Becky Harmon of Marietta has long warned her teenage son, Joseph, about the insidious nature of drugs and alcohol: "They can ravage your body; kill your dreams," she's told him.

Joseph, now 14, recently fired back with the question parents know is coming but hope to avoid: "Mom, have you ever done drugs?"

And suddenly, Harmon, a 44-year-old life coach who leads classes coined "Success -- Not Sabotage," was forced to grapple with a slice of personal history from her college days that threatened to sabotage her moral standing.

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Brunswick County (N.C.) Sheriff Ronald Hewett called the narcotics officer who was recently shot a "rising star" and said he was part of an elite group at the sheriff's department.

Brunswick County narcotics officer Stephen Lanier, 22, was shot Friday night in an exchange of gunfire with suspects during an attempted drug search and seizure at a house in Winnabow, N.C.

"We walk by Stephen's desk every day," Hewett said. "We feel a void and a vacancy."

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