All Charges Have Been Dropped Against Beverly Gale Boone, Former Office Manager Of Roanoke Pain Doctor Cecil Knox At the government's request, a federal judge has dropped all charges against Beverly Gale Boone, former office manager of Roanoke pain doctor Cecil Knox, and ordered that the charges cannot be brought again. After more than four years of prosecution, a two-month trial and six amended indictments, Boone was the last of five defendants to reach some resolution in a case that at one point included 313 charges each against Knox and Boone and threatened life in prison for both of them. [continues 681 words]
For The Past Five Years, Fernando Groene Has Been Leading Federal Prosecutions On The Peninsula. NEWPORT NEWS -- Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Groene has prosecuted some of the Peninsula's most notorious criminals - high-level drug dealers, money launderers, murderers, gun traffickers and white-collar thieves. On Sept. 26, trials will start in Norfolk for the remaining defendants in Operation Blowfish - a joint investigation of the Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Task Force and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The investigation exposed an international drug network that imported millions of dollars in cocaine and marijuana from Mexico, across the border to Texas and then into Hampton Roads and Richmond. [continues 932 words]
Former Crack Addict Forms Group In Petersburg To Help Those Still Addicted PETERSBURG -- At the end of the day, Becky Wyatt exited a small corner building and strode toward her white Toyota Avalon. As Wyatt, 53, popped open the trunk and sorted through some boxes, the white in her coordinated blouse and flats shone in the dimly lit parking lot. Her bracelet and necklace sparkled as she flung her long black hair to one side. It was after 9 p.m., and Wyatt was headed home. Hours earlier, she had left her job as an area supervisor for six L.A. Weight Loss centers and driven to the corner building at 4 S. Market St. [continues 1384 words]
Police say two self-proclaimed gang members and a suspected drug dealer were arrested following separate incidents Tuesday at Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania County. All three are teenage students at the school, Spotsylvania Deputy Robin Kocher said. School resource officer A.P. Clark made the arrests. According to Kocher, two members of the Bloods were taken into custody after another student was beaten up after school near the trailers on school property. The Bloods is a nationwide gang with its roots in South Central Los Angeles. It has a known presence in the county, Kocher said. [continues 223 words]
Meth's Ominous Cloud Darkens Many Paths STUARTS DRAFT - After 20 years of steady methamphetamine use, Kevin Armstrong said he's had enough. He knows he has a problem. But he's more concerned about his neighbors. "Hey, we need some help around here," said the 1983 Riverheads High School grad. "There's a couple of generations in this Valley ready to be lost." Armstrong described himself as an "occasional user." He spends more than $100 per week on the purer, smokable form of methamphetamine known as crystal meth, or ice. He says he enjoys the drug. [continues 1009 words]
The four major localities in the greater Richmond area are being added to the federal Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, putting drug-fighting law enforcement here in line for hundreds of thousands of dollars. "This is terrific news for law enforcement in the Richmond area," said Paul J. McNulty, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "Interstate 95, the main north-south artery on the East Coast, runs through greater Richmond," he said. "It is a hub for moving drugs from Miami and Atlanta to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York." [continues 220 words]
A classic question of morals, ethics and philosophy: Would you rather be a righteous man in prison or an immoral man lavished with accolades and riches? This classic conundrum is quite evident today if you pay close attention. For example, a group of nuns travel to the terrorist-training School of Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., each year to protest and often get arrested. I would call those nuns righteous prisoners. Real life is most often less cut-and-dry than philosophy class and the moral decisions we make are often heavily colored by the many variables of our lives. [continues 884 words]
Testimony By Victims' Family Members Helps Lock Away A Scourge Of Gilpin Court Lance Jerome Harris didn't have a job. He didn't need one. "He supported himself off the streets of Gilpin Court, by selling drugs and robbing people," said Richmond police Lt. John Venuti. The 24-year-old man with dreadlocks was known to sell heroin and cocaine in the public housing community. He had a mean streak and a passion for violence that no one understood, authorities said. [continues 427 words]
Loudoun County and the cities of Falls Church and Manassas Park are the only jurisdictions in Northern Virginia that still offer the DARE program, after the Prince William County Police Department replaced the national initiative to dissuade students from using drugs and alcohol with its own curriculum. County police found that DARE, which stands for Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education, has an inflexible curriculum and no longer works with Prince William's changing demographics, said County Executive Craig S. Gerhart. What worked in 1987, when the county adopted the DARE program, does not fit with the proliferation of gangs and Internet crimes in recent years, he said. [continues 363 words]
