Officials Also Renew Safe Driving Message to Local Students The "Meth is Death" campaign hit Clarksville High School Wednesday, illustrating the devastating effects of methamphetamines to students. "Meth is not a stranger to the United States, Tennessee or United States' citizens," District Attorney General John Carney said Wednesday. "It was used by the Germans to stay awake to fight the U.S. during the war, and it was used by kamikaze pilots. It is a killer -- explosive, dangerous -- and it will ruin your life." [continues 410 words]
Methamphetamine labs are explosively dangerous and toxic. So it is understandable that Horn Lake police officers, acting on reliable evidence, moved quickly early Wednesday to shut one down. The problem is that once they arrived on the scene, officers raided the wrong house. In the action that followed, two octogenarians were seriously injured. Horn Lake Mayor Nat Baker, a former police captain, rightfully asked for an internal police investigation and a written report on the 4 a.m. raid. Two key questions need answering. Did officers make an unwise assumption about which house to raid when they discovered there were two homes at the scene, both sharing the same house number and a driveway? Were house occupants A. L. Bostick and his wife, Lisa, both in their 80s, unnecessarily roughed up by officers? [continues 145 words]
Bedford County Board of Education passed a random drug testing policy Thursday night which will cover all students participating in extracurricular activities -- not just athletics but clubs, band, cheerleading and the like. The policy standardizes random drug testing policies system-wide and expands the program to non-athletic activities. The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure, means the school system can't apply random drug testing to the student body as a whole. But since participation in extracurricular activities is considered a privilege, not a right, it is legal to ask students to agree to random drug testing as a condition of their participation. [continues 332 words]
Residents of the Clearview community on Saturday made several suggestions to improve relations between black Gallatin citizens and the mostly white Gallatin Police Department. Those suggestions included more police presence on Roosevelt Circle during the week, a citizen's review panel and more training for young officers about how to deal with the public. "Chief, tell your police officers that every black person is not a drug dealer," said Walter Hollerman, a retired Sumner County School teacher. City Councilman John D. Alexander, who represents the fifth district that includes Clearview, organized a community meeting between residents and police after several residents complained at a recent city council meeting about racial profiling by the police department. [continues 432 words]
Sumner County schools is combining forces with local law enforcement, community groups and members of the court system to create a unified front against the problem of drug and alcohol abuse among teens. The Sumner County Anti-Drug Coalition officially formed last week. The idea for the group came from Sumner County Schools Safe and Drug Free Coordinator Pat Conner. Criminal Court Judge Jane Wheatcraft was asked to spearhead the meeting. "I would say 90 to 95 percent of the cases that I see are drug related in some way, covering everything from fraud to assault to burglary. Drugs are tied in some how," Wheatcraft said. "When she (Conner) brought the idea to me, I immediately realized that this would need to be an interdisciplinary approach to the problem with all of the community, coming together to deal with it." [continues 347 words]
A trend last year of local students abusing their parents prescription drugs has declined this year, but illegal narcotics remains a concern, an official said. "We made 62 drug arrests," said Maj. Bill Kennedy, a Rutherford County Sheriff's Office administrator who oversees school resource officers (SROs). "It's higher than we want it. For a system as large as ours, it's still a low percentage of kids." Although marijuana and other illegal narcotics are a problem, Kennedy said he's pleased how his 36-officer division has gotten the word out to parents about keeping their prescription drugs away from their children. [continues 327 words]
Sumner County schools is combining forces with local law enforcement, community groups and members of the court system to create a unified front against the problem of drug and alcohol abuse among teens.The Sumner County Anti-Drug Coalition officially formed last week. The idea for the group came from Sumner County Schools Safe and Drug Free Coordinator Pat Conner. Criminal Court Judge Jane Wheatcraft was asked to spearhead the meeting. "I would say 90 to 95 percent of the cases that I see are drug related in some way, covering everything from fraud to assault to burglary. Drugs are tied in some how," Wheatcraft said. "When she (Conner) brought the idea to me, I immediately realized that this would need to be an interdisciplinary approach to the problem with all of the community, coming together to deal with it." [continues 347 words]
To the Editor: I'm writing about "Marijuana up for discussion" (Feb. 20, p. 1). The next time a drug war cheerleader like Bob Stutman gives a speech, please ask him why he wants marijuana to remain completely unregulated, untaxed and controlled by criminals. Only legal products of any kind can be regulated, taxed and controlled by any government. In the Czech Republic, citizens can legally grow and possess small quantities of marijuana. The Czech overall drug arrest rate is 1 per 100,000 population. The U.S. overall drug arrest rate is 585 per 100,000 population. [continues 108 words]
Students for Sensible Drug Policy is to be commended for their successful efforts to limit the Higher Education Act's denial of student loans to youth convicted of drug offenses. Congress' vote to offer amnesty to students busted back in high school is a major legislative victory. Currently enrolled college students, however, are still at risk. And the risk extends far beyond losing federal student loans. Most students outgrow their youthful indiscretions involving illicit drugs. An arrest and criminal record, on the other hand, can be life-shattering. After admitting to smoking pot (but not inhaling), former President Bill Clinton opened himself up to "soft on drugs" criticism. And thousands of Americans have paid the price in the form of shattered lives. More Americans went to prison or jail during the Clinton administration than during any past administration. [continues 99 words]
