badge. About 15 years later, the three former deputies live in the disgrace of a federal indictment. They stand accused of burning homes. Beating up drug dealers. Stealing public money for their own use. Paying informants with marijuana and cocaine. In all, eight deputies have been charged in a widening state and federal probe of the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. Strickland, Lovin and Taylor are at the center of the investigation. [continues 1534 words]
Law enforcement officers slog through waist deep water, slashing through underbrush with machetes. Eventually they stumble on what they've been searching for: a field of thousands of marijuana plants, the home of someone's intricate drug production operation. But this isn't South America. It's Onslow County. On Thursday, county law enforcement officials cut down about 11,000 marijuana plants that were growing in a field in the Back Swamp area near the Duplin County border. Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said his department has never before captured so much weed at once. [continues 330 words]
The Robeson County Sheriff's Office has been battered by accusations of corruption for years, long before Glenn Maynor took over as sheriff in 1994. But Maynor was running the department when the rumors turned into charges. The department came under some of its closest scrutiny during the administration of Maynor's predecessor -- Sheriff Hubert Stone. In 1986, the sheriff's son, Kevin Stone, shot and killed Jimmy Earl Cummings, touching off a storm of controversy in the Lumbee Indian community when the death was ruled either accidental or self-defense. In 1988, the county made national headlines when Eddie Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs held 20 people hostage at The Robesonian newspaper. Hatcher and Jacobs, both Indians, said they wanted to draw attention to corruption and drug trafficking in the Sheriff's Office. [continues 559 words]
Drug Bust Is One Of State's Largest A three-year federal drug investigation led to a traffic stop on U.S. 1 in Wake Forest on Wednesday and the discovery of 220 pounds of cocaine -- one of North Carolina's largest drug busts in recent history -- inside a recreational vehicle and the car being towed behind it. Federal authorities announced the arrests Thursday of five men suspected of being members of a drug trafficking ring -- three from Wake Forest -- in connection with the seizure of 100 individually wrapped kilogram packets of cocaine. [continues 210 words]
Princeton Review Ranks School No. 1 for Pot Use, Nostalgia for Clinton SWANNANOA - Students at Warren Wilson College have more fondness for Bill Clinton and marijuana use than any other school in the country, according to rankings published Wednesday. The Princeton Review's "Best 361 Colleges" ranks the 800-student private school No. 1 in the category gauging how widely marijuana is used on campus. Warren Wilson, about nine miles east of Asheville, also ranked first for "Students most nostalgic for Bill Clinton." [continues 160 words]
As the executive director of the world's largest organization of police, judges and other criminal justice professionals who oppose the policy of drug prohibition, I'd like to echo the smart conclusions of Pat Orsban in his guest commentary, "Drug war doesn't add up," (AC-T, Aug. 21). Regardless of how we choose to assess the potential health benefits and/or risk attached to drug use, having the criminal justice system as the primary arm of public response is bad policy. Using police and the criminal courts to punish drug users leaves cops short on needed manpower and resources needed to deal with street level crimes against persons and/or property. [continues 195 words]
I'm writing about Pat Orsban's outstanding guest commentary: "Drug war doesn't add up," (AC-T, Aug. 21). Beyond the fact that our so-called war on drugs is counterproductive and a complete waste of money, what about the right of adult citizens to be left alone - especially in the privacy of our own homes? We don't punish those who attempt suicide and survive. So why do we punish those who consume the wrong (politically selected) recreational drugs? [continues 95 words]
SWANNANOA - To be blunt, it's not the type of free publicity a college is looking for: No. 1 in the "reefer madness" category. Warren Wilson College took top ranking in that category, which gauges how widely used marijuana is on campus, in the Princeton Review book, "Best 361 Colleges," on sale today. The college also ranked at the top for "Students most nostalgic for Bill Clinton," No. 3 three for "Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging, clove-smoking vegetarians," 14th for "most beautiful campus" and 15th for "most politically active." [continues 127 words]
Measure Provides More Enforcement Options Penalties for drunken driving got tougher under a multifaceted law signed Tuesday by Gov. Mike Easley. Known as The Motor Vehicle Driver Protection Act, the legislation increases penalties for DWI while ensuring laws are applied "fairly and consistently" throughout the state, Easley said in a prepared statement. The new law, which becomes effective Dec. 1, adds to the list of DWI-related crimes, including a new category of charges that apply when an impaired driver injures a victim. Drivers with previous impaired driving convictions within seven years of a crash may now be charged with "aggravated felony serious injury by vehicle" or "aggravated felony death by vehicle." [continues 326 words]
