-------------------------------------------------------------------

Depression takes its toll among the young, too (An Oregonian article
about the estimated 3 million to 6 million American children and teen-agers
stricken by clinical depression centers on the case of one 12-year-old
patient whose illness was precipitated by her father's death when he
"overdosed on drugs." Now she's better, thanks to a pharmaceutical
antidepressant, though the newspaper doesn't mention such drugs may
eventually poison her and leave her a drooling, brain-damaged idiot
with impaired liver function.)

The Oregonian
letters to editor:
letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Web: http://www.oregonlive.com/

Depression takes its toll among the young, too

* An estimated 3 million to 6 million children and teen-agers know the
loneliness and despair of the condition

Sunday, October 4 1998

By Crystal Carreon
of The Oregonian staff

On the morning of Meghan's 12th birthday, her father overdosed on drugs and
died.

Days later, the nightmares began. Meghan was haunted by the image of her
father alone in the motel room where they found him. She blamed herself,
thinking that if she'd spent her birthday with him, he might still be alive.

Through the weeks, she started to lose weight, skip school and fight
constantly with her mother. Inside the walls of her bedroom with the door
shut, the curtains closed, she tried to be invisible. She wondered what it
would be like to die, whether anyone would come to her funeral.

Meghan's mother understood her daughter's grief. But when the weeks turned
into months, and the tensions intensified, she didn't know what to do.

"I probably cried as hard as she did. As a mother, I didn't know what was
wrong with her, or if I did something wrong," she said. "She hurt, so I hurt."

One evening as Meghan flipped through a book about illnesses, she found a
paragraph that matched her experience. "Mom, I think I have depression," she
said.

Meghan was right, as a doctor confirmed. She was among a growing number of
children and teen-agers in the country who feel tangled in a labyrinth of
solitude and sadness. An estimated 3 million to 6 million children suffer
from depression, an illness that often eludes recognition, according to the
American Psychiatric Association.

Meghan experienced an extreme form of depression triggered by her father's
death. But depression can take many forms, mild to major, and all forms
should be regarded seriously, mental health experts say. Although the causes
of depression in children remain largely a mystery -- everything from
chemical imbalances in the brain to genetics and family history to
environment -- researchers know that early treatment can stop the cycle.

Until the 1980s, depression wasn't viewed as a childhood illness; childhood
presumably was a time of being carefree. But the mental health community
gradually recognized the same signs and patterns of depression in children
as in adults.

Everyone at some point feels sad and lonely, said Dr. Kirk Wolfe, a child
and adolescent psychiatrist in Northeast Portland. But if those feelings
amplify and last longer than two weeks, cause noticeable changes in
personality and interfere with everyday life, those feelings are no longer
healthy but harmful, he said.

"When a child is depressed, there is a sense of loss. They're not their
normal selves," Wolfe said.

If left untreated, there is a 40 percent chance that depression will recur
within two years and a 70 percent chance it will come back within five
years, said Dr. David Fassler, author of "Help Me, I'm Sad" ($12.95, Penguin
Books, 1998), a book about the signs, treatment and prevention of childhood
and adolescent depression. More than half of the 17 million adults with
depression experienced the illness during childhood, he said.

"If we can learn to recognize and identify the signs, we can prevent a
tremendous amount of pain and suffering," said Fassler, a child and
adolescent psychiatrist in Burlington, Vt.

Symptoms of depression vary, and they mimic and might be linked with
attention deficit disorder, conduct disorders and anxiety, Fassler said, so
the underlying depression often is overlooked. Teachers might send a
troublesome child to the principal's office. Parents might think a son or
daughter is going through a phase or having a tough time growing up.

"The 8- or 9-year-old boy acting out in class may get labeled as the
troublemaker, but people may not realize for a long time that maybe the core
of his problems is recurrent depression," Fassler said.

To help identify signs of depression, the American Psychiatric Association
provides the following guidelines. Depression could be the cause if at least
five of these symptoms persist for two weeks:

* Sad or irritable mood most of the day, every day.

* Diminished interest or pleasure in most activities.

* Significant weight loss or weight gain.

* Sleep disorders, such as insomnia or oversleeping.

* Fatigue or loss of energy most of the time.

* Intense feelings of worthlessness, self-reproach or guilt.

* Inability to concentrate, which leads to a drop in grades.

* Thoughts of suicide and death.

Fassler said children with depression might worry excessively and have
frequent physical complaints.

Symptoms of depression in young children, such as preschoolers, can be
different than those found in older children and adolescents, Fassler said.
Symptoms include:

* Frequent and unexplained stomachaches, headaches and fatigue.

* Overactivity or excessive restlessness.

* Frequent sadness.

* Irritability.

* Loss of pleasure in previously enjoyable activities. For example, a child
who loves to draw refuses to participate in art projects.

It is important for parents to recognize signs of depression because
treatment is available, Fassler and Wolfe emphasize. They recommend that
concerned individuals consult with a physician and/or mental health
professional.

Treatment always should be individualized, based on a comprehensive
evaluation of the child and family, Fassler said. It often includes
individual therapy with the child, counseling sessions with the family or a
form of group therapy in which the child or adolescent meets with
age-appropriate peers. Some children might benefit from treatment with
antidepressant medication, the psychiatrists said.

If depression is left untreated, consequences can be severe.

Wolfe, who served on the Governor's Task Force on Youth Suicide Prevention,
pointed out that children and adolescents who experience mood disorders,
such as severe depression, are five times more likely to attempt suicide.
Most completed suicides occurred while the young person was clinically
depressed, he said.

"It's not just the blues but thoughts affecting sleep, concentration, how
the body functions. The blues will not cause suicide, but depression can,"
Wolfe said.

