Re: "17 held in Grand Isle drug sting: Undercover officer worked year on case," Metro, Aug. 11. Grand Isle is not a big place. An estimated 1,500 full-time residents shrimp, fish or work in the oil patch. Everyone knows everyone else and there are few real secrets. However, on Aug. 10, Grand Isle had a rude awakening. At 6:30 a.m. it was raided by DEA, State Police, and the National Guard. No local officials were notified or brought in on what was coming down. [continues 201 words]
With every act of violence in New Orleans, the sense of uneasiness grows among residents. This is familiar and terrifying territory. In the mid-1990s, when crack had a grip on so many people, virtually no one felt truly safe here. But as the violence ebbed and murders dwindled at the end of that decade, it seemed that New Orleans had gotten a grip on crime. It doesn't seem that way anymore. Neither police nor prosecutors seem capable of handling the city's growing problem with crime. The bad guys seem unafraid of being caught or convicted. They may be afraid of each other and the retribution meted out on New Orleans streets, but they show little fear of authorities. [continues 392 words]
A teenager sits on the couch of his home, watching television and sucking on a lollipop. The 15-year-old's mother walks by and notices nothing unusual. Unbeknownst to her, the child is using drugs. "It looks just like a lollipop," said Alexandria police Sgt. Newmon Bobb, supervisor of the Narcotics Division. "Parents wouldn't notice." Cancer patients use the drug Actiq to help with "breakthrough cancer pain," Bobb said. On the street, it is known as the "lollipop drug" or perc-a-pop, and is as addictive as other prescription medicines. [continues 533 words]
Kim Kent has been charged with possession of methadone. MANSFIELD -- The administrative assistant of an independent agency that administers the drug court program in DeSoto and Sabine parishes was arrested Friday after a client complained the official was soliciting prescription drugs in return for preferential treatment in the program. Kim Kent, 38, of Mansfield is being held without bond in the DeSoto Parish Detention Center, where she is charged with possession of methadone, a Schedule II Controlled Dangerous Substance. Kent was arrested at noon at the Alcohol Drug Abuse Counseling, or ADAC, office in Mansfield, according to Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle. [continues 109 words]
In response to Feb. 16 letter writer Paul Glanville's statement that there are no drug treatment programs in our prisons, let me let the public know that this is not true. I am an English teacher at David Wade Correctional Center, and I get to teach the men that participate day in and day out in the many self-help programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous-Narcotics Anonymous that DWCC has to offer. I have been asked to speak at an AA-NA meeting, and I witnessed firsthand the way these men are being steered to turn their lives around from a first-rate staff. These men have made mistakes in their lives and for someone to print in the newspaper that they are doing nothing to help themselves could not go unanswered by someone who sees firsthand from the inside. Karen Lee Homer [end]
This area's first state-funded inpatient chemical dependency treatment center for troubled teens celebrated its grand opening Monday afternoon, but two weeks after first accepting clients in October the 14-bed center was full. "We had clients waiting for us to open," said Pam Goode, director of The Cavanaugh Center in Bossier City, which currently has eight adolescents waiting to get in. And that personifies statistics a state addictions official delivered Monday morning in Shreveport: Too few Louisianans identified with addiction problems are getting treatment. [continues 518 words]
Some 77 percent of those in prison are there because of drugs, but we have no drug treatment programs in our prisons. But there is hope, with the announcement of this area's first state-funded inpatient chemical dependency treatment center for troubled teens. Now there is help for these troubled teenagers before they end up behind the walls at the David Wade Correctional Center at Homer. And there are the monetary savings. For each dollar Louisiana puts into alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs, it will reduce future expenditures on crime and medical treatment by anywhere from $3.69 to $5.19, research shows. Paul Glanville Shreveport [end]
President's Funding Proposal For School Program Of Debatable Value. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1.4 million American teenagers currently require treatment for drug abuse. The organization's findings also show that those who avoid drug use during these formative years are far less likely to grow into addicted adults. With these facts in mind, President George W. Bush's proposed budget for 2005 recommends increasing funding for student drug-testing to $25 million ? well above the current allocation of $2 million. [continues 357 words]
The Parkway High School sophomore who was expelled in November for possessing Advil on campus is back in school. The case made news for more than a month on Web sites and radio and television stations nationwide. The Bossier Parish School Board approved a Central Office decision to let Amanda Stiles return to the Bossier City campus earlier this week, board member George Finck said. Bossier schools Superintendent Kenneth Kruithof could not be reached for comment. Stiles was thrilled when she heard the news, her mother said. "She really wanted to get back because she was worried about getting behind in her classes," Kelly Herpin said. [continues 185 words]
The recent "Advil case" in Bossier Parish is simply an extension of The War on Drugs, a costly failure pushed by Utopian moralists and individuals or groups who stand to gain materially. Its agenda, based on what sounds good rather than what works, is enforced at gunpoint by faceless bureaucrats while billions of dollars change hands, not only in our country but in many others. Government grows bigger by the day and liberties are lost, possibly forever. The irony in this case is that "public education" has for years aggressively pushed "progressive" teaching methods to the exclusion of common sense. The ability to think critically is aborted before given a chance to live. As a result many adults either cannot or will not see a given chain of events as related. They become "now" oriented, developing an egocentric view of history, and, in turn, producing a handicapped electorate that uncritically accepts stupid ideas, provided those ideas are well packaged. [continues 76 words]
