The sheer audacity of the Alexander School Board disregarding the wishes of the people they are elected to represent is a national disgrace. These are the kinds of people no one wants to be in power, and the question is no longer whether there should be drug testing of students -- there shouldn't -- but whether or not some of the school board members need to be removed from office via the impeachment process. The only tools given to voters to deal with such outright incompetence and dereliction of duty is the right to vote and the right to impeach elected officials who willfully disrespect and disregard the wishes of the majority of voters who elected them. Democracy and freedom have no meaning if elected officials are allowed to ignore the people who elected them. This cannot be tolerated in America. Impeach them! The Rev. Jim White Oregon, Ohio [end]
My daughter graduated from Alexander High School last year. She was an excellent student and continues to be in college. I found myself thinking, what I would do if she were still at Alex, playing volleyball, driving her car and being subjected to drug testing?I went from zero to furious in about two seconds. What I know from previous experiences with Alexander High School is that it is NOT a supportive atmosphere for students. Stupid adolescent mistakes, not unlike the ones we all made at that age, are blown out of proportion. Instead of reacting in a collaborative process with parents to teach students about making better choices, the reactions have often been punitive. [continues 306 words]
In recent weeks, the generally peaceful countryside of Athens County has endured galvanizing debates addressing the legitimacy and necessity of drug testing within Alexander Local School District. In fact, not since the opening of Petland have I seen so many people so upset about a single issue. The Alexander Local School Board, possibly sealing its collective fate in the next election cycle, adopted a policy that requires students who engage in athletics or cheerleading, or who drive to school, to undergo urine testing for recreational drug use - i.e. marijuana and alcohol. [continues 617 words]
The opinion on Alexander Local School District's new drug-testing policy was running about 10 to one against at a meeting of the school board last Thursday night. Some 20 people spoke out against the policy, often vehemently, in a public-comment portion of the meeting that went on for two heated hours. When the board finally cut off public comment, it was over the complaints of many in the audience of around 50 people, who continued to shout remarks and wave their hands in the air to be recognized. [continues 1205 words]
Alexander School Board chair David Kasler's support for Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) is misguided. Good intentions are no substitute for effective anti-drug education. Every independent, methodologically sound evaluation of DARE has found the program to be ineffective or counterproductive. The scare tactics used do more harm than good. Students who realize they've been lied to about marijuana often make the mistake of assuming that harder drugs like methamphetamine are relatively harmless as well. This is a recipe for disaster. [continues 137 words]
Over the past several weeks I have read several articles opposing the drug testing of student athletes and student drivers at the Alexander School District. I cannot contribute any new argument opposing the drug testing because each argument was constructively written. It is clear that the four board members who favor the drug testing are not interested in the opinion of Alexander parents. What I can do is encourage each parent to talk with their son or daughter regarding The Constitution and civil liberties. I understand it may be difficult for younger children to fully comprehend what it means to protect his/her privacy -- after all, our board members do not understand the concept -- but it is important for children to realize they do have rights regardless of their age. [continues 158 words]
The Alexander School Board recently passed a mandatory drug-testing policy for all students in the middle and high school who participate in athletics or cheerleading, or who obtain permits to park on school property. It may come as a surprise to many parents and community members to hear that the voting on this controversial issue is complete and that this is now an official policy of our district. The policy can be viewed on the Alexander Web site at www.alexanderschools.org. [continues 449 words]
As a member of the Alexander Local School Board, and a parent of three children being educated in the district, I feel compelled to defend the decisions of the board and address comments made in recent published articles regarding the adoption of a drug-testing policy in our district. Although I am a current member of the Alexander Local School Board, it would be improper to portray that my opinions regarding these issues represent the feeling of the entire board. I do, however, have the right to explain my personal opinions as a member of the board and a parent. [continues 1063 words]
We hire or elect administrators like boards of education to carry out those things that we know need to be done, those day-to-day, month-to-month things that keep the school system functioning. We give them responsibility for such routine things as teacher salaries, bus routes and furnishings for renovated classrooms, and then rely upon them to use their best discretion and their wisdom and get the job done. They usually do it. With so much to do to keep a household and job going, most of us do not take the time to show up at regular board meetings and give the board suggestions and feedback. [continues 912 words]