Three months after her father died, Meghan, now 13, went to the Dougy Center
for Grieving Children, a support program in Southeast Portland for children
and teen-agers. In January, under a doctor's care, she started taking an
antidepressant. Last month, she began eighth grade and hasn't missed a day
of class.

"I'm really proud of myself," she said smiling, showing off her braces. "I'm
happy."

She's already looking forward to high school. Her past no longer haunts her.

Depression feels like a trap, like you're stuck, she said. She says she has
grown from her experiences and, with professional help, has gained strength
and support.

"You just take it minute-by-minute, one day at a time," she said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Cocaine Theft From Police Raises Security Concerns
(The Orange County Register says in July 1997, someone broke into
the Riverside office of the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement
and stole $3.2 million worth of cocaine. It was believed to be the largest
heist of illegal drugs in police custody in state history. One gathers
the theft was carried out by an insider, particularly someone on the force,
who knew where the cocaine was and how to get around lax security measures.)

Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 16:07:33 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Cocaine Theft From Police Raises Security Concerns
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John W. Black
Pubdate: Sun, 4 Oct 1998
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Orange County Register
Author:Mark Katches and Stuart Pfeifer

COCAINE THEFT FROM POLICE RAISES SECURITY CONCERNS

The Drug Had Been Held In Riverside To Be Used In A Reverse Sting Operation.

The drugs, about $3.2 million worth of cocaine, first came into police
custody in Anaheim four years ago.

Where the drugs are now is anybody's guess.

In July 1997, someone broke into the Riverside office of the California
Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and stole the cocaine. It was believed to be
the largest heist of illegal drugs in police custody in state history.

The cocaine had been moved from Anaheim to be used in a reverse sting
operation - bait to catch larger drug dealers.

But security at the Riverside office was poor, according to interviews with
law-enforcement investigators, state administrators and state reports that
provide details about the heist.

* There were no surveillance cameras or 24-hour security guards at a
location where millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs are kept.
* A card key system, designed to track the movements of personnel from room
to room, was not working at the time of the break-in.
* The special agent in charge, Edward Synicky, had no idea how many people
had keys to the evidence room.
* Security guards were hired after the theft and a surveillance camera was
installed. Three months later, however, the camera was stolen and not
reported missing to the agency's Sacramento headquarters.
* Chief George J. Doane said the state narcotics enforcement agency he has
run since 1986 is upgrading its security at all its offices.

"We used this incident in Riverside as a wake-up call to re-examine our
security level at all of our regional offices," Doane said. "We're hoping
the incident we had there will be a teaching process."

But Anaheim police officials say they are disheartened that the drugs ended
up back on the street after the department seized the cocaine in a 1994
sting operation that spanned three counties.

"If we had any idea that the drugs would not have been taken care of, they
wouldn't have been sent out that way," Sgt. Joe Vargas said.

In Anaheim, the drugs were much more secure. The city police keeps its
evidence vault under surveillance 24 hours a day, Vargas said. Access to
the vault is limited to four people.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Trouble Seizes State Drug Bureau (The Orange County Register
says after seven years of California Attorney General Dan Lungren, the state
Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement has been hit by costly sexual harassment
lawsuits, reduced its hiring standards, and faced accusations of
mismanagement, contributing to low moral and unfilled positions at the
agency. Lungren attributes the problems to "some bad apples.")

Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 06:21:56 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Trouble Seizes State Drug Bureau
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John W. Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Orange County Register
Pubdate: Sun, 04 Oct 1998
Author:Stuart Pfeifer and Mark Katches-OCR

TROUBLE SEIZES STATE DRUG BUREAU

Law Enforcement: Low pay, lawsuits and managerial tactics contribute to low
moral and unfilled positions at the agency.

California's drug enforcement agency has been hit by costly sexual
harassment lawsuits, reduced its hiring standards and faced accusations of
mismanagement during the seven-year administration of Attorney General Dan
Lungren.

The Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement also has sought criminal charges against
workers who complain about their supervisors, a Register review shows.

Bureau agents have gone years without a raise and now rank among the
lowest-paid law-enforcement officers in the state. With recruitment a
problem, the agency - which manages dozens of anti-drug task forces
statewide - has lowered its previous education and law-enforcement
experience requirements.

Lungren attributes the problems to "some bad apples."

"But if you look overall at the people at the BNE, we have a very good
record for the quality of people we have," he said.

California is the center of the nation's methamphetamine trade. And
consequently, methamphetamine is a target of bureau agents, particularly in
recent years.

Lungren says his agents have seized more than $7 billion in narcotics,
closed 4,300 drug labs and made more than 60,000 arrests since he took over
in 1991.

"Our BNE agents are involved in taking down more, or about the same number,
of clandestine labs in California as the DEA takes down in the entire
country outside of California," said Lungren, who is running for governor.

Internally, Lungren's agency has been doling out hundreds of thousands of
dollars to deal with complaints of sexual harassment - including one against
bureau Chief George J. Doane.

The state has paid $521,000 to settle three lawsuits accusing the bureau of
harassment and retaliation in the past four years, according to records
obtained under the California Public Records Act.

An analysis of those cases found that:

The male-dominated drug agency-25 of its 336 agents are female - has been
labeled a hostile workplace in lawsuits.

The agency has countered two complaints by asking local prosecutors to file
criminal charges against the workers. Both times, prosecutors declined.

Doane said none of the male employees named in sexual harassment cases,
including himself, were disciplined. Two of the men later retired.

Michelle Reinglass, a Laguna Hills lawyer who has extensive experience in
sexual-harassment cases, said the drug agency's handling of cases seems to
represent "pretty outrageous" examples of retaliation.

