Judge D. Michael "Mickey" Foellger's outburst last week, while not what we normally expect of judicial decorum, is understandable. Who wouldn't be frustrated? The Campbell County district judge was upset with a drug case that authorities were trying to make. The case turned on accusations that a man with known drug problems had gotten two dentists to prescribe painkillers for him. Painkillers are a widely abused drug. But there were a couple of twists in this case. First, the accused man was a jail inmate at the time of the offense. Allowed to leave jail for work, the man had been given permission to go a dentist at University Hospital in Cincinnati where he got a prescription for painkillers. But the next day, the man went to a second dentist where he got a tooth pulled and a second prescription for painkillers. And that dentist visit was without the jail's permission. [continues 340 words]
While it has some merit, Vicente Fox's proposed open border between Mexico and the United States also raises a number of difficult questions, and is unlikely to become a reality anytime soon. But another of his ideas - ending the U.S. drug certification program - - is right on target and should win the support of everyone the Mexican president-elect visits with on his U.S. visit, including President Clinton, Vice President Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Under this statutory program, the United States can restrict trade and take other punitive measures if our govern ment concludes that certain foreign governments are failing to do enough to curtail the smuggling of drugs. The program accomplishes nothing, of course. It is also an arrogant slap in the face of affected countries. [continues 133 words]
An incensed Campbell County judge on Thursday threw out a felony case against a man accused of getting two dentists to prescribe painkillers for him, saying the detective who filed the charge must have bigger fish to fry. District Judge D. Michael ''Mickey'' Foellger also criticized the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force detective for using valuable time to question the dentists who gave Kelly Snow, 28, of Covington, prescriptions for pain medication when he complained of a toothache. ''I really hope that the narcotics unit of Northern Kentucky has got better things to do than start snooping around the people who go to the dentist twice,'' Foellger said during a hearing on the case. [continues 547 words]
LONDON - Concealed bamboo stakes surrounded one pot crop. A board full of steel spikes capable of piercing a pair of hard-soled boots protected another. But few growers could match the ingeniousness of the grower who used copperhead snakes enclosed in concealed mesh to stand guard over his plants. The mesh was rigged in such a way that it would be sliced open - and the snakes set free - should anyone attempt to harvest the marijuana. When state troopers found the illegal patch in the Eastern Kentucky mountains and tried to cut it down, they released the venomous sentries. One trooper was bitten and nearly lost his hand from the poison. [continues 1010 words]
It's never too early to start educating your children about the dangers and effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Consider these alarming facts: More 12- to 17-year-olds named drugs as the most important problem they face (more than social pressures, violence, and crime) for the fourth straight year. By age 13, half the nation's teens say they can buy marijuana; 43 percent say they can also buy acid, cocaine, or heroin. Marijuana use among teen-agers is on the rise. Adolescents ages 12 to 17 who use marijuana more than once weekly are nine times more likely than non-users to experiment with other illegal drugs and alcohol; six times more likely to run away from home; five times more likely to steal; nearly four times more likely to engage in violence; and three times more likely to have thoughts about committing suicide. [continues 360 words]
WASHINGTON - Here and in state capitals across America, there's a wave of anguish: What do we do about the 585,000 convicts who will come out of federal and state prisons this year? And who'll keep coming out in huge numbers each year, as far down the road as we can see? The easy political formula since the '70s has been to lock up wrongdoers, generally with set sentences so no softheaded judge or parole board could set them free prematurely. Rehabilitation was dismissed as worthless, drug treatment pitifully underfunded. [continues 561 words]
EAST BERNSTADT - When Mike Roution's paycheck from Pizza Hut couldn't support his lifestyle, he moved his marijuana growing operation inside. The pot he cultivated in his Taylor County attic was soon netting $165,000 every three months. He had a wallet full of cash and a way to support his cocaine habit. "Then, it was the best feeling," Roution said matter-of-factly in an interview from inside the Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange while wearing a "Dad" T-shirt from his 13-year-old daughter. [continues 1136 words]
Much is different about Covington and Fort Thomas. One is urban; the other suburban. There are different income levels, different problems. But one big problem is shared. In fact, this problem is shared to one degree or another throughout Northern Kentucky communities large and small. The problem is drug and alcohol use among school-aged children. Surveys - one recently in the Covington School District and one a couple of years ago in the Fort Thomas School District - bear that out. Both show that, despite all of the efforts to ''say no to drugs'' particularly aimed at younger children, as students move up from grade to grade, more and more use illegal drugs and more and more drink alcohol. [continues 250 words]
With another year on the books of destroying more than $1 billion worth of marijuana, Kentucky State Police say they are making inroads into controlling the state's largest illegal cash crop. The Governor's Marijuana Task Force will start gearing up in May for its annual outdoor marijuana eradication effort. State police report seizing 516,890 outdoor plants in 1999, worth an estimated $1.3 billion, from Kentucky farms, hillsides, forests and yards. The new figures place the 1999 tally slightly ahead of the 1998 tally of 439,080 plants, worth an estimated $1.1 billion. [continues 712 words]
FRANKFORT - Instead of letting farmers leap into hemp production, the Kentucky House has voted to take a small step toward reintroducing a one-time agricultural mainstay. The House passed a bill Wednesday to let hemp be grown for university research, provided federal drug regulators consent. The research would assess hemp's economic potential for farmers reeling from declines in tobacco quotas. "We will know in two years if we have a viable product or not," Democratic Rep. Tom McKee of Cynthiana, a Harrison County farmer, said in a floor debate. [continues 447 words]
Attorney questions stepson's word A Covington drug case may hinge on whether authorities can search a parent's apartment based on what his young stepson said during an interview at his elementary school. Narcotics squad agents said the child told them his stepfather was dealing drugs from their apartment on 12th Street, according to a search warrant. No mention of the child was made during a brief hearing Thursday in Kenton District Court. Instead, Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force Agent Jacob Noe testified that it was a reliable, confidential informant who gave them information about Kelvin "Cheezy" Wallers. [continues 378 words]
Arms flailing and voice raised, Gatewood Galbraith sounded more like a preacher than a candidate for governor as he railed on about one of his favorite subjects: the shortcomings of the Democratic and Republican parties. ''Both of the major parties have abandoned the people and the principles that made them great,'' said Galbraith, the Reform Party candidate for governor. ''Hear, hear,'' came the reply from the front row. The reaction is the same everywhere he goes, Galbraith said. From the coalfields of Eastern Kentucky to the union halls of Northern Kentucky, where he spoke to a group of steel workers on Wednesday, people tell him they are fed up with politics as usual and are ready for a change. [continues 700 words]