I appreciated the letter published in your paper on June 29 by Robert Wiley, who was able to express many of the same thoughts and concerns that I share about the Alexander School Board's 4-1 vote at their June meeting to implement a random urine drug-testing policy for students wishing to participate in extracurricular sports or who wish to obtain a school parking permit. Briefly, those concerns include: 1) Urine tests are a violation of personal privacy and thus a violation of the Fourth Amendment of our Constitution. 2) The possibility exists of obtaining false-positive urine test results. If this occurs, an innocent student's future in sports and driving privileges would be jeopardized, and he or she would suffer untold stress and mental anguish as well. 3.) The policy seems to indicate that the cost of these tests will be the responsibility of the persons wishing to obtain parking permits and possibly of those wishing to participate in extracurricular sports/cheerleading. [continues 279 words]
Drug testing in the schools is a bad idea, and here's why. The usual form - -- testing athletes, cheerleaders and other extracurricular participants -- invades the privacy of innocent youngsters, in order to find the small minority who are using. In most high schools, including Alexander in western Athens County, the drug problem, while a concern, doesn't warrant taking this extreme action. Drug and alcohol abusers generally exhibit behaviors that can be detected and punished without police-state tactics reminiscent of George Orwell's "1984." [continues 581 words]
I was shocked and awed by the June 24, Messenger front-page news about the 4-to-1 vote passage of a compulsory urine drug testing policy by Alexander School Board. Perhaps I should have known about the school boards intent to provide a real-time civics lesson and to raise new interest in such classics as "1984", "Animal Farm" and "Lord of the Flies", by quietly abrogating the 4th Amendment Constitutional rights of its middle school and high school students. [continues 1113 words]
Drug and alcohol testing may be coming soon to Alexander High School, but it already has been a way of life at the Nelsonville-York City School District for the last two years. The Alexander Local School Board is expected to vote at its meeting next month on a new policy to test Alexander High School students for drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Dave Kasler, president of the Alexander Local School Board, said Wednesday that students in athletics and all students who drive to school will be subjected to mandatory and random testing if the policy is approved. [continues 1478 words]
The Alexander Local School District is moving forward on a new student drug-testing policy. The proposed policy calls for testing for all athletes and cheerleaders, as well as all students who drive to school, said school Supt. Bob Bray. The board held its first reading on the issue at the Thursday meeting, and it will be up for a vote at the next board meeting. "This would be a first for Alexander," Bray acknowledged. If the drug-testing policy is approved, student athletes will be tested because they represent the school and because the district does not want them to be hurt while they're involved in practices or games, Bray said. [continues 261 words]
In his letter of March 10, Steven Mette missed some important points. The first is that drugged driving is a separate offense from merely using marijuana. In the United States, we require that people actually be guilty of the specific crime for which they are charged -- not some other crime. The fact that they may have used marijuana at some point in the past -- while it may be illegal -- isn't proof that someone is currently driving while intoxicated. The second comes when he asserts that, if someone was pulled over and some blood was drawn, then they were probably doing something else wrong. Well, they may have been doing something else wrong, but if they were, doesn't it make a whole lot more sense to prosecute them for what they actually did, rather than some factually unsupportable assertion that they were driving while drugged? [continues 55 words]
Steven Mett's smug defense of Ohio's drugged-driving law, "Critic of Drugged-Driving Law Forgets That Smoking Pot Remains Illegal,"(Athens NEWS, March 10) neglects the fact that mandatory drug testing is a direct attack on the Bill of Rights. The right to be left alone is, in the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, "the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." The right to privacy is an implicit guarantee of the Constitution; yet it's the right most often ignored by government officials. [continues 136 words]
Mr. Mette ("Critic of Drugged-Driving Law Forgets That Smoking Pot Remains Illegal," The NEWS, March 10) misses the point entirely. The stated purpose of the bill is to punish people for driving while impaired, not for smoking pot. However, the way that the bill is written ensures that you will be punished regardless of whether or not you were impaired at the time if you have even trace amounts of a metabolite in your system. This is an abuse of the law. [continues 177 words]