"It makes the cases far more egregious," said Reinglass, who has no
connection with any past or pending suits against the agency. "More often
than not, the sexual harassment was not the most devastating aspect of a
situation. It's the repercussions that follow."

Doane disputed in an interview that the agency has retaliated against
employees who complained.

"I know what it looks like, but you can't allow process to be governed by
what things look like," Doane said. "If in the course of investigating your
complaint, we find out you, too, did wrong things, we're going to do what
the situation mandates."

The drug agency's 336 sworn agents would make it the fourth-largest agency
in Orange County. No comparably sized police agency in Orange County has had
as much legal trouble with sexual harassment as Lungren's drug-enforcement
agency.

The Anaheim police, with 389 sworn police officers, and Santa Ana police,
with 406 officers, have paid no sexual harassment damages in the past five
years, officials in those cities said. The Orange County Sheriff's
Department, whose 1,459 deputies make it more than four times the size of
the state anti-drug agency, has been sued seven times for sexual harassment
in the past five years and paid one settlement.

Special Agent Richard Wayne Parker of San Juan Capistrano is awaiting trial
at the federal court in Los Angeles for allegedly trafficking cocaine.

Perhaps even more embarrassing, the Lungren administration also has had to
deal with the disappearance of 650 pounds of cocaine from a poorly guarded
Riverside office - a theft Lungren described as a "gut punch."

The state agency also has been questioned for some of its tactics in the war
on drugs.

It has given known drug dealers a key ingredient in the making of
methamphetamine. The dealers are then followed and arrested in these
"reverse stings."

In one case, 57 pounds of methamphetamine was sold to the public and went
unrecovered, according to court documents filed in a criminal case.

State officials say they stand by their reverse stings, noting that agents
have recovered far larger quantities of methamphetamine in these operations.

The agency also has dealt with less serious disciplinary issues and abuses
of state equipment. Special Agent Rolando Garcia resigned in 1996 after he
was caught running license plates through the Department of Motor Vehicles
database to find addresses of women he considered attractive.

Supervising Special Agent Don Rominger, who manages the bureau's aviation
unit, was reprimanded in the same year for flying his daughter from Los
Angeles to Sacramento in a narcotics-surveillance plane, Doane said.

In the past four years, task forces run by the agency have paid $812,000 in
civil damages and settlements for bad search warrants, civil-rights
violations and property damage. These task forces typically involve several
police agencies, under the state bureau's supervision. The state's share has
been $212,000 in these cases.

Claims filed against the agency have increased in each of the last three
years, rising from five in 1996 to 14 so far this year.

Union officials representing the agents say they believe the rise in claims
is related to the low pay. That, in turn, has made it difficult to hire
quality agents. The agents are paid less than patrol officers in many police
agencies in the state.

"We're having a terrible time getting anybody with good backgrounds," said
Christy McCampbell, the special agent in charge of the agency's San Jose
office. "Some agencies are making about double what our agents are making."

The highest special-agent salary - $4,695 a month or $56,340 annually - is
less than the amount the Los Angeles Police Department pays a rookie
detective. Small departments such as the Palo Alto, Mountain View and
Berkeley police pay as much as $800 more a month. A Santa Ana detective can
earn $1,000 a month more than a special agent with the same experience
level, agency records show.

Doane said 27 special agents have resigned this year - most taking
higher-paying jobs at the Department of Corrections. All told, the agency
now has about 90 jobs vacant, Doane said. As recently as five years ago, the
agency lost only a handful of agents each year, mostly to retirement, Doane
said.

Because the agency has had trouble recruiting, the state lowered its hiring
standards last year. Before October 1997, the agency hired only peace
officers with investigative experience and a four-year college degree. Now,
it has dropped the education level to two years of college with prior
law-enforcement experience, and eliminated investigative experience as a
requirement for new recruits.

"This used to be the leading, exemplary agency," said Sam McCall, chief
legal counsel for the California Union of Safety Employees, which represents
the special agents at the bargaining table. "Law enforcement officers were
champing at the bit to move to it. It was the leader. Now they're having
trouble recruiting competent, qualified people."

McCall said Gov. Pete Wilson's negotiators have been largely to blame for
denying pay raises to special agents. But he also blamed Lungren.

"I have not seen any attempt on his part to do anything for the agents to
keep them as a premier law-enforcement agency," McCall said.

Lungren, who is trying to succeed fellow Republican Wilson as governor, said
he has tried to persuade Wilson to increase the pay of the state's special
agents at a critical time in California's war on drugs. But Wilson, who
negotiates collective bargaining agreements with state workers, hasn't
budged.

Doane acknowledged having trouble hiring top-quality agents, but he
attributed the rising number of claims and lawsuits to "an increasingly
litigious society."

"A lot more people used to want this job," Doane said. "Not only was it a
respected job in law enforcement, the cream of the crop, but the pay was
good. The pay package has diminished, but I don't believe the esteem of the
agency has gone down."

The agency recently mailed out 2,500 examinations to job candidates who had
expressed interest in becoming special agents. Just half of the tests were
returned, Doane said.

Lungren said he considers the problems at the agency to be "isolated" cases.

"I would never say they're minor," Lungren said. "If we have a problem, I
wouldn't consider it minor. If you look at the work we do overall, we're
recognized around the country."

But the low pay, the lawsuits, the embarrassing scandals and the alleged
retaliation have led to morale problems, says Special Agent Jesse Reyes of
the Sacramento office.

"I want to feel like I work for a credible law-enforcement agency," said
Reyes, a 24-year law-enforcement veteran. "Right now I don't."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Jail Stays Grow With The Backlog (The San Jose Mercury News
says the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice is almost empty on Fridays
as judges run errands or play golf, while the courts are burdened with one
of the biggest backlogs of felony cases awaiting trial in the county's
history. A recent audit found Santa Clara County to have the least efficient
criminal trial system of the 17 largest counties in California. Inmates are
languishing longer than ever waiting for trial in the overcrowded county
jail, at taxpayers' expense.)

Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 07:28:02 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Jail Stays Grow With The Backlog
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus/Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: 4 Oct 1998

JAIL STAYS GROW WITH THE BACKLOG

Length of time defendants are held has more than doubled in 6 years

On a typical Friday, Santa Clara County's Hall of Justice looks like it is
going out of business. Some judges are toiling away in their chambers, but,
with the exception of a few clerks and bailiffs, courtroom after courtroom
has been abandoned.

Despite a crushing criminal caseload, a five-month Mercury News
investigation documented that by lunch time on most Fridays, a cadre of
veteran judges, the men who hear the most notorious and heinous cases, have
left for home, are off running errands or are on their way to play golf.

``You could set a bomb off in the Hall of Justice on most Fridays and not
kill any judges or many lawyers,'' says a veteran prosecutor who has worked
in the building for years.

These judges say they are free to leave because there is not enough work to
keep them in the courthouse on Fridays, and claim they are taking vacation
time to which they are entitled.

``If I have nothing assigned to me . . . and I have no cases under
submission, there is no requirement to the electorate to be here to look at
that wall,'' says Superior Court Judge Thomas Hastings, a 19-year veteran
who regularly plays golf on Fridays. ``In fact, I think the electorate
would be better served knowing that for my emotional stability and physical
stability, I'm getting exercise.''

But a hard look at the county's criminal courts suggests that judges should
not have to search far for work. The courts are burdened with one of the
biggest backlogs of felony cases awaiting trial in the county's history.

A recent audit found Santa Clara County to have the least efficient
criminal trial system of the 17 largest counties in California, and that
includes Los Angeles, the state's criminal-justice jungle. Inmates are
languishing longer than ever waiting for trial in the overcrowded county
jail, at taxpayers' expense.

The judges who leave early say they get all of their work done, and they
blame the backlog on a lack of resources. They consistently have argued for
more prosecutors, public defenders and judges.

But interviews with approximately 75 prosecutors, defense lawyers, court
officials and other judges reveal a system that often operates for the
personal convenience of a handful of powerful judges.

``Work is not valued; efficiency is not valued,'' says one Superior Court
judge who has presided over criminal cases in the past. Like most people
interviewed for this investigation, the judge insisted on anonymity. Judges
feared alienating their colleagues while lawyers feared offending the
judges in whose courts they must appear.

``These folks have set the tone,'' the judge continued, ``and it ripples
through the whole system.''

An open secret

Criminal courts close early on Fridays

Indeed, it has been an open secret in the local judiciary for at least a
decade that the criminal courts close early on Fridays, no matter how many
cases are awaiting trial.

Fridays are known as ``kick-back'' days, a day court insiders say some
judges plan for all week.

``It's a bunch of boys, a fraternity engaged in that kind of stuff,'' one
veteran defense attorney says of the golfing judges, who frequently arrive
at the Hall on Fridays sporting slacks and golf shirts. ``In the back
hallways, they brag about their games, [and] someone will have a driver or
putter and show it off.''

No one has been able to change this culture because, as one prominent San
Jose jurist puts it, ``We'd have to go to war (with some of the Hall's
judges) to deal with this.''

To document its findings, the Mercury News focused on 14 of 15 Superior
Court judges who work in the Hall of Justice, the glass-modern six-story
structure adjacent to the county jail on Hedding Street in San Jose. In
their 14 courtrooms, those judges hear the most serious criminal cases. The
15th judge is the supervising judge who mostly has an administrative role.

From mid-April to mid-August, reporters checked those courtrooms twice
every day to see if they were open or closed. The judges' parking lot was
monitored to determine if cars were gone at the same time a courtroom was
locked, and judges were followed when they left early on Fridays.

Among the findings:

On Fridays, several judges began leaving the Hall before noon. By 2:30
p.m., on average half of the 14 courtrooms in the Hall were closed. On many
of these days, nearly all the courtrooms were shut.

Four judges played golf or went home nearly every Friday afternoon, and
occasionally some of them played on other weekdays: Thomas Hastings, Daniel
Creed, Hugh Mullin III and Robert Foley. A fifth, Rene Navarro, joined them
on occasion and sometimes left for home after working Friday mornings.
Another judge, John Ball, says that he may have golfed on Fridays in the
past but has not made it a practice this year. On some afternoons, he left
the Hall early to attend to his wife, who is ill.

Judge Robert Ahern occasionally went home, ran errands or attended to
personal business on Fridays, while Judge Ronald Lisk was gone some Friday
afternoons.

The remaining six judges generally put in full days on Fridays.

A group of criminal judges took the same days off for vacation several
times during the year. Eight judges took off the entire first week of June,
seven for an annual golfing retreat at a resort near Donner Pass.

Judges, who earn $110,612 a year, came and went as they pleased under a
vacation policy that by all accounts is an honor system.

``Superior Court's vacation policy has always been to have no policy,''
says one veteran Superior Court judge.

Fuzzy vacation time

Record-keeping appears unreliable

While many other court systems around the state record judges' vacation
time in detail, record-keeping for Superior Court judges in Santa Clara
County is unreliable at best.

Judges Mullin and Foley, for example, produced documents indicating that
they put in for vacation time for some weekdays that they played golf, but
the dates were not reflected in the court's vacation records.

Under this largely unregulated system, judges can for all practical
purposes take as much vacation each year as they want, although there is a
statewide guideline of 21 days annually.

Those guidelines call for the presiding judge to be notified ``reasonably''
in advance of a judge's intention to take off a half day or more. Most of
the court's judges are diligent about putting in for vacation in advance,
based on a review of Superior Court's 1997 and 1998 vacation logs.