What do you think? Today's students face problems in school their predecessors didn't. Drugs were an issue 1987 when police started the Drug Awareness Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E., program, but the Internet and the need for Internet safety were non-existent. Gangs had not made an appearance in public schools. To combat the new set of problems children face, the Prince William County Police Department has designed a new program to replace D.A.R.E. [continues 449 words]
After reading the articles concerning prescription drug abuse, I felt compelled to write. A close friend was addicted to prescription drugs. It amazes me how easily these drugs are obtained. They are easily obtained on the Internet. And, there are clinics in the Tri-Cities that prescribe them without any examination at all. What shocked me the most though, is that there is no help for people who want to get off these drugs. My friend went to several rehab facilities. One facility told him he didn't have a big enough problem for them to even give him outpatient care. Another facility told him he had to get off the drugs, then they would talk with him. That seems to be defeating the purpose. [continues 131 words]
Responding To The Ad, Republican Faults Foe's Record Against Drug Timothy M. Kaine, the Democratic nominee for governor, yesterday rolled out a radio commercial pelting Jerry W. Kilgore with his own words for opposing the state's latest crackdown on a highly addictive drug sweeping the Republican's home region. The advertisement -- on stations in far Southwest Virginia criticizes the former attorney general for resisting mandatory controls on the public's access to cold and allergy medicine used to manufacture methampethamine. The spot depicts Kilgore, who prefers voluntary restrictions, as captive to big donors in the drug industry. [continues 515 words]
The benefits of restricting cold remedy sales are worth the inconvenience. With illegal meth labs proliferating unabated in Western Virginia, Gov. Mark Warner last week sensibly did what state lawmakers this year failed to do: He signed an executive order requiring drug stores and other retailers to put over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines behind the counter and restricting the amount a person can buy in a 30-day period. The drugs contain ingredients used in making methamphetamine, a highly addictive scourge of a drug easily manufactured in home labs that themselves present a public danger because of their toxicity and volatility. [continues 257 words]
What happens here stays here. That was the message conveyed to 15-year-old Shebony Carrington by some people who read her heartfelt essay on life in Fairfield Court. To many Times-Dispatch readers, Shebony's description of life in the housing project in Richmond's East End was both tear-inducing and inspira tional for her ability to hold fast to dreams despite her bleak surroundings. She wrote about the drunks, the drug dealers and the people afraid to sit on their porches "because of the shooting and the crazy people around the neighborhood." [continues 476 words]
Police Replace DARE With Own Program The Prince William County Police Department is dropping its long-standing DARE program, a national initiative to dissuade students from using drugs and alcohol, and replacing it with its own curriculum. County police found that DARE, which stands for Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education, has an inflexible curriculum and no longer works with Prince William's changing demographics, County Executive Craig S. Gerhart said. What worked in 1987, when the county adopted the DARE program, does not fit with the proliferation of gangs and Internet crimes in recent years, he said. [continues 429 words]
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors will hear a presentation from the Prince William County police about a new program to teach children Internet safety and how to avoid gangs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco during the next board meeting on Tuesday afternoon. The Basic Elementary Addiction, Wellness & Abuse Resource Education, or "Be Aware" program will replace the Drug Awareness Resistance Education or D.A.R.E. program. The D.A.R.E. program, which started in 1987, does not allow the flexibility to meet the needs of individual schools or students, said County Executive Craig Gerhart. [continues 295 words]
In a survey conducted by the National Association of Counties earlier this summer, 58 percent of 500 law-enforcement agencies in 45 states cited methamphetamine as their most significant drug problem. Having spread from the West Coast across the country over the past decade, the highly addictive and easily produced stimulant has ravaged communities throughout the United States. In its wake, meth -- also known as "speed," "crank" or "crystal," -- has left a long trail of addicts, broken families and victims of violence. [continues 994 words]
I'm writing in response to a recent letter to the editor ["We should regulate and tax marijuana, as with alcohol," Aug. 24]. Kirk Muse suggests that we should "regulate, control, and tax the sale and production of marijuana and sell it in licensed business establishments like we do with tobacco." I have to disagree. Is there really an option of controlling the distribution of marijuana? I don't think I want my fellow teenagers driving under the influence of marijuana, as they do with alcohol. Putting an age limit on a drug or drink doesn't control youth from getting hold of it. [continues 65 words]