This letter is in response to the March 7 Reader's Forum article "Drugged-Driving Legislation a Misleading and Unfair Tactic to Go After Ohio Pot Users." The argument made in Mr. Armentano's opinion piece is well thought out and clearly stated; however, he missed one major point. Unless I have been under a rock for the past few years, I'm fairly sure marijuana is still a controlled substance, and unless I'm mistaken again, that means it's illegal to use, possess or distribute. Ergo, it shouldn't matter how long it stays in your system or if it produces metabolites that stay in your urine for days; it's still illegal to use. [continues 177 words]
Imagine it was against the law to drive home after consuming a single glass of wine at dinner. Now imagine it was against the law to do so after having consumed a single glass of wine two weeks ago. Sound absurd? No more so than a proposal weaving its way through the Ohio Legislature that makes it a criminal offense for anyone to operate a motor vehicle if trace levels of marijuana or non-psychoactive marijuana metabolites (compounds produced from the chemical changes of a drug in the body) are present in their blood or urine. [continues 547 words]
On Jan. 6, a soldier from Afghanistan's nascent national army was killed, along with two assailants, when troops were sent in to eradicate an opium field in Uruzgan province. The central government of President Hamid Karzai recognizes that these could prove the opening shots of a new opium war. A month earlier, on Dec. 11, Karzai's finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, published an op-ed piece in The New York Times, "Where Democracy's Greatest Enemy Is a Flower," pleading for international support for crop-substitution programs. Opium is the key to power for Afghanistan's warlords, who still control much of the country. [continues 765 words]
Regarding "Lawmakers Aiming for Zero Tolerance of Pot Smoking" (The NEWS, May 5): If a person is found guilty under the Drug Impaired Driving Enforcement Act, then shouldn't that person have committed that crime? Traces of marijuana metabolites can be found in a person's body weeks after he or she used marijuana. Its consumers can be charged with driving impaired, under the influence of drugs, with an intoxication level of zero and while not impaired or endangering anyone in any way. A person who has come in contact with second-hand smoke may also test positive and be charged with a crime they didn't commit. Impaired driving is a very serious offense. If a person is convicted of this crime, then they should be guilty of this crime. [continues 117 words]
As the federal government continues to prod states into passing or improving their Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) laws, or potentially face significant hits to future federal financing for highways, Ohio marijuana activists are asking how many more teeth will the law have? An enhanced drug-driving law for Ohio, marijuana activists concede, is a certainty for the near future. Two federal bills "encouraging" states to crack down on drug driving are currently being floated on Capitol Hill. One bill, introduced earlier this month in Cincinnati by Hope Taft and U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, encourages states to adopt a "zero-tolerance" blood-level measure to combat drugged driving while also securing funding to fight the war on drugs. In comparison, alcohol has .08 blood-level requirement for adults' arrest in nearly every state. That level equates to several beers or drinks over two to four hours for a normal-sized person. [continues 1446 words]
An Ohio University administrator who was charged last fall with cocaine possession has been allowed to take treatment in lieu of conviction. Richard Harrison, 43, is OU's assistant dean for student affairs development. He was arrested uptown by Athens Police for public intoxication last September, a day after his birthday. When Harrison was taken to the jail in Nelsonville, officers found less than a gram of cocaine in a bag in his shoe. The cocaine possession charge is a fifth-degree felony, the lowest level of felony. [continues 225 words]
It's hard to believe it's been nearly two years since state Rep. Kenneth Carano promised a group of medical cannabis patients that he would introduce a compassionate-use bill in Ohio. Though it's not uncommon for politicians to promise one thing and then do absolutely nothing, generally people don't suffer too much when that happens. But when the people are sick, and dying, and the only relief they get is from an outlawed herbal medicine, waiting too long can mean death, or worse than death, a living agonizing hell of constant never-ending pain and suffering. [continues 129 words]
The two Democratic candidates for Athens County Sheriff have different views on how they can best serve the county, and what the sheriff should do to protect the people. Incumbent Vern Castle is squaring off against challenger Glenn Burchfield in the March 2 Democratic primary. The winner will face Republican former sheriff David Redecker and possibly independent Pat Kelly, though Kelly has not announced yet if he is running for sheriff. Burchfield has been running his campaign on the idea of running the sheriff's office with a no-nonsense approach, being more pro-active than Castle, and making more of an effort to stop drug crimes in the county. [continues 849 words]