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, and at least one-third of Americans have used marijuana sometime in their lives, according to information on the Drug Enforcement Agency Web site. But in Caldwell County another drug is commanding the most attention from law enforcement. In 2001, 187 criminal incidents in Caldwell County involved marijuana, and in 2005 that number had fallen to 93. However, ICE (Intercounty Counterdrug Enforcement) Agent Sgt. Chris Hatton said the number of incidents involving methamphetamine increased dramatically during the same period. [continues 586 words]
Jim Hightower ("It's not a war on weed, it's a war on people," Aug. 4, 2006) and Pat Orsban ("Drug war doesn't add up," Aug. 21, 2006), speak the truth, but there is one aspect of the prohibition and persecution of cannabis that doesn't get mentioned. Re-legalizing cannabis (kaneh bosm/marijuana) would also be biblically correct since Christ God Our Father indicated He created all the seed-bearing plants saying they are all good on literally the very first page of the Bible (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
RALEIGH - A former Robeson County deputy pled guilty Monday to conspiracy to kidnap two Virginia men and using of a firearm during a crime. Patrick Terrell Ferguson, 35, a former Robeson County sheriff's detective in the Juvenile Task Force, and an accomplice, James Allen Black Jr., 34, each pled guilty to the kidnapping and firearm's charges at the Terry Sanford Federal Building, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Ferguson and Black, both of Red Springs, are expected be sentenced in November. Each man could face a possible double life sentence and about $500,000 in fines. [continues 362 words]
RALEIGH - A former Robeson County deputy pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to conspiracy to kidnap two Virginia men and use of a firearm during a crime. Patrick Ferguson is the third former deputy to plead guilty in a 3-year state and federal investigation called Operation Tarnished Badge. In all, eight former Robeson County deputies and two Lumberton police officers have been charged since the investigation began. Investigators say more arrests are likely. A release from the U.S. Attorney's Office says Ferguson, 35, and an accomplice, James Allen Black Jr., drove from North Carolina to Virginia, kidnapped two Virginia men and drove them back to North Carolina on Feb. 27, 2004. [continues 388 words]
At Least We're Consistent. With the majority of the year already behind us, state statistics show that McDowell is again atop North Carolina in the number of meth lab busts. "We're still leading, but the number of labs we've had this year is down tremendously," said Lt. Jackie Turner Jr. of the McDowell County Sheriff's Office, who heads the local narcotics unit. "We're still getting some tips (about meth lab locations) but nothing like we were." [continues 312 words]
Program, Which Starts In 07, Lets Adults Enter Treatment Rather Than Go To Jail Beginning in January, some of Burke County's convicted drug offenders facing jail time will have an alternative to spending time behind bars. Thanks to a $450,000 grant through the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance, Burke County adults found guilty of certain drug offenses could instead enter a treatment program to overcome drug and alcohol addiction. Adult drug treatment courts offer chemically dependent men and women over 18 an alternative to jail time. Those eligible for the program must also be on probation for a convicted drug arrest, headed for jail or prison and show a desire to overcome addiction. [continues 506 words]
Jim High-tower's column, "It's not a war on weed, it's a war on people," (AC-T, Aug. 4), on marijuana, is right on the mark. Our government spends an enormous amount of money each year prosecuting and incarcerating people that smoke an expensive weed. The only reason it's expensive is because the U.S. government (prodded by Randolph Hearst, but that's another story) made it illegal back in 1937. Nowadays anyone can make lots of money (until they get busted) selling a crummy weed. [continues 357 words]
After walking along narrow trails through hundreds of feet of brush and trees Friday, Wayne County Sheriff's Office deputies and Goldsboro police officers found an open clearing near the intersection of Airport and Lancaster roads. Surrounding them were more than 350 marijuana plants -- the first of seven more plots that yielded more than 6,200 plants in northern Wayne County, Sheriff Carey Winders said. The location was about a mile from Norwayne Middle School -- and included a campsite officials think was used by the growers. [continues 450 words]
DURHAM - A coalition of Durham residents is fighting drug use in their neighborhoods by pressuring convenience store owners to stop selling crack pipes thinly veiled as novelty gifts. Marketed as a "Rose in a Glass" or "Love Roses," the product is a 4-inch-long glass tube with a tiny fake flower stuffed inside. Blow out the flower and the tempered glass tube, called a "stem" on the street, is perfect for smoking rocks of crack cocaine. Over the past week, members of Operation Pipe Dreams have visited 31 stores in Durham -- covertly buying the tubes and then giving those behind the counter a letter asking them to stop selling the item. If they refuse, the letter promises the group will pressure public officials to suspend the shop's license to sell beer and wine. It is illegal in North Carolina to sell drug paraphernalia. [continues 573 words]