Most of us can't imagine taking dozens of cold and cough tablets or chugging a bottle of Robitussen just to get high. But for some teens, those over-the-counter medications are a cheap and easily accessible answer. Though the greater Lynchburg area is not seeing a rise in the abuse of over-the-counter medication by teens, the effects onthose who do use can be serious. A Campbell County teenager accused of committing two break-ins, a rape and a beating told authorities he had consumed Coricidin HBP, an over-the-counter cold medicine, during the nights of the incidents. [continues 895 words]
Not long ago, chronic pain patients trusted their doctors to prescribe the medicines they needed to live a normal, pain-free life. Attorneys general from 29 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico - -- but not Virginia -- say those days are now gone; that to protect themselves from federal agents, America's physicians are shortchanging their patients. In a letter sent to Washington earlier this year and signed by all 31 attorneys general, a solid case was laid out against the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. [continues 642 words]
I'm writing regarding a recent article ["Pot laws have failed us--and hurt Virginia," Aug. 14]. I've been buying beer and wine for more than 30 years. Yet I've never been offered a free sample of whiskey, gin, vodka, or any other type of hard liquor. However, when I was a marijuana user--more than 15 years ago--I was frequently offered free samples of much more dangerous drugs like cocaine and meth by my marijuana suppliers. (Back then, meth was called speed.) [continues 96 words]
How does one address a prince? According to Webster's Dictionary, a prince is a "nobleman of varying rank and status," and a nobleman is known to be "possessing, characterized by or arising from superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals." Superior rank, mind and morals? Now I'm really nervous. What will I say when I phone the "Prince of Pot?" Even though it was quite late, a very alert Marc Emery greeted me on the phone. After stumbling a little in the face of royalty, I haltingly asked where the name "Prince of Pot" came from. With a Gene Krupa rhythm, Marc ticked off the names Lamont, Bernard Shaw and Impact CNN, and explained how he took them around and showed them grow sites and Lamont nicknamed him "Prince of Pot." I figure from the way Emery answered this question he had been asked it a thousand times. [continues 772 words]
How does one address a prince? According to Webster's Dictionary, a prince is a "nobleman of varying rank and status," and a nobleman is known to be "possessing, characterized by or arising from superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals." Superior rank, mind and morals? Now I'm really nervous. What will I say when I phone the "Prince of Pot?" Even though it was quite late, a very alert Marc Emery greeted me on the phone. After stumbling a little in the face of royalty, I haltingly asked where the name "Prince of Pot" came from. With a Gene Krupa rhythm, Marc ticked off the names Lamont, Bernard Shaw and Impact CNN, and explained how he took them around and showed them grow sites and Lamont nicknamed him "Prince of Pot." I figure from the way Emery answered this question he had been asked it a thousand times. [continues 698 words]
Methamphetamine -- with its witch's brew of chemical ingredients, explosion-prone secret laboratories and highly-addictive nature -- steals the headlines. It is a scourge worth fighting, but it isn't the region's only drug problem. It isn't even the biggest one. That honor goes to a sneakier enemy: prescription drug abuse. As during the height of the OxyContin epidemic a few years ago, misused prescription narcotics still cause most of the region's overdose deaths and make up the bulk of drug-related criminal cases in many counties. [continues 358 words]
Sheriffs across the nation say the real drug problem is not marijuana, cocaine or heroin, says U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R, 10th district). It's the crystal substance, methamphetamine, dubbed years ago "poor man's cocaine," that has become the nation's No. 1 drug problem, a terrible epidemic that no one saw coming, Wolf said. Law enforcement officers nationwide are finding a huge trend of addicts and peddlers setting up makeshift labs in homes, motels, and even in the back of automobiles. The recipe of common ingredients such as cold medicine, iodine and battery acid is readily found on the Internet, police say. [continues 787 words]
Two Courtroom Security Officers Clamped The Wounds And Acted As Human Tourniquets A Pulaski man slashed his wrists in a federal courtroom in Roanoke on Wednesday morning after pleading guilty to drug charges, and officials say the blade he used was so small it could not be detected in a pat-down search. John Timothy Underwood, 38, had just pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine plus two counts of carrying a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime when he nonchalantly reached into the front pocket of his jail uniform and made a rubbing motion at each of his wrists, said supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal Ron Donelson. [continues 508 words]