But some of the Hall judges, such as Hastings and Mullin, take
spur-of-the-moment vacation days for their Friday golf outings. They say
they do not need to apply for them in advance.

``The only person who tracks a judge's vacation in the Superior Court is
the judge,'' Hastings says. ``Some years, a judge might take 10 days; next
year, they might take 40 days. That's up to the individual judge.''

Other Hall of Justice judges who play golf regularly say they are taking
legitimate vacation time when they head out early on Fridays. Navarro
declined to comment, saying Hastings spoke for him. Foley, who handles
mostly non-trial drug cases, says he takes off a half day on Fridays to
golf. He says he compensates for that by reviewing legal documents on many
Saturdays and Sundays.

``There have been years in the past where I have not taken any vacation,''
Foley says. ``You can't believe how relaxing golf is. I get to see some
green grass, breathe some fresh air, watch the little animals run around,
and just forget about this legal stuff, because it's all going to be there
on Saturday morning.''

Members of the legal community credit Foley with an extraordinary work
ethic and characterize Hastings as one of the county's best criminal-trial
judges.

But many judges and lawyers are outraged that these judges abandon the Hall
of Justice early on Fridays for a round of golf, regardless of the
justification. A majority of those interviewed are convinced that the
largest court system in the Bay Area cannot afford to lose a weekday's work.

``When the judges leave, that means there is a bailiff, clerk and court
reporter doing nothing,'' says one prosecutor. ``Meanwhile, our jails are
overcrowded with people who should be sentenced and on their way to prison.
It is cheating the taxpayers. It's not the way things were set up to be --
for a group of judges to predictably take Fridays off to pursue their sport.''

Adds former Superior Court Judge Peter Stone, a respected leader in the
legal community who retired last year: ``The obligation of every judge is
to devote every moment of professional time to serving the public. To the
extent the facts turn out to be otherwise, corrective action needs to be
taken by each of these individuals.''

Weekend work

Judges say they compensate for Fridays

The Hall judges who leave early on Fridays insist they are fulfilling those
obligations. Although courts are not in session nights or weekends, the
judges say they take work associated with their ongoing trials home or come
in on weekends to do it.

Judges such as Hastings, Creed and Mullin tend to run their complex murder
trials four days a week, giving defense attorneys and prosecutors a chance
to keep up with their other cases on Fridays. Ahern sometimes runs trials
on Fridays.

According to the Hall judges, everyone needs a break in grueling trials
that stretch for months, from court reporters warding off repetitive strain
injuries to jurors who welcome a chance to attend to personal business.

Indeed, many attorneys welcome the opportunity to catch up on work outside
the courtroom.

Jack Marshall, chief trial deputy district attorney, says he doesn't care
what judges do ``as long as they do good work. I judge a judge by how he
conducts himself when he's working. I think that's why a bunch of us aren't
particularly offended. Fridays, particularly Friday afternoons, have
generally been a slow day around the courthouse. It's been that way for 35
years.''

The judges say the Friday breaks are important for them, too.

``The accusation we play golf on Friday is true, but quite frankly for my
mental health, I've got to do something to relieve the stress,'' says
Creed. ``I suppose I could be doing on Friday afternoon what I do on Sunday
morning, but this is not a 9 to 5 job where you're getting paid by the
hour. And if you'll check, you'll find I've never turned down work.''

Adds Mullin: It [golf] is for relaxation. We do become isolated because of
the contact you can't have. If nothing else, we vent frustration out there.''

To-do list

Plenty of work, other judges say

Many in the legal community say the judges who leave early on Fridays have
maneuvered the system so that they do little or no work other than handling
their ongoing trials.

And there is plenty of other work Hall jurists could do on Fridays, say
many judges, lawyers and court administrators, to help alleviate the
overload in the court system.

Judges could be settling other cases, sentencing defendants, hearing legal
motions or pitching in to help on mundane court business, like signing
search warrants or improving court administration.

Many judges handle such work, but court officials say the judges who leave
early on Fridays usually are not sent such matters because it is wellknown
that they won't be there to do it. These judges also have successfully
resisted being rotated out of long-trial duty to other assignments.

Paul Teilh, a retired judge who hears cases on special assignment, runs
trials five days a week whenever possible.

Known by some lawyers as ``The General'' for his hard-nosed approach, Teilh
tries more cases per year than just about any judge in the county. Last
year, Teilh handled 36 of the 308 felony jury trials completed by the courts.

``I don't agree a judge should leave if there is nothing to do,'' says
Teilh, who is 82. ``He could take up other cases.''

Other Hall of Justice judges say they find ample work on Fridays.

``There's always plenty of work for me to do,'' says Judge Alden Danner.
``Come and see my chambers. I've got piles of work to do.''

The judges who leave early also argue that they have the most legally and
psychologically demanding job in the judiciary -- trying and sentencing
murderers such as Richard Allen Davis. And they say their job is more
strenuous than the work done by their colleagues in Juvenile or Family
Court, or in the civil courts, where the major Silicon Valley lawsuits are
heard.

``All judges are not equal,'' says Ball, a criminal court judge. ``We don't
do the same job. The judges that you are picking on are the equivalent of
our brain surgeons. The criminal division is immensely harder than the
civil division.''

Other judges couldn't disagree more. They point out that in most cases,
there is little extra legal work associated with running a long criminal
trial.

``Once I pick juries, I just sit back on the bench and call balls and
strikes,'' says a San Francisco Superior Court judge who handles long
criminal trials. ``It's the easiest thing to do once the trial starts.''

