Among the articles on the front page of The State recently was one that was almost a full-page and another that was given barely 4 inches. The larger article was not the one about the latest murder in Richland County -- the third that weekend -- but about someone, admittedly famous, who may have been smoking marijuana.

Sheriff Leon Lott decries the number of crackheads loose in the city, but he spends time and taxpayer money to build a case against Michael Phelps.

Let's go after the important issues. Murder or marijuana? I'd sure rather law enforcement concentrate on the murderers among us.

Elgin

[end]

Regarding Judi Sarvis' letter, "More serious crimes warrant more attention," I wonder how the writer can be so naive about pot smoking?

A large majority of crackheads started with pot. Next, it's meth or sniffing cocaine or shooting up heroin, then crack. Then no employment because they can't pass a physical at a decent business or industry; then it's robberies to support the addiction.

The potheads at the party Michael Phelps attended should be prosecuted. Someone probably enticed the swimmer so he or she could get the picture, with the plan to sell the paraphernalia on eBay. They certainly are not friends of the medalist.

Go Sheriff Lott! Nip it in the bud, and God bless you for the effort.

Hopkins

[end]

My purse was stolen a few years ago. The thief took my credit card and used it at gas stations and a Wal-Mart in Richland County to run up more than $1,000 in charges.

When my credit card company informed me of this, I filed a report with the Richland County Sheriff's Department. I also went to the Wal-Mart to see if its loss-prevention department would tell me anything. I was shown a copy of the credit card receipt signed by the thief (who signed his name John Smith). I was also told that a sheriff's deputy could obtain a copy of the surveillance tape showing the thief making the purchase.

[continues 73 words]

If there is a more law-abiding citizen than myself, I'd like to meet the person. And to Sheriff Lott I say this: Shame on you! Your wasting of my taxpayer dollars on the Michael Phelps case offends me.

Perhaps someone should arrest Sheriff Lott, strap him to a lie detector machine and grill him on his past, Gestapo style.

If the Sheriff's Department is bored, please come to my neighborhood and do something about the crime!

Columbia

[end]

Michael Phelps' mistake was breaking the law, period. Sheriff Leon Lott's job is to enforce the law, no matter who you are -- celebrity or not.

Richland County is very blessed to have such a dedicated, professional sheriff and deputies, who protect and defend us every day of their lives.

Those who do not recognize this are apparently suffering from misplaced hero worship and misguided morals.

To those who have verbally lynched our respected sheriff, I suggest you call Michael Phelps when you and your family or friends need protection from robbery, rape, murder and all manner of lawlessness.

[continues 64 words]

Lott claims lack of evidence as primary reason for revoking allegation against worldwide sensation

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has decided not to pursue possession of marijuana charges against 14-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps after the swimmer was shown in a photo smoking from a bong in Columbia last November.

Lott said his department lacked the physical evidence necessary to charge Phelps, despite the overwhelming proof that the incident occurred.

"We had a photo and him saying he was sorry for inappropriate behavior. He never said, 'I smoked marijuana.' We didn't have physical evidence," Lott said.

[continues 494 words]

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A South Carolina sheriff said Monday that he was not going to charge the 14-time gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps after a photograph showed him using a marijuana pipe.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said he could not ignore the photograph but defended his investigation.

"Michael Phelps is truly an American hero," Lott said. "But even with his star status, he is still obligated to obey the laws of our state."

The photograph showed Phelps using a marijuana pipe at a party in November when he visited the University of South Carolina.

[continues 101 words]

Police in the South Carolina county where Michael Phelps was photographed with a marijuana pipe have been arresting people as they seek to make a case against the superstar swimmer, lawyers for two arrested people said yesterday.

Attorneys Joseph McCulloch and Dick Harpootlian each represent a client charged with possession of marijuana who were questioned about the party Phelps attended near the University of South Carolina campus in November.

The lawyers said the two clients lived at the house where the party apparently took place, although they were not at the party.

[continues 211 words]

The Michael Phelps investigation intensified Saturday morning with armed deputies raiding a Lake Murray home, then proceeding to a Five Points-area party house where the Olympic champion was pictured in November holding a marijuana pipe, lawyers involved in the case say.

Before the day was over, seven people were charged with misdemeanor marijuana charges.

Three people were charged with simple marijuana possession after a small amount was seized in the raid at the home in a lakefront neighborhood. Four others were charged with simple marijuana possession in the second raid, longtime Columbia attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Joe McCulloch told The State on Thursday.

[continues 787 words]

Michael Phelps' ill-advised marijuana use has sparked a media feeding frenzy and aroused an army of protectors of the public morality. All of it is grossly overblown and seriously asinine.

Have people learned nothing from Prohibition? Marijuana must be legalized, controlled and taxed. This would probably wipe out half or more of the "war on drugs," a war we are losing - badly.

Time to drop the moralizing (did it ever work on you?) and move forward into reality.

