PICKENS - Employees of Pickens County schools will soon have to undergo random drug testing if the school board votes to follow the recommendation of its policy committee. The proposed policy could go to the board for approval at its Oct. 22 meeting. Plans to rewrite the district's drug policy were already in action before Saturday, when two employees were charged with multiple counts of distributing marijuana near a school. The employees were Kimberly Dawn Anthony, 43, and Daniel John Fahey, 48, Fahey resigned from his job as the district's school-to-work program coordinator, said John Eby, spokesman for the school district. Fahey was released from the Pickens County Detention Center Monday on $10,000 worth of surety bonds. Anthony, a computer keyboarding teacher at Gettys Middle School, was at the detention center Tuesday with bail set at $250,000. She is on suspension from the district. [continues 600 words]
Former state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel is back in the news, this time on the op-ed page as he writes in favor of the legalization of cocaine and marijuana. Readers might recall (unless they've been under a big old rock) that Ravenel spent 10 months in federal prison on a cocaine conspiracy charge and is still on probation for three years. (His defense at the time was that he was not buying cocaine to distribute but rather to "gift" his friends at parties at his home.) [continues 624 words]
TOCCOA, Ga. -- Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brian Rickman has called the investigation into the shooting death of the Rev. Jonathan Ayers fair and just. "There is no hesitation that the investigative process and the grand jury process was fair and that everybody involved, the GBI and this office, went to some very extraordinary lengths to get outside, independent input to the process to make sure that it was a fair one," Rickman said. "Reasonable people can disagree about the result, reasonable people can have differing opinions. However, I do not see how anybody could say the process was unfair based on the lengths that they went to." [continues 685 words]
Being famous has its downside. Just ask Michael Phelps. The young man who set Olympics swimming records with eight gold medals in Beijing last summer may feel his reputation is a little tarnished after some embarrassing photos showed up in a British tabloid. A few months after the Olympics, Phelps visited the University of South Carolina. A photograph from a party depicts him appearing to inhale from a marijuana pipe. Neither Phelps nor his representatives deny that the photo is genuine and Phelps has apologized to fans. [continues 548 words]
The average man who goes through a mid-life crisis buys a red car, one slung so low to the ground he has to date sweet young things because they are limber enough to sling themselves out. Thomas Ravenel apparently isn't your average man. When he went through what he told a reporter was his mid-life crisis, he turned to cocaine. The disgraced former South Carolina Treasurer only used a little, just every now and then, he says now, referring to himself as a "recreational user" in a published report in The State. [continues 548 words]
The 10th Judicial Circuit recently announced that efforts are underway toward the formation of a Drug Court for Anderson and Oconee counties. Once the court is operating, qualifying drug-related criminal cases will be handled there, officials said. "Drug Court is an opportunity for persons whose drug addiction has led to criminal behavior to change their lives and become productive members of the community," according the 10th Circuit Web site. 10th Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams said, "We are very excited about this addition to our judicial process in the 10th Circuit. The importance of a drug court is that it may keep an individual from going to jail for a drug-related crime, if there is any chance that they can become a productive citizen. This is especially important for juvenile offenders, who may now be offered an alternative to jail." [continues 396 words]
Thomas Ravenel, former state treasurer, is a perfect example of why illegal drugs will always be so plentiful in this country. He was busted with a pound of cocaine, and never spent one night in the detention center. He was allowed to go out of state for some "Hollywood" rehab. The police came to his defense right away by saying, "He wasn't intending on selling the drugs, it was just intended for him and his friends." Nicky Barnes , a black man in N.Y., was given life in prison for getting caught with half the cocaine this man had. [continues 174 words]
School Districts Have Ability To Censor Speech The Supreme Court of the United States extended the ability of school districts to censor the speech of high school students on Monday, and some Anderson-area students are concerned about what the ruling will mean for them. In 2002 Joseph Frederick, then an 18-year-old high school senior in Juneau, Ala., displayed a 14-foot banner that read "BONG HITS 4 JESUS" as the Olympic torch passed through his town. Mr. Frederick was suspended from school when he refused to take it down. [continues 396 words]
Meth Lab Bust -- Omen Of Future According to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office, recent arrests for methamphetamine production and trafficking are the future of Anderson County, not the past. "Methamphetamine is our No. 1 drug problem in the Upstate," said Mike Miller, director of the Anderson-Oconee Regional Forensics Laboratory. "Sixty-nine percent of my case load is methamphetamine .. We are the final East Coast version of every other state in the country." In his 11th year as a law enforcement officer, Mr. Miller said he has been at 572 clandestine meth lab busts, predominantly in Anderson and Oconee counties. Across the state, he said, Anderson ranks No. 1 in the number of meth labs seized. [continues 750 words]
The war on drugs has been futile and costly. The cost in dollars is staggering. The costs of incarceration, personal freedom and liberty are intolerable. The violence and death to innocents caught in the crossfire are immoral. Clearly the strategy used over the past 40 years is a complete failure. There are intelligent people in the medical field who could really make a difference if they could only be listened to and taken seriously. Dangerous drugs such as crystal meth could be almost completely eradicated if not for the greed of pharmaceutical companies that ship over twice the amount of ingredients needed to make cold remedies to Mexico and all the outlets that refuse to monitor their sale in America. [continues 104 words]