If marijuana becomes a legal substance, Tennessee has the ideal growing conditions to cultivate a cannabis farm, according to High Times magazine Editor Steve Hager. Bob Stutman, a retired agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, says the legalization of marijuana would create an epidemic of addicts on par with alcohol abuse in the U.S. Stutman and Hager have made careers on opposite sides of the marijuana legalization divide, but several times a year they share the stage on college campuses for a scholarly debate on the topic. The two will meet tonight at 8 p.m. in the Vanderbilt University Student Life Center. [continues 447 words]
Hundreds of Tennessee students can hope to get a second shot at gaining eligibility for federal financial aid thanks to a bill that passed the U.S. Congress last week. The bill scales back a law that stripped financial aid from college students with drug convictions. The drug provision was originally enacted in 1988. College students had to declare prior drug convictions on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). An answer of "yes" to the drug conviction question basically rendered the student ineligible to receive financial aid, regardless of whether the conviction was prior to the person's entering college. [continues 421 words]
Guns, Drugs, Passion Play Big Part But Don't Answer Big Question: Why? Drug deals gone sour, love triangles that erupted in violence and, sometimes, the slayings of innocent people just minding their own business made 2005 one of the deadliest years on record in Nashville. The 100 homicides in Davidson County last year was up 71% from 2004, when Metro-area killings plunged to a 37-year low. Police and city officials are at loss to explain the cause of the spike, and experts say it could merely be a statistical anomaly that defies a hard and fast answer. [continues 1393 words]
Gallatin Officers Use Stun Weapon While Trying To Subdue Juvenile, Chief Says GALLATIN -- At least one police officer and a 17-year-old drug suspect were zapped with a Taser gun during a scuffle Tuesday night as officers pursuing the teen tried to subdue him with the weapon, authorities said. The incident began about 8 p.m. Tuesday, when police stopped two men and the juvenile, [Name redacted], on Hill Street, an area police say has seen regular narcotics traffic. One man fled as the juvenile tried to pull away, and one officer tried to subdue the juvenile with a Taser, Police Chief John Tisdale said. [continues 492 words]
2nd Person In Conspiracy, Federal Indictment Says A Metro Police officer was charged with drug trafficking and robbery yesterday after a federal grand jury named him in a four-count indictment stemming from an ongoing conspiracy investigation. Officer Charles R. Williams III is accused of robbing someone of more than 500 grams of a substance containing cocaine while threatening the victim with his police-issued service weapon. Williams, according to the indictment, handcuffed the victim during the robbery. It was an investigation by members of Williams' own department that initially led to the federal indictment. The police later went to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney's office for help. [continues 221 words]
After more than 15 years of operating out of Upper East Tennessee, what has been called the largest drug trafficking organization ever to exist in the area was dismantled by federal and local law enforcement agencies. Authorities announced the takedown at a news conference on Friday at Johnson City's Downtown Centre, where officials said they have been working for a decade on the investigation, which culminated in a 12-count, multidefendant indictment in federal court. Thirteen individuals were charged in connection with the investigation, including Mark Allen Saults and Richard Glen Milburn, whom authorities called the "ringleaders" of the drug operation. [continues 628 words]
Local Assistant U.S. Attorney's Explosive Justice Department Allegations Make National Waves The seven-page document reads like the screenplay for Scarface, had it been written by a Justice Department attorney instead of Oliver Stone. U.S. Drug Enforcement agents in Bogota, Colombia, help local drug lords traffic narcotics. When a confidential informant tips off DEA agents in Florida about the illegal actions of their Bogota counterparts, a Florida agent alerts DEA higher-ups and is put on administrative leave. Meanwhile, DEA agents in Bogota summon an informant to a meeting; as he leaves, he is murdered. [continues 1073 words]
Should you have the right to know if a convicted sex offender lives in your neighborhood? In the 1990s, the reaction to that provocative question formed the basis of Tennessee law that created a Web site, listing the names and addresses of sex offenders. Now, Tennessee law enforcement officials are trying a similar tactic against those who manufacture methamphetamine. Tennessee's Methamphetamine Offender Registry, located at http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/methor/, allows Internet users to enter = a name or county and retrieve those convicted of meth drug offenses since March 30, 2005. Like the state's sex offender registry, the idea behind the meth list is to allow neighbors and apartment and other property owners to know if an individual has a history of this type of criminal behavior. [continues 427 words]
State Removing Fewer Children From Homes Following Restrictions CHATTANOOGA - With Tennessee restricting sales of medications that can be used to make methamphetamine, records show the number of children taken from parents caught making or using the illegal drug is down drastically, possibly by more than half. The state Department of Children's Services provided records to The Associated Press showing that meth investigations forced the state to take custody of at least 268 children in 2005. That's down from a department estimate of 750 children taken from their parents because of meth in 2004. [continues 554 words]
With Tennessee restricting sales of medications that can be used to make methamphetamine, records show that the number of children taken from parents caught making or using the illegal drug is down drastically, possibly by more than half. The state Department of Children's Services provided records to The Associated Press showing that meth investigations forced the state to take custody of at least 268 children in 2005. That's down from a department estimate of 750 children taken from their parents because of meth in 2004. [continues 551 words]
Homemade methamphetamine labs seemed to disappear in Rutherford County after a state law that went into effect in July made it tougher to buy a key ingredient, a sheriff's narcotics supervisor said. But the "club drug" Ecstasy increased in popularity especially among people in their 20s, said Sgt. Egon Grissom while analyzing trends the unit found during the past year. State law restricted the purchase of ephedrine, which is required to make methamphetamine in homemade labs. "We haven't had a meth lab in quite awhile," Grissom said. "Since July, we haven't had a single meth lab. The new law actually had a big impact." [continues 458 words]
Inside Tennessee