ABINGDON -- With prescription drug abuse on the rise in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee, many say those trying to kick the habit don't have enough treatment options. About 20 community leaders and concerned residents with the newly formed Southwest Virginia Coalition for Change recently gathered at Virginia Highlands Community College to discuss how to deal with what they see as a burgeoning problem. "We have no inpatient treatment programs in the area," said Judy Mills, director of health services for the nonprofit group Occupational Enterprises Inc. "There's one detoxification center in Lebanon whose average stay is three days. That's not enough." [continues 372 words]
ABINGDON -- Michael Blackson remembers the long nights lying on the floor of his apartment. The nausea, body aches, muscle cramps and cold sweats took over his body and nearly drove him insane. In 1999, he'd finally had enough. "I said to myself, 'I can't take this anymore,' " he said. Blackson, 37, experienced firsthand the dangers of prescription drug abuse. He didn't take it seriously when he started abusing the drugs in the late 1980s, he said. Had Blackson not found treatment at a clinic five years ago, he probably would have died, he said. [continues 439 words]
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Mark Holmberg's column, "Don't Despair: There's a Way to Rid Yourself of Addiction," notes that it's "a shame-based illness," and the McShin Foundation is "push[ing] to ease the stigma of addiction." Possession of a Schedule One or Two substance is a felony in Virginia. Those convicted lose their right to vote -- for life. That truly is a stigma. Our laws are supporting the disease, not the cure. As a top cause of the shame associated with the disease of addiction, our laws ensure lifetime stigma for addicts. Holmberg says that no other medical condition "has caused as much devastation to our families, our city, our state, or our country." Maybe its because that's the only malady we choose to treat with police force and prison. Lennice Werth Crewe [end]
MARION - Both sides of the methadone clinic argument were presented Tuesday during a state-sponsored public hearing held to gather information on draft emergency regulations for opiate treatment in Virginia. Exactly eight individuals, including four members of local and state government, signed up and approached the lectern inside the Marion Best Western to speak about possible changes to the future licensure and procedures dealing with the dispensing of legal methadone to patients. The Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services was directed by the General Assembly to hold the hearings before any new licenses were issued to prospective methadone clinic providers. [continues 609 words]
Federal Anti-Marijuana Policies Have Failed--And Cost Virginia A Bundle Virginians spend about $99 million each year to enforce state and local marijuana laws. What are these taxpayers getting for their money? Not much, according to a recent study. Jon B. Gettman, a senior fellow at George Mason University's School of Public Policy, prepared the study, titled "Crimes of Indiscretion: Marijuana Arrests in the United States," for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "Marijuana arrests," says Gettman, "are instruments of a supply-reduction policy." But, he adds, "The doubling of marijuana arrests in the 1990s has produced the opposite of the intended effect in every major indicator. An increase in arrests should produce a reduction in use and the availability of marijuana. However, during the 1990s both use and availability of marijuana increased." [continues 528 words]
VIRGINIANS SPEND about $99 million each year to enforce state and local marijuana laws. What are these taxpayers getting for their money? Not much, according to a recent study. Jon B. Gettman, a senior fellow at George Mason University's School of Public Policy, prepared the study, titled "Crimes of Indiscretion: Marijuana Arrests in the United States," for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "Marijuana arrests," says Gettman, "are instruments of a supply-reduction policy." But, he adds, "The doubling of marijuana arrests in the 1990s has produced the opposite of the intended effect in every major indicator. An increase in arrests should produce a reduction in use and the availability of marijuana. However, during the 1990s both use and availability of marijuana increased." [continues 531 words]
Virginians spend about $99 million each year to enforce state and local marijuana laws. What are taxpayers getting for their money? Not much, according to a recent study. Jon B. Gettman, a senior fellow at George Mason University's School of Public Policy, prepared the study, titled "Crimes of Indiscretion: Marijuana Arrests in the United States," for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "Marijuana arrests," says Gettman, "are instruments of a supply-reduction policy. But, he adds, "The doubling of marijuana arrests in the 1990s has produced the opposite of the intended effect in every major indicator. An increase in arrests should produce a reduction in use and the availability of marijuana. However, during the 1990s both use and availability of marijuana increased." [continues 506 words]
Showtime Show Not All (If Any) Hugs & Kisses What is love? asks Showtime's new "Weeds" repeatedly and with a caustic sense of humor that won't appeal to everyone. Is it the mom who, after the sudden death of her husband, becomes a drug dealer to keep her family in the middle-class lifestyle it's accustomed to? Or is it the mom who constantly nags her preteen daughter to lose weight because the world doesn't like chubby women? [continues 708 words]
