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Hope and Help
By Mona Lease
Hi, all! We've looked at some hard-hitting situations in the past
couple of months. We looked at HIV/AIDS and Planned Parenthood getting
caught verbally stating that they were selling "abortion contents" -
dead baby body parts to be exact. In my Right to Life Newsletter - Ohio
will no longer be funding Planned Parenthood due to this. We've looked
at rights - peoples' rights. We've asked - I have asked - "How do you
determine whose rights count" and "Do you lose your rights because
someone can drag some "skeletons" out of your past?
In one of my August columns - a reader or someone who read it and told
someone else about it - thought my reference to AIDS had to do with a
gay person. See the preconceived thinking here? HIV/AIDS is also
transmitted through iv drug use - sharing "dirty" needles.
I recently spoke with Greenville's Police Chief Dennis Butts. We spoke
of the skyrocketing heroin use. He agreed that marijuana use is right
up there with smoking cigarettes. Heroin use is spanning all cultural,
racial, socio-economic, and gender lines. You would not believe the
people who have told me of their heroin usage - people I never thought
would have gotten mixed up in it. Do you readers remember a few months
back, in an alley in Greenville, the police responded to a call about a
possible car theft? When they got there - a young man was sitting at
the side of the alley in the grass, asking to be taken to jail - he
felt that that's where he belonged. I know that kid.
He grew up in that environment - just not heroin. See - even in the
current state of his mind then - he knew he needed to be totally away
from all of the places he could go to "get high." He came up to me at a
local store a month or so after that. I did not recognize him. He was a
big kid and on the football team at his high school. He told me the
drugs and that life made him lose at least 100 pounds!! He told me jail
did him good. He realized he had a lot to lose - a good job - a girl he
really liked.
Greenville Police Chief Dennis Butts echoed that very idea when he said
- "Get off of any drug now - before you ruin your life - before you go
to jail - before something worse happens. The "something worse" could
be you kill someone or someone tries to kill you - intentional or not.
The number of Hepatitis C cases is on the rise, too. Hep C is primarily
transmitted through blood-to-blood contact - sharing needles for our
purposes here - along with infecting a "needle buddy" with HIV/AIDS
(commonly before either of you knows that you have either!). Greenville
Mayor Mike Bowers says - "I realize there are drugs out there that will
get you hooked the first time you use them. But - don't do it - don't
risk the disease or the reputation (of being a "worthless druggie" - my
words.) Seek help and stay away from the people who use (drugs) and
violate the law to get the drugs. It's a nowhere road. There are many
places you can go for help.
Chief Deputy Mark Whittaker of the Darke County Sheriff's Office echoed
the above statements and added that a large group of people: hospital
employees (not all), law enforcement personnel (not all), court house
figures (not all), to name a few - have been attending meetings to
hammer out a workable solution for all, regarding our drug usage
problem in Darke County. Still in it's infancy - a plan of action has
come together and is being used in the courts as a test run. Not
everyone qualifies for this program - you have to be "screened" - drug
toxin levels in your body, prior criminal history, etc. This is a
rigorous program - personal responsibility, random drug
screening, leaving your "friends" behind, getting/keeping a job, etc. I
am so very proud of all of the people involved in this venture. They
are looking past the "I don't care what they do" or "It's not my
responsibility" thinking and laying groundwork for a better Darke
County - what we all call home. Hope and help are on the horizon!!
Remember the kiddies and our service people. Take good care of the
furry and feathered ones out there. Be safe and healthy. See ya next
time. Ever Toodles!! MONA
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