I am extremely disappointed and even outraged with the ineffectiveness of our drug policies. Drug dealers are having a field day, and addicts are suffering. Nobody wants to be an addict; the problem is they are addicted. Did they realize the extent of their fate before they became addicted? Probably not, or they wouldn't be an addict. Addiction is a horrible thing, and those who suffer from it need medical treatment. But we don't have enough money to give it to them because it costs too much to house them in our prisons, where, as I understand it, drugs also reside. They are everywhere; our communities and our kids are not safe from them. The only happy camper is the dealer. [continues 211 words]
Regarding "Prospects Don't Look Good For Medical Marijuana Statute" (The NEWS, Oct 16): Medical science shows that marijuana is beneficial to a number of very serious illnesses. It is only harming Americans by banning the plant. We cannot advance our education without it. We cannot fight illness without education. And, it is just plain cruel to force law-abiding Americans who are sick to break the law to get a treatment that has been proven beneficial to their ailments. Poll after poll shows depriving the sick of marijuana is not the desired choice of Americans. So, who is representing Americans? Depriving the sick is the choice of some politicians, and it's time for each and every one of them to be held accountable. Medical marijuana will become an accepted part of our society. And Ohio does not deserve to be "a long way" from legislation that benefits all mankind. Sandy Cote, co-founder Toledo [end]
Special Agent Scott Duff of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation will present "Identifying Methamphetamine Users and Meth Labs" next Monday at the Athens County Children Services building. "Methamphetamine production and its use is a terrible problem that threatens children and entire neighborhoods, not just the individual creator or abuser," Children Services Director Scott Ferris said in a news release. "I'm glad we can provide this free training, as it promises to be a tremendous help in the battle for a safe, clean and drug-free community." [continues 135 words]
What do you get with a Republican-dominated Statehouse, a governor's office with the usual slant against illegal drug use, and a proposal for a medicinal marijuana law? Maybe, just maybe, a marijuana pill, or even a spray. But a big "maybe" at that. Currently, Ohio medicinal marijuana proponents are ironing out some confusion within a bill they've been drafting for more than a year now. But as the time nears to present what they're calling the Ohio Medicinal Marijuana Act to the floors of the Statehouse, even proponents grudgingly acknowledge the prospects don't look good. Ohio is still a long way from getting even a whiff of legislation allowing those who suffer from cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and a host of other ailments the choice to benefit from medicinal marijuana. [continues 1180 words]
Athens City Police are investigating a daring urine heist that took place sometime last Thursday night or Friday morning. According to an incident report, sometime between 9 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday, someone broke into the offices of the Ohio Adult Parole Authority on East State Street by forcing the door open. An office in the building was ransacked. According to Terry Minney, regional administrator for the parole agency, the intruder or intruders made off with 89 cups of urine. [continues 106 words]
I found the article regarding the Nelsonville York drug testing to be lacking in some information (The NEWS, Aug. 4). I would like to know how much per year will this drug testing program cost the school or the taxpayers. How are they funding the money to support this program? What is the name of the drug-testing company that they chose to use? If the child feels that there has been a mistake, can he or she demand a re-test on the spot? What 'drugs' are they testing for? [continues 85 words]
Nearly 100 high school and junior high students in Nelsonville-York District were tested last week for drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and more will be tested throughout the school year. But while school officials in Nelsonville are pleased with their new drug testing program, and are considering expanding it to include more students, there are no plans to do any drug testing in either the Alexander or Athens school districts. Carl Martin, superintendent of the Athens City School District, said last week that the school does not do any drug testing of students and the school board has not even discussed the issue. [continues 1270 words]
I'm writing in regards to a letter printed in your paper on June 16, "Legalize Pot and Avoid Bloodletting." The title says it all. People have been shot, killed and even suffered heart attacks during these "middle of the night," armed home invasions by agents in search of marijuana. Sometimes, tragedies have occurred even when agents accidentally barge into the wrong house. These guys do make mistakes. They're carrying some big guns and it's a scary job bursting into someone's private residence in the middle of the night. An average of 700,000 marijuana arrests per year puts a lot of lives at risk. Pot doesn't kill. There is no way to account for these deaths. But we can stop it from happening again. Sandy Cote, co-founder Ohio Marijuana Party Political Action Committee Toledo [end]