Children are blessed with unlimited potential. Unfortunately, every year, hundreds of youth destroy their goals and dreams by using illegal drugs and engaging in violence and destructive behavior. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in Stafford County provides fifth-grade students with the tools they need to effectively resist the pressure to use tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. Students also form strong friendships with people who will act as their network of support as they navigate the challenging adolescent years. A highlight for Stafford County students is D.A.R.E. Day. On June 1, a couple of thousand students and hundreds of parents and teachers descended on Pratt Park for the fourth annual event. [continues 142 words]
SUFFOLK -- When T.C. Williams drives through his downtown neighborhood, he stares straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with anyone on the street. After dark, the 85-year-old peanut city native won't venture down the road alone -- for good reason. As of last month, Suffolk police had responded to 85 shootings and assaults in the 2-square-mile downtown. That's almost as many as the total in 2003, when there were 97 incidents . In 2004, there were 129. [continues 1546 words]
Over the speed-humps of Prospect Avenue, the hard-working locals will march in what they believe is the first step to taking their neighborhood back from drug dealers and delinquents. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, city officials and police will join members of the area's neighborhood association in marching through the Orangedale subdivision. "We want to say that enough is enough. We don't want to live under siege anymore," said the Rev. Eddie Howard, a resident and community organizer. "We're out to tell the drug dealers and thugs to leave us alone." [continues 508 words]
Listen. A fan blows inside the evidence vault at the Department of Forensic Science, aerating the undeniable smell of marijuana that lingers in the air. There are endless possibilities as to what else is inside the vault in the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park. The large room contains virtually every piece of evidence collected from crimes in the central part of the state: shotguns, broken windowpanes, auto parts, upholstery, grocery bags and buckets full of pot. In laboratories upstairs, forensic scientists scrutinize narcotics, run blood tests from drunken-driving cases and analyze DNA evidence from possible rapes. [continues 802 words]
The human brain is an amazing device. Each day our brain takes in massive amounts of information through our ears and eyes, our sense of smell and our sense of touch. But what about our sense of pain? Under normal circumstances people don't give much thought to pain but the sensation is very important. Without pain you might walk on sand hot enough to fry an egg without noticing. In this way it is a blessing to feel pain. Pain helps prevent injury. [continues 1284 words]
BRISTOL, Va. Cindy Laxson quit using methamphetamine nearly a year ago, but she still struggles with her addiction every day. "Tomorrow, I'll have been clean 11 months," she told members of the Rotary Club on Tuesday. "It took me losing absolutely everything I loved and everything I had." Laxson came home last year to Tannersville, a small farming community on the Tazewell-Smyth County line, after years of meth abuse in Arkansas and Missouri, states where suspected meth labs numbered in the thousands. [continues 247 words]
The prevalence of "meth mouth" is mirroring the rise in methamphetamine use. Patrick County Sheriff David Hubbard said that county spent "probably thousands of dollars" last year to pay for dental care for inmates suspected or accused of meth use. The dental damage caused by meth runs the gamut, from dry mouth to tooth decay, cracked teeth and gum disease, according to a Web site. identify it That occurs in part because the drug is corrosive, containing things such as lithium, acids, ether and red dye. [continues 941 words]
NEW YORK -- Though state governments are no longer fueling a private prison boom, the industry's major companies are upbeat -- thanks in large measure to a surge of business from federal agencies seeking to house fast-rising numbers of criminals and detained aliens. Since 2000, the number of federal inmates in private facilities -- prisons and halfway houses -- has increased by two-thirds to more than 24,000. Thousands more detainees not convicted of crimes are confined in for-profit facilities, which now hold roughly 14 percent of all federal prisoners, compared to less than 6 percent of state inmates. [continues 820 words]
College students with past drug convictions could receive financial aid, under a change proposed in Congress. But students who have a drug conviction while in college would no longer be eligible, according to a statement from Students for a Sensible Drug Policy. The bill, the College Access and Opportunity Act of 2005, next goes to the full House for a vote before it can move to the U.S. Senate. In January, the congressionally-created Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance recommended that drug convictions were not relevant to aid eligibility. [continues 68 words]