The cost of keeping people in jail adds up. Consider: The Buncombe County Jail, which opened 10 years ago cost taxpayers about $14 million to build. The budget approved by the county Board of Commissioners includes $4.5 million to open and operate a new addition to the jail, scheduled to be completed in February. The jail and jail annex are designed to hold 356 people. The new addition will increase capacity by 248 beds. That totals 604 beds and should be sufficient for about a year to a year and a half after the addition is completed, said Bill Stafford, county construction project director and former jail administrator. That means another addition will be needed before long. [continues 353 words]
Drug Commission Poster May Do More Harm Than Good Several weeks ago, the Asheville-Buncombe Drug Commission barraged my neighborhood with a series of peculiar posters. Full color, they clung to every other tree and pole leading up Hanover Street and into the concrete horizon of the Pisgah View Apartments. The commission apparently intended the trail of posters as a public-service announcement for female pedestrians in the area, which is to say primarily black and/or underprivileged women. And the posters are certainly eye-catching, with a blaring red background and a picture of a conventionally attractive woman in a tight, white minidress positioned at its center. [continues 761 words]
Justice won't be fully served in a Wake County teenager's drug death until the youth held responsible receives treatment Righteous anger is an understandable response to negligence when it cuts short the life of a child -- even when the negligent party is a child as well. Those were the sad circumstances leading to the death last year of Erica Hicks, a promising junior at Southeast Raleigh High School. Hicks, of Garner, took a mixture of illegal drugs given to her by a friend who attended Cary High School. She collapsed and later was declared brain dead, a senseless loss if ever there was one. [continues 424 words]
WASHINGTON - It's been 25 years since we first learned of a disease that was killing a handful of white, gay men in a few of our nation's largest cities -- a disease that later became known as AIDS. But lulled by media images that portrayed AIDS mainly as a white, gay disease, black America looked the other way: Those people weren't our people. AIDS was not our problem. It had not entered our house. We had our own problems to deal with, so we let those people deal with their problem. But that was a quarter-century ago, and a lot has changed. Now, in 2006, almost 40 million people worldwide have HIV, and 25 million are dead. And most of those who have died and are dying are black. That's not just because of the devastation the pandemic has wreaked upon Africa. [continues 608 words]
Legislative measures have been taken to limit the amount of pseudoephedrine that can be purchased; law enforcement has extended its arm as far as it can to shut down labs and apprehend users and sellers; and dozens of agencies have formed partnerships to tackle the social, psychologial and health issues. But the problem with the manufacture and use of methamphetamine continues to grow. Unfortunately, we don't see the problem waning any time soon. It's not that people from all walks aren't trying to stop meth use; it's that the people we all are trying to reach aren't listening or aren't taking the warnings seriously. For sellers, the warnings matter little. All they are interested in is making money from the addiction of others. They don't care if the drug addicts; they don't care that it destroys lives. [continues 471 words]
Voluntary Program Aims to End Addictions and Reunite Families Union County's court system is taking a "non-adversarial approach" to dealing with parents with substance abuse problems, Chief District Judge Chris Bragg says. The county will start hearing cases in its Family Drug Treatment Court (FDTC) on Wednesday. The FDTC will treat parents for substance abuse whose children are in foster care due to abuse or neglect. The court aims to get the parents clean, then reunite them with their children. [continues 418 words]
Cocaine Busts Said Major Police Victory SHELBY - When the last of 19 drug traffickers was sentenced Aug. 3, it signaled a major victory for the police department that worked with several state and federal agencies put them behind bars. This week, Shelby police officials released more good news - crime overall is down 19 percent, if you compare the first seven months of 2006 to the same time period in 2005. The removal of those 19 people made a huge impact in the drug trade in Shelby and is one reason the overall crime rate is down so much, according to Shelby Police Chief Tandy Carter. [continues 775 words]
Drugs, Money And The Law LUMBERTON -- The Robeson County district attorney says he has no vendetta against the county Sheriff's Office or its former leader -- Glenn Maynor. But Johnson Britt acknowledges that a rift between the two offices has simmered at least since 1998. That year, Britt had to dismiss 235 drug charges against 66 people because a key witness -- a former drug enforcement deputy -- could not be found to testify. Maynor, then the sheriff, publicly blamed Britt for not trying hard enough to find the missing lawman. [continues 1838 words]
