'Paid for with drug dealers' money' is a common theme for law enforcement agencies across the nation. From new helicopters to uniforms, agencies use money seized from drug busts to enhance their budgets. A StarNews analysis of federal drug seizure expenditure reports over the past five years in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender county sheriff's offices as well as the Wilmington Police Department found that the majority of the drug money is being spent to buy things normal budgets don't cover. [continues 1395 words]
Nearly 40 years after she was falsely accused of drug smuggling, you'd think Jane Fonda might have moved on. But it appears the veteran actress, 71, is still be holding a grudge against the Ohio policeman who arrested her several decades ago. Dining out with a friend at celebrity eaterie Mr Chow in Hollywood, the former fitness queen wore a T-shirt bearing her infamous police mugshot. Arresting style: Jane Fonda, picked up by customs officers in 1970 suspicious about vitamins she was carrying, at Mr Chow's in her unique T-shirt [continues 279 words]
Anonymous Tip Led to One of County's Largest Busts Pasquotank County sheriff's officials pulled up an estimated $3.6 million in marijuana plants Tuesday -- one of their largest illegal drug seizures in recent memory. Acting on an anonymous tip, Investigator William Williams and five other sheriff's officials seized 2,995 marijuana plants growing in a quarter-acre plot off Lynchs Corner Road in the Newland area. The law enforcement officials spent much of Tuesday pulling up the plants by the roots, he said. [continues 317 words]
In the past two weeks before this column went to press, at least 40 people were either killed or their bodies were found in Mexico. The dead include 12 federal agents, one mayor, one police officer and two anti-crime activists, one of whom was a U.S. citizen. In that same time span at least 112 police officers were detained for alleged corruption. Just to our south, some 11,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence over the past two and a half years. Decapitated bodies, mutilated victims, dead police officers and a country gripped with fear are all the result of our country's obscene drug policy. [continues 549 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- A drug deal plays out, California-style: A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on a weekday afternoon. Erick Alvaro hands over a white paper bag to his 58-year-old customer, who inspects the bag to ensure that everything he ordered over the phone is there. An eighth-ounce of organic marijuana buds for treating his seasonal allergies? Check. An eighth of a different pot strain for insomnia? Check. THC-infused lozenges and tea bags? Check and check, with a free herb-laced cookie thrown in as a thank-you gift. [continues 2449 words]
Far from being beaten into submission by government "crackdowns," Mexican drug cartels are becoming even more brassy. In El Paso, we tend to be focused on what's happening in Juarez, because it's close and what's happening there could have an effect on El Paso, particularly if the violence spills over the border. But there are cartel-related violence problems elsewhere in Mexico. Last week, in the west-central state of Michoacan, a man claiming to be Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, called CB Television. Gomez -- if it was Gomez -- heads up the La Familia cartel and on the air he offered a pact with the government. [continues 265 words]