Dubbed an "armed career criminal," a Greene County man charged with growing marijuana in Shenandoah National Park has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for possessing drugs and a firearm. Lawyers for Edison P. Crawford are appealing the sentence, arguing in a motion filed Monday that the penalty is a violation of their client's Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The Bacon Hollow resident remains free on bond pending the outcome of his appeal. After a yearlong investigation, federal authorities charged Crawford in November 2002 with harvesting $66,400 worth of marijuana in Shenandoah National Park. He pleaded guilty to possessing marijuana and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon in a June 2003 plea bargain with federal prosecutors. [continues 335 words]
Washington -- Methamphetamine has made its way into Virginia. The illicit drug, which is easily and cheaply produced by consumer products, has spread quickly and created a national crisis. In a survey by the National Associa-tion of Counties released this month, 58 percent of the 500 law-enforcement agencies sur-veyed in 45 states cited meth as their greatest drug problem, easily sur-passing all other drugs. According to the highly respected National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2003 meth lured 12.3 million Americans aged 12 and older to try it. As former U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey has said, "Methamphetamine is one of the worst drug menaces ever to threaten America, associated with paranoia, stroke, heart attack, and permanent brain damage, leaving a trail of crime and death." [continues 636 words]
For the past year, our community has received reports of an increase in illicit drug use, both of "home-brewed" methamphetamines and abuse of prescription pain killers. Crime has increased dramatically due to the desparation of our addicted residents. Our jails are overcrowded and repeat offenders are a large percentage of the jail population. Incarceration does not seem to be working as a deterrent to drug abuse. Addiction is a physical illness as well as a social, spiritual and psychological problem. Jail doesn't treat cancer or diabetes, so it would not make sense to expect the jail system to treat addiction. Drug courts, which include mandated treatment, have much better numbers regarding repeat offenders, that is, far fewer. The science behind addiction treatment has come a long way in the past 10 years due to the research that has been done regarding the chemistry of the brain. [continues 67 words]
Prince William County isn't quite surrounded yet, but the threat of methamphetamine is headed east and officials are alert for signs of the drug and the dangerous labs that produce it. "It'll be the next drug trend we have to deal with," said Maj. Ray Colgan, Prince William police. Last year, law enforcement officials in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia busted 1,060 labs that produce the highly addictive, speed-like drug that can cause violent behavior, anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, malnutrition, psychosis and irreversible brain damage. [continues 716 words]
Panel Is Expected To Advance The Repeal Of A Law Preventing Drug Offenders From Borrowing James Johnson's three convictions for possession of crack cocaine and marijuana disqualify him for a taxpayer-backed student loan under federal law. But Johnson, 27, insists his drug days are behind him and he desperately needs a loan to pay for his education at the community college near his home in Ruffin, N.C. His dream now is to be a filmmaker. "It's not fair," he said. "Some of us are honestly trying to get our lives together, and we need financial help. Past is past. You should be able to put your past behind you and move on." [continues 290 words]
Some say the secret of life is to find what you love to do and do it as long as possible. I believe the center of all seen and unseen, the entity many call god, places a burning in your heart and if you clear away enough of the distractions from your mind you will see clearly what it is exactly that you are meant to do. The thing that will fill your heart with love and joy and peace from a job well done. Sometimes it may be nothing more than sitting on the porch petting your cat while enjoying a beautiful sunset. For some, when the air is still and the hustle and bustle of school or work subsides for a moment, the sound of despair fills their ears and becomes a call to action. I believe all living things are somehow connected and that true peace cannot coexist with blatant suffering but rather it is through the quest of reducing suffering that peace can be attained. There is something very human about the urge to ease another's suffering. The forces that oppose suffering are legion and do great things. Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, The Salvation Army, The Red Cross and others have millions upon millions of members and spend their time working to improve the human condition. [continues 1201 words]
Part Two Of A Five-Part Series Amateur chemists cook methamphetamine in home labs, mobile labs, and temporary outdoor labs at campgrounds or in remote, unpopulated areas. Law enforcement officers found Smyth County's first lab in Sugar Grove during the late 1990s. Since then, police have turned up local labs in apartments, vehicles, mobile homes, garages, basements and outdoor settings. Cooks in other states have become highly creative in an effort to hide their labs. A Kentucky cook made meth in a cave; in California, a meth maker buried a school bus to use as a lab, with an access built under the doghouse. [continues 2166 words]
Inside Virginia