School students in Northeast Georgia are getting an "up close and personal" look at the dangers of methamphetamine, thanks to a new program which brings former addicts into the classrooms. The Faces of Meth program reaches throughout Northeast Georgia with a message - meth is dangerous and deadly. According to officials, nearly 2 million Americans are addicted to meth and one out of every 10 teens becomes addicted after trying the drug just once. "Northeast Georgia is no exception," said Sharon Lee, director of the task force. "The addiction rate is 95 percent after one try." [continues 249 words]
WALHALLA - Methamphetamine, or just meth, is being called the fastest-growing drug problem in the country, and Oconee County is not immune. "It makes the crack epidemic of the '80s look like kids eating candy," said Michael Miller, director of the Anderson-Oconee Regional Forensics Lab. Mr. Miller said the number of meth cases his lab professes has gone from 12 percent to 68 percent in just the last couple of years. More than 50 people turned out Thursday at St. John's Lutheran Church in Walhalla to learn more about the epidemic at the second South Carolina Meth Watch program to be held in Oconee County. [continues 349 words]
VANNA -- A former methamphetamine user cringed and stroked her daughter's face as a Georgia sheriff told others about the horrors of using the drug. Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland, speaking to about 150 people at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Vanna, in Elbert County, talked for about 60 minutes, mixing humor and horror as he described the addiction and its consequences. Also speaking were other investigators and several former meth users. The program was part of an outreach effort by the sheriff to inform the community about the dangers and problem of meth. [continues 281 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday upholding the federal government's right to prosecute all marijuana growers and users even in states with medical marijuana laws is not likely to have a big impact in South Carolina or Georgia, neither of which have such laws. But the ruling could spotlight the work of some, including a longtime Clemson University chemist's group, to create uncontroversial alternative drugs that work as well as the active ingredient in marijuana. The decision appears to chill a trend begun in 1996, when California passed its Compassionate Use Act, allowing people to grow or buy marijuana for medical use with a doctor's guidance. Now 11 states have some type of exemption for medical marijuana use, and users are caught in a state-federal power struggle. [continues 629 words]
Measure would fight meth problem State lawmakers are taking notice of the growing methamphetamine problem, and local pharmacists this week said they would welcome a state law restricting the sales of over-the-counter medication used to make the illegal drug. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster is pushing a bill that would allow customers to buy only three packages of cold medication containing pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in methamphetamine. Just this week, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law a measure putting drugs with the sole active ingredient pseudoephedrine behind the counter of retailers and pharmacies. [continues 416 words]
Community Must Be Educated To Dangers Some 200 Anderson County residents gathered at the Civic Center one day last week to learn about a dangerous street drug that is causing havoc all over the country. Methamphetamine can be manufactured just about anywhere, using common chemicals and products such as matches, batteries, drain cleaner and sinus medication. It can be smoked, snorted or shot up. A report in the Feb. 28 edition of Newsweek describes it as a "powerful stimulant that leaves many users feeling euphoric and hypersexual." Newsweek says meth has become popular among some urban gay men, who may be recharging the AIDS epidemic by having unprotected sex with multiple partners while high. [continues 280 words]
CLARKESVILLE - Assistant district attorney Bob Cullifer has resigned from the Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney's office after being arrested on drug charges in Coweta County last week. Mr. Cullifer, 48, faces charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia. Grantville Police Chief Jerry Ramos said Mr. Cullifer and his wife, Carol, 50, both were arrested outside a convenience store around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. The couple pulled into the parking lot and Mr. Cullifer went inside while Mrs. Cullifer waited in the car. When the vehicle's alarm went off accidentally, she was unable to turn it off and a police officer came over to help, Mr. Ramos said. [continues 143 words]
CLEMSON - Work by a Clemson University team led by chemist John Huffman eventually could help the federal government and states extricate themselves from the politically charged issue of medical marijuana, which the U.S. Supreme Court also is examining. Marijuana can be smoked legitimately for medical benefits, including relief of pain and nausea from a variety of ailments, in 11 states, but the federal government three years ago won a Supreme Court decision that the drug is not exempt from federal anti-narcotic laws. [continues 586 words]
Affidavit Says Officer Earned $200,000 Protecting Dealer PENDLETON - State agents arrested a 33-year-old Anderson County sheriff's narcotics agent on a charge of trafficking methamphetamine after learning an officer was providing protection to a drug dealer for profit. Matthew Brian Durham of 158 Old Sanders Road in Pendleton was taken into custody at Lowe's on Clemson Boulevard Friday, culminating a joint investigation by the Anderson County sheriff's narcotics division and the State Law Enforcement Division. An affidavit stated that on at least 20 occasions between May and November, an officer told a local methamphetamine dealer who he could sell drugs to and still avoid arrest. [continues 346 words]
CLARKESVILLE - The methamphetamine problem in Habersham County got personal for Debbie Whiting about two years ago when a young man in her life became addicted. The man was 21 at the time and was a good kid who went to Christian school, Ms. Whiting said. She marked strange behavior on a calendar and began noticing a pattern where he would disappear for the weekend, crash on Tuesday and get up again on Friday afternoon. His personality changed and he began losing weight. "There's so many signs that you look at and it wasn't normal," she said. [continues 325 words]