Thanks so much for publishing this honest Dec. 10 letter by Mike Granger. Our government's war on drugs is the ultimate hypocrisy. The war on drugs isn't about justice or protecting our children. We've spent more than 30 years under that pretense and what have been the results? Corrupt law enforcement and judiciary, increased crime, death, disease, budget deficits and increased spending on prisons instead of education and other critical programs. Current and past presidents have used some of the very substances that have sent others straight to prison, so what messages are we really sending our kids? [continues 127 words]
Re: Bossier Parish School Board expulsion of a student having Advil at school. Each and every member of the Bossier Parish School Board should be "sentenced" to frequent headaches. I am not endorsing infraction of rules; however, being a headache victim myself, I can totally empathize with Amanda Stiles. You go, girl! Do whatever it takes to intercept something as debilitating as a headache. Quick intervention is important and does not allow for dawdling around in a school office for dispensing of a preventive medication. I am appalled at the one-year expulsion. Hardened criminals can and do get by with less! Think about it, Bossier Parish School Board! Sue H. Strickland Bossier City [end]
Bossier Parish school system officials will notify principals that they aren't required to expel students with over-the-counter medications when school system employees return to work Jan. 5. The School Board on Thursday voted unanimously to uphold committee recommendations aimed at more flexibility in the punishment for students caught with non-prescription medications at school. The expulsion of Parkway High School sophomore Amanda Stiles for having Advil in her purse created a national outcry over the district's zero-tolerance policy and punishment. [continues 312 words]
Clerical errors could be one of the reasons some Bossier Parish students appeared to receive a less harsh punishment for having illegal or prescription drugs on campus than possessing over-the-counter drugs last year. Discipline statistics have taken on an immense importance as school systems across the nation try to quantify school safety. Federal No Child Left Behind education reform requires that states create a list of "persistently dangerous" schools based on crime and discipline data. Louisiana officials earlier this year analyzed drug- and weapon-related expulsions, those for anti-social or violent behavior like vandalism or fighting and expulsions tied to serious crimes committed at school to determine whether schools could be considered unsafe. [continues 241 words]
Bossier schools'' zero tolerance sometimes conflicts with common sense The Bossier Parish School Board today can remedy a simplistic approach to discipline and perhaps cure a public relations headache by revamping its drug policy regarding over-the-counter medicines. A five-member committee Tuesday recommended putting more authority in the hands of principals when students are found to be in possession of such drugs. The full board meets today. The district has been reeling since a Parkway High School student was expelled and reassigned to Bossier's alternative school for having Advil in her purse. State law requires any prescribed or over-the-counter medications be left with each school's administrative office along with a physician's note and parental authorization. The law, however, is silent on the penalty for violating that law, allowing each school district to set its own policy. Bossier had elected to follow an across-the-board one-year expulsion policy for all drugs whether they are over-the-counter, prescribed or illegal. [continues 313 words]
Even state education officials aren't sure whether the punishment meted out by the Bossier Parish School Board for having over-the-counter medication at school is required by state law. A five-member Bossier Parish School Board committee that hears student discipline appeals meets today to consider possible changes to the school system's policy, which requires a one-year expulsion for students caught with nonprescription drugs. Board members will hear the system's attorney explain his interpretation of the law, something they didn't have when they voted Dec. 4 to uphold the expulsion of 15-year-old Amanda Stiles, even though school system officials including Superintendent Ken Kruithof cited state law when defending the board's decision. [continues 298 words]
John K. Smith Shreveport My jaw dropped to the floor when I read that Bossier Parish expelled a Parkway student for bringing Advil to school. That is the most ridiculous application of a so-called "zero tolerance" policy I have heard to date. Instead of acting like tin-horn dictators in a banana republic, Bossier officials should admit their mistake, repeal their stupid policy, and let that poor girl back into her high school. The school system might not be experiencing the scorn and mockery they've brought on themselves just yet, but they soon will. Once again, Bossier and Louisiana will be a national butt of jokes. Let us hope the board doesn't entrench itself mindlessly in its wrong position. It can learn from this mistake and improve the schools for all students. [continues 65 words]
Chalk up another victory for the zero-tolerance idiots. Amanda Stiles committed the terrible crime of taking some Advil to school, and now must pay for that mistake by having her life put in upheaval, getting booted from school. This is sheer and utter lunacy. The good citizens of Shreveport-Bossier City, and of the state, need to let their legislators know that this nonsense must come to an end and that situations like this need to be judged on the facts of the case, and not under a nonsensical standard of zero tolerance. Mike Granger Longmont, Colo. [end]
Carmel, Calif. The Shreveport Times carried a story recently headlined: "Bossier School Board upholds Advil expulsion." The lead for the story states: "A student expelled from Parkway High for a year for having Advil, an over-the-counter pain reliever, will not be allowed to return to the school." If this story is correct, the Bossier School Board should be aware that many of us in the rest of the country are laughing at their lack of basic common sense. "Zero tolerance" does not imply zero judgment, zero flexibility, zero accommodation, zero wisdom and a complete abdication of their responsibility to temper laws with reason. [continues 104 words]
McKinney, Texas The folks in Bossier must be the laughing stock of the United States for expelling a girl because she had Advil for a headache in her purse. Zero tolerance is a joke. All it does is produce a one-size-fits-all solution for complex problems that need careful consideration. This child apparently has headaches. No one on this School Board must have headaches nor do they have a shred of critical thinking ability. Everything seems to have to fit into the black and white, good and bad standard. Actually reminds me of a president I know. [continues 141 words]