SWAT goons assault a domicile and kill the occupant. This is done in the middle of the night to maximize the TERROR. That is just what the war on drugs is, terrorism under color of authority, war crimes of an open culture war. I am sure that they all feel they are just following orders. How terribly un-American. And if history is any guide, when this war ends, they will all swing. All this for marijuana? Wise up America, LEGALIZE. Jay Bergstrom Sacramento, Calif. [end]
When 57-year-old Delbert Bonar, a retired school janitor from Washington County, was shot to death by sheriff's deputies during a drug raid at his home in October 1998, it stirred outrage among citizens not only in his area, but also in Athens County. At the time, many Athens County residents were concerned about a multi-county drug task force that some felt had been overzealous. So when citizens from Bonar's home of Belpre packed a public meeting two months after his death, the crowd contained some Athens Countians as well. [continues 671 words]
Walking through the Public Square of Nelsonville last week, I was struck in the head with a brick and knocked to the ground, fracturing my skull and giving me a concussion. The young white males next pounded my face with their fists before taking off into the dark with my wallet. Such violent crimes leave horrendous scars of many kinds, yet are far too low on police priority. Police seem to have been slow to investigate this severely damaging attack, while instead putting another citizen in jail for five days for being half an hour late to a parole meeting. Now, however, the Nelsonville Police do appear to be doing something. [continues 303 words]
If Ohio joins the growing number of states with compassionate-use medical marijuana laws, the state can expect staunch opposition from the federal government. By raiding California's voter-approved medical marijuana providers, the very same U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is forcing sick patients into the hands of street dealers. Federal marijuana laws apparently are more important than protecting the country from terrorism. Not only should medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but marijuana prohibition itself should be subjected to a cost-benefit analysis. Unfortunately, a review of marijuana legislation would open up a Pandora's box most politicians would just as soon avoid. America's marijuana laws are based on culture and xenophobia, not science. [continues 165 words]
In drafting the "Ohio Medical Marijuana Act 2002," the Ohio Patient Network utilized the experiences of other states that have passed compassionate use acts. We examined the problems that arose and observed how they were addressed by the states and various communities; we then incorporated all of the very best aspects into the OMMA 2002. Our intent is to provide for the compassionate use of marijuana when it has been determined by a physician to be an effective treatment for certain debilitating or terminal illnesses. In addition, we wanted to provide protection to medical professionals who may recommend marijuana to their patients, and provide law enforcement a means with which they could easily identify legitimate medical users and caregivers. (It should be noted that a recent report issued by the U.S. General Accounting Office found that medical marijuana laws had little effect on local law enforcement efforts.) [continues 247 words]
A month ago California took one step for cannabis, and in the view of Proposition 215 supporters, a step for mankind. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the federal government may not revoke the licenses of doctors who recommend marijuana to their patients, reported the New York Times. The court said that dispensing information is not synonymous with dispensing drugs, and by ruling that dispensing information was illegal, the government would be violating the First Amendment. [continues 510 words]
No definite date has yet been set for the first meeting of the new school year by Ohio University's Review and Standards Committee. The committee is in the midst of reviewing proposed amendments to OU's Student Code of Conduct, including a controversial stiffening of penalties for student possession of small amounts of marijuana. Contacted Sept. 20, Richard Carpinelli, OU assistant vice president for student affairs, reported that he expected the Review and Standards Committee to convene "sometime in the next several weeks," but had not yet scheduled the meeting. [continues 537 words]
Ken Kesey pulled him into the bathroom, grabbed a vile of pills from the medicine cabinet, and slapped one into his hand. "Take this," Ed McClanahan recalls Kesey telling him. "We're going to the movies." A little while later, as the two sat in the front row of an opening of "West Side Story," Kesey's pill, packed with mind-altering psilocybin, started taking effect. Decades later, McClanahan remembers not the story, but the vivid colors and the charged musical numbers. [continues 1071 words]
It seems to me that in a free country, adult citizens should be able to smoke, snort, swallow or inject any substance they want. Almost all of the problems associated with drugs are because the drugs are illegal. When pure Bayer heroin was legally sold in local pharmacies, the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist. Neither did drug lords or drug cartels. And deaths from recreational drugs were very rare because the drugs were of known quality, known potency and known purity. Drugs are not the problem: drug prohibition is the problem. Kirk Muse Mesa, Arizona [end]