Kent Butler

Lexington

[end]

Reefer Madness

When Michael Phelps was awarded a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, it was a moment of great pride for the young swimmer and his country, a cause for celebration and quite possibly the highlight of his life. It also would have been the perfect occasion to smoke weed. Whether or not Phelps smoked marijuana to celebrate his Olympic achievements is something we do not know, but Americans shouldn't be the least bit surprised if he did. Nor should we be the least bit shocked that Phelps was photographed smoking marijuana at a party in Columbia, S.C., a scandal that made worldwide headlines.

[continues 633 words]

The sheriff of Richland County, S.C., made a big splash a week ago when a squad of deputies raided the houses of people suspected of having information about a party at which Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps allegedly smoked marijuana.

But some people in the metropolitan county of 350,000 in central South Carolina are wondering why the sheriff is making such a big deal about the situation. "This case is just ridiculous," said Todd Rutherford, a South Carolina state legislator and criminal-defense lawyer who isn't involved in the investigation.

[continues 728 words]

Sheriff Lott is using the Michael Phelps incident for his own shameless exposure and abusing his position as sheriff for political purposes. There are bound to be countless editorials on this subject this week but mine will be different: because when I started writing this, I was as high as a kite.

As soon as I heard the news that Lott had ordered the arrest of college-aged kids in connection with the Phelps bong hit, I called a very successful pot smoking friend and said, "I need to smoke." She was very confused as I am known as a staunch non-smoker, but Lott had driven me to the edge.

[continues 813 words]

As many as eight people have been arrested on drug charges in an effort to build a marijuana possession case against Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps, an attorney for one of the defendants confirmed this morning.

Longtime Columbia attorney Dick Harpootlian said Richland County Sheriff's deputies arrested his client - whom he declined to identify - -- in a raid Saturday at his Lake Murray-area home after seizing a small amount of marijuana.

"He's sitting there on Saturday, and 12 cops kick in the door with guns drawn, search his house and find 5, maybe 6, grams of pot," Harpootlian said."They never asked him, 'Who sold you the pot?' ... They were asking, 'Were you at the party with Michael Phelps? Did you see him using marijuana?' It was all about Michael Phelps."

[continues 801 words]

Leon Lott is doing his job. After the eight arrests he's made in the aftermath of Phelpsgate, there's no doubt about that.

But is the Richland County sheriff just trying to keep his reputation from going up in smoke? Is he going for the gusto solely because he's in the limelight?

These are legitimate questions, and while we can't know Lott's motivation, certain elements of the story do not check out.

It makes sense that he's pursuing Phelps's case. After the photographic evidence practically fell in his lap, he would have been a fool not to follow through. But the head-scratcher is his insistence on tracking down these eight others.

[continues 148 words]

Bong Seized

(CNS) Police have made eight arrests in connection with the party that led to publication of a photograph of Beijing Olympic hero Michael Phelps, television station WIS reported Tuesday.

Phelps, the American swim star who won a record eight gold medals at Beijing six months ago, was not among those charged in a probe by the Richland County Sheriff's Department, according to the report.

Seven arrests were made for drug possession and another for distribution of drugs, with arrests resulting from search warrants served by the sheriff's department as part of their probe, WIS reported.

[continues 95 words]

After alcohol, marijuana is America's drug of choice. Studies show half of today's population has tried smoking pot and the other half might if they knew how to get it.

Despite the government's endless war on drugs, recreational marijuana is the biggest illegal cash crop in the world. And there's a reason for that.

If you're north of age 60, you might see pot as the gateway drug that lures our unsuspecting youth into a lifetime of heavy drug addiction. If you're south of that line, not so much.

[continues 503 words]

Americans Should Stop Smoking Weed to Prevent Mexican Bloodshed, Make Step Towards Legalization

A couple of weeks ago, The Daily Gamecock featured an editorial that stated that U.S. demand for marijuana funds drug cartels in Mexico. Students reacted with letters to the editor and the online version was besieged with comments. Most of these students recognized that their use of pot fed the violence in Mexico, yet they failed to take any responsibility for it.

Almost ubiquitous among these comments was the suggestion that the government legalize weed. It is true that if weed were legalized, Mexican drug cartels, which mainly rely on marijuana, would be dealt a lethal blow and many U.S. problems would evaporate. But the responsibility for the bloodshed in Mexico can't be entirely blamed on our government. We buy the product. We are the consumers, and in a capitalist society, the power of the dollar is often more influential than the power of the vote.

[continues 344 words]

It's awful being a celebrity, especially if you're young and find yourself at a party, where marijuana and cameras should never mix. And it's not exactly heaven being sheriff of a county with escalating drug crimes and pressure to treat all offenders equally.

Thus it is that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and Sheriff Leon Lott of South Carolina's Richland County are being forced to treat seriously a crime that shouldn't be one.

As everyone knows by now, Phelps was photographed smoking from an Olympic-size bong during a University of South Carolina party in November. As all fallen heroes must - by writ of the Pitchforks & Contrition Act - Phelps has apologized for behavior that was "regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," and has promised never to be a lesser role model again. Check.

[continues 551 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]