And many Santa Clara County judges take pride in a civil court system that
sorts out multimillion-dollar disputes between the valley's high-tech
companies, as well as thousands of citizen lawsuits each year, ranging from
product defect complaints to challenges to local government.

The civil-court system is ranked as one of the most efficient in
California, a sharp contrast to its Hall of Justice counterpart.

These judges resent attitudes like Ball's, and take a dim view of what one
Superior Court judge labeled ``the culture that is entrenched'' in the
criminal division.

``There has been flagrant abuse for years, and there is a certain
resentment by judges who don't take off every Friday,'' says another
Superior Court judge. ``Even if they're taking vacation, that's a lot of
judges to be missing at once.''

Presiding Judge Leslie Nichols defends the performance of the criminal
courts, saying criminal cases ``are attended to with all reasonable
dispatch.''

Catherine Gallagher, the supervising judge in the criminal courts, insists
there is no connection between a backlog and a judge like Hastings or Creed
taking off on a Friday. During her one-year tenure, Gallagher says, she has
never had to search in vain for a judge if she had work for them on a Friday.

``Could I fill everybody up on Fridays? I don't think I can,'' she says.

Adds Judge Jack Komar, who supervised the criminal courts in 1995-96 and
who will become presiding judge next year: ``Was the business of the courts
hurt by judges not being there on Fridays? Not one bit in the two years I
was there. I never had a case where both sides were ready when I couldn't
find a judge. I couldn't find cases to send out because the DA was tied up
or a defense attorney was not ready. If we had more public attorneys,
deputy DAs and public defenders, more cases would be processed.''

But the district attorney says his office is ready to go to trial in the
vast majority of cases. Supervising Deputy District Attorney Donald
Shearer, who is in charge of the felony calendar in the criminal courts,
says, ``We are generally ready for trial 80 percent of the time.''

One public defender, who asked not to be identified, bristled at the
suggestion that the troubles in the criminal courts stem from a shortage of
lawyers.

``Everybody knows the Hall of Justice is pretty much shut down on Friday,''
this attorney said. ``For them to shift the responsibility for that to
government attorneys is outrageous.''

David Mann, who is Shearer's counterpart in the public defender's office,
says his office is ready to discuss or try 50 percent to 60 percent of
pending cases at any time. Defense lawyers typically are not prepared to go
to trial as fast as prosecutors, in part because it takes time to respond
to the government's case and in part because delay often is central to
defense strategy.

``It's true that we're not ready as often as the district attorney. But
there are plenty of cases on any calendar for discussion that could happen
any day of the week. So many more cases end up settling than going to
trial,'' Mann says.

The audit commissioned by the county stressed that despite the backlog in
the criminal courts, local judges are not burdened with heavy workloads
compared with other state courts.

Statewide figures back this up: Santa Clara County last year ranked only
43rd among the state's 58 counties in the number of civil and criminal
cases filed per judge, 34th in cases set for trial per judge, and 27th in
jury trials per judge.

A growing backlog

Inmates wait longer to go to trial

Meanwhile, the criminal backlog is taking its toll. When cases aren't
processed, the jails crowd up. In the past six years, the average length of
time inmates stay in county jails has increased 111 percent.

It costs the county $23,600 to incarcerate an inmate for a year. As of
Sept. 2, county jails housed 4,568 inmates, 121 percent of maximum
capacity, according to county jail figures. This September, 2,433 jail
inmates, or 53 percent, were awaiting trial, in trial or awaiting
sentencing. And the time they are waiting is getting longer. According to
the county audit, the average length of stay in the county jail for
non-sentenced prisoners increased from 67 days in May 1991 to 142 days in
May 1997.

``The biggest concern we have is that the ratio has reversed itself,'' says
Rick Kitson, a county jail spokesman. ``Ten years ago, most inmates were
sentenced and serving time locally. Now, most are in the court or judicial
process.''

In a fuming letter to the board of supervisors responding to the audit, the
judges pinned the blame for the state of the criminal docket squarely on a
lack of resources. In addition to arguing that the county needs more public
defenders and prosecutors available for cases, the court suggested that it
might need more judges as well.

``If jail overcrowding is, in part, a consequence of cases being processed
through the system as fast as possible, that would appear to be the
consequence of inadequate numbers of public lawyers and judges, not the
processes themselves,'' wrote Court Executive Steve Love in a letter
speaking for the entire court.

Regardless of what would solve the system's problems, some judges and legal
experts worry about how the image of the courts is affected by judges
playing golf on Fridays.

The state Commission on Judicial Performance, the disciplinary arm of the
state judiciary, has punished judges in the past for improperly leaving
their jobs.

Public confidence

Some judges worry about court integrity

``The first ethical duty of a judge is to maintain public confidence in the
integrity of the judiciary,'' says San Jose federal Judge Jeremy Fogel, a
longtime Superior Court judge and one of the leading judicial ethics
experts in the state. ``The court needs to look at its institutional
structure in a way that maintains public confidence in the institution.''

Adds Edward Davila, president of the Santa Clara County Bar Association and
a veteran criminal defense attorney: ``These types of things may allow the
public to lose confidence in our system of justice. It opens everybody in
the legal community, perhaps unfairly, to criticism. It would be a pity if
the good work by the collective bench is diminished in any way by this.''

The Hall judges who leave early say public image is not in their control.

``I can't affect that perception,'' says Hastings. ``That's where you (the
media) come in. You can be very positive. You can talk about the fine work
the criminal justice (system) is doing in Santa Clara County, and you can
talk about the fine work the criminal division of this court is doing.''

As with all things in the criminal justice system, the debate over the
Friday workload comes back to the judges. The state Judicial Council, which
sets policy for all California judges, makes it clear in its rules that
``the court, not the lawyers or litigants, should control the pace of
litigation. A strong judicial commitment is essential to reducing delay and
maintaining a current docket.''