Last week probably wasn't the happiest of times for former Robeson County Sheriff Glenn Maynor. First came the revelation that he used on-duty deputies to move his belongings into his new home, while he was sheriff. Then came word that since he retired in December 2004, he spent the more than $70,000 remaining in his campaign accounts, mostly on personal expenses. On-duty deputies also helped landscape his new home and directed traffic during the move. Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt says the use of on-duty deputies was confirmed in the 3 1/2-year state and federal investigation of the Sheriff's Office. Operation Tarnished Badge has resulted in charges against seven former Robeson deputies and two former Lumberton police officers. [continues 273 words]
DURHAM -- You may have seen "love roses" while waiting in line at the corner convenience store to pay for a quart of milk. About the diameter of a ballpoint pen, the length of a credit card and containing a fake rose no bigger than a toothpick, they are sold in dozens of Durham convenience stores. And to hear the Rev. Melvin Whitley tell it, they're most often used to smoke crack. Whitley and his group, "A New East Durham," have named "love roses" as their newest foe in the war to take back the city streets. Whitley says local businesses are buying the Chinese import, sometimes called "rose tubes" or "stems," in cartons of 36 at a price of $6.40. Then they are selling them at $3.25 apiece -- 18 times the individual cost - -- to people who will use the tubes to smoke illegal drugs. "These people are profiting off of misery," Whitley said Friday. Known drug users, he added, have told him the tubes are a hot commodity among crack users. [continues 388 words]
North Carolina lawmakers last year put a key ingredient to methamphetamine behind the counter at pharmacies. If only the demand for meth could be shut away as easily. Some law enforcement agencies have reported that since making meth is now considerably tougher in North Carolina, the drug is simply being imported into the state from other illicit sources. Methamphetamine is a particularly insidious drug. Users reportedly experience a euphoria to which they quickly become addicted. The more they use the drug, the more they feel they have to have it. [continues 158 words]
LUMBERTON - A former detective with the Robeson County Sheriff's Office Juvenile Division is facing federal conspiracy kidnapping charges. Patrick Ferguson has been charged by a bill of criminal information in the kidnapping of two Virginia men between January and February 2004. He also was charged with using a firearm during an act of violence. According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Raleigh on July 24, Ferguson and a co-conspirator drove from Robeson County to Virginia and kidnapped the men at gunpoint. One of the men was shot during the incident. Court records identified the shooter as a co-conspirator. The co-conspirator has not been indicted, according to the court documents. [continues 274 words]
As a Colorado Christian, I enjoyed the biblical implications of Bob Niewoehner's letter ["A Miracle Drug (http://www.mountainx.com/opinion/2006/0719letters.php)," July 19]. In fact, Bible thumpers who support caging humans for using the plant cannabis are stumbling, since God indicated He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good on literally the very first page of the Bible (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). Further, cannabis is thought to be the tree of life, with the very last page of the Bible pointing out the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations. The entire Bible opposes cannabis prohibition. By the way, James P. Anderson's assertion ["Gone To Pot (http://www.mountainx.com/opinion/2006/0719letters.php)," July 19] that "marijuana kills brain cells" has been scientifically and historically discredited. - - Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Wayne County law enforcement officers discovered and seized more than 313 marijuana plants Monday at two sites near Piney Grove Church Road off of U.S. 70 East. With the help of one of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office helicopters, the Goldsboro-Wayne County Drug Squad and the Wayne Sheriff's ACE Team found the plants, which would have had a street value of more than $750,000 if allowed to mature. Officers spotted the first 13 plants near the Lenoir County line while on a routine flight, Lt. Tom Effler of the Sheriff's Office said. [continues 176 words]
How odd that letter writer James P. Anderson ["Gone to Pot (http://www.mountainx.com/opinion/2006/0719letters.php)," July 19] would first concede he has no affiliation with any Christian denomination or sect, only to immediately tell us that Jesus would be opposed to a common weed. If Anderson was familiar with Christian doctrine and had read even the first page of the Bible, he would know that God created the medicinal herb cannabis and gave it to mankind for our use. So, is he saying that God made a mistake? Or that Jesus was at odds with His own Father? [continues 122 words]
I have a question for James P. Anderson ["Gone to Pot (http://www.mountainx.com/opinion/2006/0719letters.php)," July 19] and the other Jesus freaks who think marijuana is so evil: Who would Jesus incarcerate? I believe Jesus would have jumped over the pot peddlers to get to the evil tobacco sellers and producers. Our annual tobacco-versus-marijuana kill ratio is about 400,000 to zero. Worldwide, tobacco is expected to kill a billion people before the end of this century. So should we criminalize tobacco? No. If we criminalized tobacco products, tobacco would soon be unregulated, untaxed and controlled by criminals - just like recreational drugs are now. And we would soon have an abundant amount of "tobacco-related crime." - - Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
