Philadelphia - Four Graterford State Prison guards and an alleged drug dealer were indicted Friday on federal charges of smuggling drugs and cell phones to inmates.

The federal government took control of the investigation and prosecution using provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act.

In separate indictments, Graterford guards Tony Strong, 46, Allen Littles, 37, Sheri Allen, 38, and Ronald Smith, 51, all of Philadelphia, are charged with smuggling pot, cocaine, marijuana and cell phones to inmates. Each of the guards is also charged with extortion.

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LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - They couldn't believe it happened to them.

The young man in the video described himself as "a good kid, from a loving family" He's shown playing soccer, smiling for the camera.

But the boy turns from sports and good grades to drinking alcohol with his friends as a teenager. Alcohol consumption turns to drug use. Drug use becomes more frequent, more lethal until he nearly dies from an overdose.

"My family was devastated," his weeping sister said in the video. "It doesn't happen to people like us."

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As Corrections Spending Balloons, Officials Look At Alternatives To Locking Up Nonviolent Offenders

Overlooked amid the discussion of the state's dire transportation needs and pressing issues on the health care and energy fronts is that spending on corrections is bursting at the seams.

Corrections is the third largest expenditure in the state budget, after education and public welfare. Taxpayers are footing the $500 million bill for three new prisons that will be filled in less than five years, given current inmate population trends.

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To the Editor:

Bob Herbert's column "Vegas and the exploitation of women" correctly describes the atrocities resulting from illegal prostitution, but fails to identify the core cause: When we legislate prohibition for something that a large segment of the public insists upon, we simply turn the industry over to criminals at great cost to society in general and taxpayers in particular.

Consider how many conscientious citizens would almost overnight become law breakers were we to prohibit the sale of tobacco products as we once did alcohol!

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I'm outraged that a Penn State professor was arrested for allegedly smoking marijuana -- outraged at our legal system only, because the professor did nothing wrong.

One can break the law, yet do nothing wrong. Ask Henry David Thoreau.

Marijuana should be legal, as President Nixon's Shafer Commission recommended 35 years ago, a recommendation he ignored because he put ideology above truth.

Marijuana use is not for everyone and can be dangerous for some, but the same applies more severely to alcohol. And, as with alcohol, society will best combat abuse problems through regulation, which is only possible after legalization.

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Who hasn't been caught in a conversation about urban legends? If you have ever taken part in such a discussion, you may have cited sources to support your position claiming something to be either fact or an exaggeration founded on glorified hearsay.

Here's an example -- the phenomenon known as "don't snitch." Many consider it an inner-city, gang-related code of honor -- a code adhered to by those in neighborhoods overwhelmed by crime, drugs and violence. Although this practice may be unwritten law in these communities, and flaunted by the hip-hop culture that is so prevalent there, it is not limited to those circles. In fact, "don't snitch" is as all-American as baseball and apple pie.

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Re: "All-time high for Phila. inmates," Monday:

Unchecked prison expansion, resulting in the flooding of the court system and a strain on government resources, is due to a failed war on drugs that imposes draconian sentences, breaks up families and criminalizes poor communities. Gov. Rendell is right to propose alternative sentencing for nonviolent drug offenders, including drug treatment, early release and recidivism-prevention programs.

Warehousing more people does not reduce crime, and fails to address the root of the city's ills.

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ELLWOOD CITY - Accusations continue to fly in the battle between Ellwood City Mayor Don Clyde and borough council over management of Police Chief Richard McDonald, and the matter could soon be headed to court.

On Thursday, one day after a closed-door meeting with four council members to try to resolve the dispute, Clyde denied accusations made against him, including that he interfered in a drug arrest, and made accusations of his own that McDonald overstepped his authority. He also announced a plan to sue the borough to regain power council has stripped of him.

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Editor, the Record:

Recently I suggested that one way to make America safer would be to legalize illegal drugs. The reaction was interesting. No, I was not called a "druggie." The major concern seams to be that it would cause major unemployment among law enforcement people, drug pushers and jail construction workers. The next concern is the loss of "photo-ops" for politicians when drug busts occur; so much for being politically incorrect.

A second way to make America safer would be to withdraw our one-sided support for Israel. Maybe then, less people in the Islamic community would hate us.

Mike Langan

Stroudsburg

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'DRUG DOGS' WILL MONITOR CONTRABAND IN PETERS SCHOOLS

Peters School District students may want to think twice about district regulations governing drugs, alcohol, and even over-the-counter and prescription medication, after a demonstration Tuesday proved the nose has it when it comes to contraband-sniffing dogs.

During a town hall meeting at Peters Township High School, owner Gene Papet of K9 Resources in Kings Mills, near Cincinnati, Ohio, brought along 8-year-old Blitz, a golden retriever who could detect not just banned substances like alcohol, but even their residue.