A majority of the county's judges are hopeful that the current culture of
casual Fridays at the Hall will go the way of the valley's fruit orchards.
Like courts throughout the state, the county is struggling with the impact
of the 4-year-old ``three strikes, you're out'' law, which results in more
defendants going to trial because they have nothing to gain by settling a
third conviction through plea bargaining.

The district attorney's office also is projecting a steady increase in
felony cases over the next 10 years.

The problem is now landing on the desk of Komar, the incoming presiding
judge. The court system is already beginning to overhaul its traditional
structure by merging the 79 judges of Municipal and Superior Courts into
one mega-court.

The task of being a presiding judge is often likened to ``herding cats.''
But Komar, while defending the actions of the Hall judges, plans to make
some changes.

``In the new unified courts,'' Komar says, ``there will be plenty of work
to do on Fridays.''

1997 - 1998 Mercury Center. The information you receive online from Mercury
Center is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The
copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, retransmitting, or
repurposing of any copyright-protected material.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Marijuana Issue In Air (The Las Vegas Review-Journal says a new poll
on the Nevada medical marijuana ballot measure, commissioned
for the Review-Journal and KTNV-TV, found 47 percent of the respondents
supported Question 9, while 44 percent opposed the proposition.)

Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 10:10:47 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NV: Marijuana Issue In Air
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Contact: letters@lvrj.com
Fax: 702-383-4676
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/
Pubdate: Sun, 04 Oct 1998
Author: Ed Vogel, Donrey Capital Bureau

MARIJUANA ISSUE IN AIR

Americans for Medical Rights is confident voters will take the first steps
to legalize the drug for medical reasons.

SIDEBAR: Link to Poll Results at
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Oct-04-Sun-1998/photos/poll-pot.jpg

CARSON CITY -- A new poll shows the Nevada ballot question to allow the use
of marijuana for medical purposes is a tossup, with the margin of support
just less than the poll's margin of error.

A statewide poll commissioned for the Review-Journal and KTNV-TV, Channel
13, found 47 percent of the respondents support Question 9, while 44 percent
oppose the proposition. Nine percent were undecided.

"It is absolutely too close to call," said Del Ali, the pollster for the
Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc. The margin for error is 3.5
percentage points.

Ali said the results are similar to what his survey found in California a
month before voters there passed a similar proposition in 1996.

In the election that fall, 56 percent of California's voters approved
Proposition 215.

Passage of that question spawned initiative petition efforts by Americans
for Medical Rights that resulted in medical marijuana questions being placed
before voters in Nevada and five other states on Nov. 3.

"When we get our message out we will be ahead by even more," said Dan Hart,
the Nevada leader of Americans for Medical Rights.

Hart said the organization is reviewing various advertising campaigns,
including television ads and direct mailers, to put its message before
voters.

"The compassionate use of marijuana for patients with catastrophic illnesses
should be allowed in Nevada," Hart said.

Unlike other states, Nevada voters must pass the question in November and
again in 2000 to amend the state constitution to allow use of marijuana for
medical reasons.

Under the question, doctors could recommend marijuana for patients with
cancer, glaucoma, AIDS and other illnesses.

The proposal calls for the Legislature to pass laws to set up a distribution
system and for the creation of a registry through which law enforcement
officers could determine that people are authorized to use marijuana.

Hart sees the poll results favorably because he doubts there will be an
organized movement to stop passage of Question 9.

The state's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del
Papa, said she doesn't support the marijuana questions because the drug
remains illegal under federal laws.

"There are a lot of legal questions that need to be worked out if this
passes," she said. "I see some challenges to overcome."

Col. Michael Hood, chief of the Nevada Highway Patrol, fears passage of the
question would lead to greater drug abuse.

"In my 22 years of law enforcement work we have been fighting against these
kinds of drugs," he said. "I don't want to keep people with legitimate needs
out, but right now I think the law needs a lot of work."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

House Resolution Defies Evidence On Marijuana (A letter to the editor
of The State Journal Register in Illinois says that members of the US House
of Representatives who voted for House Joint Resolution 117, opposing medical
marijuana, ignored the government's own evidence that cannabis is a valuable
medicine. The resolution was a lie that is causing needless suffering and
even death, and politicians who voted for it should be held accountable.)

Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 23:48:33 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US IL: PUB LTE: House Resolution
Defies Evidence On Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: lstevens@fgi.net (Larry & Mindy Stevens)
Source: The State Journal Register
Contact: letters@sj-r.com
Website: http://www.sj-r.com
Pubdate: Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998
Author: Larry Stevens

HOUSE RESOLUTION DEFIES EVIDENCE ON MARIJUANA

The Associated Press wire story you printed about the cannabis
research being conducted at the University of California at San
Francisco is interesting in light of the US House of Representatives'
recent resolution stating that "marijuana is a dangerous drug and
should not be legalized for medical use."

Scientists are telling us that the rich cocktail of compounds found in
marijuana, the cannabinoids, are uniquely suited for a wide variety of
medical uses. U.S. Army scientists are using a synthetic cannaboid to
prevent seizures and strokes in rats exposed to nerve gas.

The July 7 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences trumpets
THC and other cannaboids as antioxidants more powerful than vitamin C
or vitamin E and potentially useful in preventing brain damage caused
by strokes.

Yet the House will have none of this. In response to medical
marijuana ballot initiatives springing up in Alaska, Colorado, the
District of Columbia, Oregon, Nevada and Washington, the House of
Representatives passed HJ Resolution 117 expressing their sense that
marijuana has no medicinal value.

Here is an example of a lie that matters. It is a lie that is causing
needless suffering and even death.