John Walters, director of the White House drug policy office, says strategies that have effectively curbed the use of methamphetamine in Western states should start working in this region too. Walters visited Asheville this week and talked about the progress made in Western states to combat use of the drug. He said meth use has declined more than 30 percent nationwide among young people and incidents involving local drug labs have taken a sharp downturn. Most of that progress he said was in Western states, which have put in place strong restrictions on the sale of cold medicines containing ingredients to make the drug. The areas also benefited from a federal operation against Canadian black market imports and improved access to meth-specific treatment, he said. [continues 117 words]
Pencils that the 14- and 15-year-old students use to practice cursive are less than 3 inches long. Any longer, and they could be weapons. The teens wear gray and black shower shoes and green, loose-fitting uniforms that say "Juvenile Mecklenburg County" on the back. Here, in mobile classrooms bordered by barbed-wire fences, counselors and administrators at Gatling Juvenile Detention Center see evidence of troubling patterns emerging countywide, reflected in the youths detained in the building's 30 cells. [continues 824 words]
A single law won't spare North Carolina from the ravages of a cheap and vicious drug. But the new law limiting the sale of its key ingredient - obtained from a cold remedy - was a good start. Now it's time to tackle the demand for methamphetamine. Discouraging amateurs from making it close to home merely invites dealers to import it from elsewhere. As it spread across the country, meth wrecked lives, endangered children, spawned violent crime and left poison in the environment. [continues 109 words]
If there were any doubt remaining, it has now melted: Federal investigators are slowly moving up the food chain in Operation Tarnished Badge by using the strategy of shaking down the grunts with their eyes on bigger game. Last week, that strategy was unmistakable when former sheriff's Deputy James O. Hunt pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit money laundering. As part of the plea bargain, Hunt has agreed to testify against other deputies similarly charged. Three of those deputies, C.T. Strickland, Roger Taylor and Steven Lovin, were recently released without explanation after doing some hard time for a short time in prison. Their unexpected release suggests that they are prepared to tell investigators what they want to hear. A fifth former deputy charged in the case, Kevin Rudolph Meares, is also expected to cooperate with investigators. [continues 222 words]
Hicks Admits 'Total Mistake' GARNER - Kimberly Hicks admits she shared marijuana and alcohol with her 16-year-old daughter Erica the day before she took a lethal mix of hard drugs last fall, but she says she had no idea her daughter was taking narcotics. But Erica's friends knew. They said the popular cheerleader and varsity softball player had been using cocaine since January 2005. On Monday, Wake County District Court Judge Craig Croom found that a 16-year-old Cary teen who gave Erica Hicks ecstasy was responsible for her death. Medical examiners also found traces of cocaine and methamphetamine in Hicks' body. [continues 749 words]
Our View: A state law that limits access to the raw ingredients for methamphetamine is working. We're not surprised. Unlike the crack and heroin trades, meth trafficking can be disrupted because of its reliance on legal chemicals, which can be controlled. A law that restricts the sale of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine took effect in January. Since that time, law enforcement officers across the state have uncovered fewer of the volatile kitchen and car labs. It's good news for North Carolina. [continues 241 words]
As Western North Carolina's methamphetamine problem evolves, so, too, must methods of combating it, officials say. President Bush's top drug-policy adviser met with some of the region's sheriffs this week to trade ideas on fighting the meth problem. The conclave of a half-dozen county sheriffs, federal "drug czar" John Walters and U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., issued no concrete proposals. But several ideas received their support. Some were standard fare, such as continuing drug-resistance education for students. [continues 492 words]
RALEIGH -- A former Robeson County deputy pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to stealing about $25,000 in federal drug forfeiture money. Kevin Meares, 37, admitted that he forged the names of confidential informants on vouchers used to get the federal money from the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. Drug investigators routinely give informants money to make drug buys. But Meares admitted that he filed fraudulent vouchers -- used as an accounting measure -- either by forging an informant's signature and pocketing all of the money or by making out the vouchers for more than he gave his informants. [continues 600 words]
Inside North Carolina