The wife of Ohio Gov. Bob Taft was in Athens Friday to offer her congratulations to three people who have managed to turn their lives around with the help of a local "drug court." First Lady Hope Taft also used the occasion as an opportunity to inveigh against Issue 1, a proposed state constitutional amendment that would mandate treatment rather than jail for many first-time drug offenders. Taft said that if passed by voters in November, Issue 1 "would undermine the effectiveness of drug courts in Ohio." [continues 816 words]
What letter writer Scott Weaver supports has a different name in the historical texts (The NEWS, Aug. 15). Drug treatment is more readily recognized as forced religious conversion of morals. It is an ancient and honorable practice in Christian culture, and it is what Thomas Jefferson and the founding father sought to protect Americans from when church and state were separated. Today, moral cleanliness is next to godliness in the eyes of Americans who support drug prohibition. This policy of moral hygiene is readily comparable to the racial hygiene policy of Nazi Germany. [continues 344 words]
This letter is in response to Jim White's letter regarding the opposition of Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Corrections' (ODRC) director, Reginald Wilkinson, to the proposed amendment to Ohio's constitution (State Issue 1). Mr. White portrays this opposition as nothing more than Director Wilkinson playing bureaucratic "turfism" to protect his own. In reality the opposition goes far beyond this. Mr. White appears to have taken the bait from the amendment's proponents, ignoring and glossing over the very significant details contained within the proposed amendment. If more citizens were aware of these details, the majority would certainly be in opposition. [continues 783 words]
Letter writer Jim White (Ohio prisons chief opposes drug treatment for obvious reasons, Aug. 8) does an excellent job of reminding everyone of what George Orwell had to say, "The bought mind is a spoiled mind." Unfortunately Jim endorses a worse policy than prohibition. "Drug treatment" means psychotherapy. Psychotherapy means convincing "patients" to live their lives according to the moral views of the psychotherapist. The state ought not be in the "coercive treatment" business. Upon reflection, the Soviet Gulag and Mao's re-education camps were engaged in the same enterprise. The Soviets' psychiatrists considered you cured when capitalism was renounced for socialism. Does all this "coercive treatment" not sound eerily similar to what the Spanish Inquisition attempted in forcing religious conversion on Jews, witches and heretics? [continues 143 words]
Let me get this right. Reginald A. Wilkinson, director of the largest state employer, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, which employs one in four state employees, opposes an initiative that would provide drug treatment instead of prison time for first- and second-time non-violent drug offenders? Do we really expect a person whose job directly depends on prisoners to be in favor of something that might jeopardize his job as well as that of his co-workers? Mr. Wilkinson estimates that 75 to 85 percent of prisoners have drug problems. So, what if most of those prisoners were provided drug treatment the first or second time they were caught? Would the ODRC still account for 25 percent of the state work force? [continues 146 words]
The head of the prison system in Ohio painted a remarkably sunny picture of corrections in the state Monday when he spoke to the Athens Rotary. Reginald A. Wilkinson, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, told the group that his agency is the single largest in the state in terms of employment, accounting for one in four state employees. "That's not something we're proud of, but it just happens to be the fact," Wilkinson said. Ideally, he said, the ODRC's ultimate goal should be to make itself obsolete. [continues 686 words]
The Athens County Municipal Drug Court is definitely a step in the right direction, but an arrest should not be a necessary prerequisite for drug treatment. Would alcoholics seek help for their illness if doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Likewise, would putting every incorrigible alcoholic behind bars and saddling them with criminal records prove cost-effective? The United States recently earned the dubious distinction of having the highest incarceration rate in the world, with drug offenses accounting for the majority of federal incarcerations. This is big government at its worst. At an average cost of $25,071 per inmate annually, maintaining the world's largest prison system can hardly be considered fiscally conservative. [continues 144 words]
The Athens County Municipal Drug Court held a graduation ceremony Friday for clients who have successfully completed the program. Since the court accepted its first client in January 2001, it has graduated 10 clients. According to literature provided by drug court officials, the program has assessed 54 persons since its inception. Of these, 13 were found ineligible, eight declined to take part, eight started the program but were terminated, and 24 are still involved. The drug court, one of 50 such courts in counties across Ohio, is designed as an alternative to jail time for non-violent drug and alcohol offenders, such as drunk drivers. The program is meant to save the county incarceration expenses, but also to help clients turn their lives around and deal with their substance abuse problems. [continues 237 words]