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Regarding Donald J. Boudreaux's column explaining how it was rapidly falling federal income-tax revenues during the Depression that led to the repeal of alcohol prohibition ("Prohibition politics," July 25 and PghTrib.com), drug prohibition may suffer a similar fate. The drug war has given the land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. This is big government at its worst. Sooner or later, Congress is going to have to wake up to the fact that the punitive Nanny State is simply not sustainable.

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The standard, schoolbook history of alcohol prohibition in the United States goes like this:

Americans in 1920 embarked on a noble experiment to force everyone to give up drinking. Alas, despite its nobility, this experiment was too naive to work. It soon became clear that people weren't giving up drinking. Worse, it also became clear that Prohibition fueled mobsters who grew rich supplying illegal booze. So, recognizing the futility of Prohibition, Americans repealed it in 1934.

This popular belief is completely mistaken. Here's what really happened:

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Editor: I'm writing about Mike Langan's thoughtful letter: "End phony drug war" ( 7-13-07 ). If we re-legalized all our illegal drugs so that they could be sold by licensed and regulated businesses for pennies per dose, would this eliminate our drug problems? No.

However, doing so would substantially reduce the crime rate and dramatically increase public safety.

Will we ever be able to eliminate our drug problems? No.

However, we can substantially reduce the harm caused by our illegal drugs. Regulated and controlled drugs would be of known purity, known potency and known quality -- which would make them much safer than black-market drugs.

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An Inhibiting Change

A proposed new rule requiring New Jersey public schools to use state-licensed labs to conduct random drug tests on students may be well intended, but isn't worth the cost to districts trying to make ends meet.

About 20 school districts in New Jersey are randomly testing students, but most use school nurses to conduct the procedure. That keeps the cost to $10 to $12 per test. Using a state-approved lab could more than double the cost of each test.

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Even with Hazleton Area starting a drug-testing policy in September, there are only three schools in District 2 that have one.

That begs the question: What's the PIAA stance on the steroid front? While Texas, Florida and New Jersey have state-wide testing programs, Pennsylvania is going a different route to keep its high school sports drug-free -- education.

In November 2006, the PIAA started running a pilot program called STAR Sportsmanship. Run by an Alabama-based company, Learning Through Sports, STAR is an internet-based program that teaches student-athletes about sportsmanship, according to the program's proposal on the PIAA Web site.

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While Texas, Florida and New Jersey have state-wide testing programs, Pennsylvania is going a different route to keep its high school sports drug-free -- education.

In November 2006, the PIAA started a pilot program called STAR Sportsmanship. Run by an Alabama-based company, Learning Through Sports, STAR is an internet-based program that teaches student-athletes about sportsmanship, according to the program's proposal on the PIAA Web site.

The high school level of STAR Sportsmanship puts a heavy focus on steroids, their effects, risks and consequences. The goal, according to PIAA spokesperson Melissa Mertz, is not to create some kind of penal colony for drug users through mandatory testing.

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Chris Perry sounded almost menacing when he spoke about what will happen in September, when Hazleton Area High School will implement its new drug-testing policy, approved at the school board's June meeting. Any student in any extracurricular activity, from football to band, could get selected for a random test.

It will be immediate, it will test for a wide range of substances, it will be the hard truth about what may be going on under the skin of Hazleton's students.

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Editor: We lost the war on illegal alcohol. Now we are losing the phony war on drugs. Should we legalize drugs?

Drug enforcement people and drug pushers would be unemployed. Even paying the unemployment and retraining costs, Congress would be faced with major budget surpluses.Jails will tend to be empty. Media would have to find news to replace drug-related bad news and robberies would be to get money for professional sporting events, not to get money for drugs.

If Congress doesn't give control to the oil industry, drug prices should drop and, as a young woman said to me, "legal drugs may be less attractive."

Look at the drug money that is being thrown at the California fight to legalize marijuana. Are we really that powerless? Write your senators and congressman.

Legalizing drugs will make America safer.

Mike Langan

Stroud Township

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WASHINGTON -- News that Al Gore's 24-year-old son, Al Gore III, was busted for pot and assorted prescription pills has unleashed a torrent of mirth in certain quarters.

Gore-phobes on the Internet apparently view the son's arrest and incarceration as comeuppance for the father's shortcomings. Especially rich was the fact that young Al was driving a Toyota Prius when he was pulled over for going 100 mph -- just as Papa Gore was set to preside over concerts during a 24-hour, seven-continent Live Earth celebration to raise awareness about global warming.

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Random student drug testing, voluntary or otherwise, is a horrible waste of time, effort, and money. School boards across the nation have been realizing this as of late, for various reasons.

Some object to such blatant invasions of privacy. Others believe that it creates a threatening environment - hardly something our schools need more of. Yet others look at the facts, the numbers, and the consequences of their policy, and see that it simply doesn't stop students from experimenting with drugs. It is a failed policy.

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