It is a lie for which politicians who voted for the resolution should
be held accountable.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Pot Rally Had Hardly A Whiff Of The '60s (The Boston Herald version focuses
on the participation of Elvy Musikka, one of eight patients who still receive
medical marijuana from the US government under the Compassionate
Investigational New Drug program discontinued by the Bush Administration
in 1992.)

Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 18:00:28 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MA: Pot Rally Had Hardly A Whiff Of The '60s
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: MASS CAN/NORML http://www.masscann.org/
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Contact: letterstoeditor@bostonherald.com
Website: http://www.bostonherald.com/
Pubdate: Sun, 04 Oct 1998
Author: Peter Gelzinis
Note: Talk back to Peter Gelzinis
http://www.bostonherald.com/guestbook/pgelzinis/pgelzinis.html

POT RALLY HAD HARDLY A WHIFF OF THE '60s

In the beginning, like our chief toker, Bill Clinton, Elvy Musikka did not
inhale. She ate -- homemade marijuana brownies.

Though Elvy's spiked brownies seemed to do the trick for her glaucoma,
there was this one problem. The more brownies she ate the fatter she got.

So, this single mother of two from Hollywood, Fla., had her "prescription"
changed. Now Elvy carries her daily supply of 10 government-sanctioned,
"medicinal" joints in the grubbiest looking over-sized pill vial you ever saw.

She says the glaucoma in her one good eye has stabilized. As for the
short-term memory loss, Elvy's learned to compensate, undoubtedly, by
talking a blue streak. Listening to her rave on about the wonders of
"joint" therapy, and how "medical marijuana" should be part of any national
health plan is a little like trying to sing along with Alvin & The Chipmunks.

Under a gorgeous fall sky, Elvy Musikka -- billed as one of eight people in
America legally certified to toke by the government -- made an appearance
on Boston Common at yesterday's hemp fest, pro-pot, high-school hootenanny
and slam dance.

To be honest, the youngsters in their hip-huggers and skateboarding garb
did not pay a whole lot of attention to Elvy up there on stage. They were
far too pre-occupied by either raging hormones, or as one desperate sign
put it: "Will do bleepy impersonations for free roaches."

It was hardly like Eva Peron returning to Argentina. Still, Elvy Musikka is
to the pro-cannabis movement what Elvira "Pixie" Palladino was to the
anti-busing movement. Except, Elvy sings . . . really.

As she tried to harmonize with a song off her CD, "Truth and Love Are One,"
I couldn't help but imagine Frank Sinatra grimmacing from some Jack
Daniels-soaked lair in the sky and wondering: "What's with the old biker
chick?"

Elvy was proud to point out that from the tips of her green sneakers to the
top of her black "High Times" cap, everything she wore was made of 100
percent hemp. Not a stitch of earth-polluting polyester on her.

Now, if you happened to be a Boston cop, maybe there were easier ways to
make $28 an hour. You could always do a detail over a manhole, or by the
check-out register at Stop & Shop.

But how much fun is that compared to, say, dressing up like a refugee out
of Starsky & Hutch -- in frayed jeans, hooded sweatshirt and red bandanas,
no less -- while Bill Downing, president of MassCann, follows you through
the crowd, wearing a pig nose and blowing your cover by shouting "OINK!
OINK!" everywhere you roam.

With or without a pig nose, most kids spotted the cops. Amid teeny-bopper
nation, they were the ones who looked like Gabby Hayes.

At one point, half the old homicide department was following pig-nosed Bill
Downing, as he shadowed a young undercover cop who looked like he just
might jam the rubber nose down Downing's throat.

Essentially, this was the tenor of the great First Amendment duel on the
Common, yesterday. Bill Downing in a pig nose yelling "OINK! OINK!." Sad,
truly. It makes this child of the '60s cringe to see how far down the
civil-disobedience food chain we have dribbled.

From "Stop The War" to "OINK! OINK!"

But, hey, the two guys in green Coca-Cola T-shirts manning a sausage cart
weren't complaining. Good position at a mass toke-in was a helluva lot
better than no position outside Fenway Park. The dopers were infinitely
better to the sausage guys than our heroes in Kenmore Square.

"Nice crowd," observed the sausage guy No. 1, who made change from a wad of
bills stuffed in his hand, thick enough to choke a horse.

"It seems to take a while for some of these kids to come up with the dough
for a sandwich," the sausage guy observed. "The bills are all crinkled and
stuck together. They make ya wait. But they're nice about it. Nice kids,
basically. I could use some different music, though."

The Libertarian Party was there, of course, with a 10-question pop quiz to
determine if you were actually a closet Libertarian. Problem was, after 4
in the afternoon, some folks were a little too zonked out to figure out
where they lived, let alone what political party they belonged to.

That short-term memory thing, man. Just like ol' Elvy was sayin', the
"medicine, it fills your mind with all these distractions."

Copyright 1998 Boston Herald, Inc.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite Warnings, Some Still Inhaled (A different Boston Herald account
portrays Saturday's rally at Boston Common in favor of decriminalizing
marijuana, sponsored by MassCann.)

Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 18:00:38 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MA: Despite Warnings, Some Still Inhaled
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: MASS CAN/NORML http://www.masscann.org/
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Contact: letterstoeditor@bostonherald.com
Website: http://www.bostonherald.com/
Pubdate: Sun, 04 Oct 1998
Author: David Weber

DESPITE WARNINGS, SOME STILL INHALED

Earnest activists, political candidates and stoners just looking to "chill
and smoke some weed" assembled on Boston Common yesterday around one common
theme: Decriminalize marijuana.

"It's just the pursuit of freedom," said Ronald Byers Jr., 26, of
Billerica, who admitted smoking some pot yesterday. "It's time to legalize
it. Many millions of Americans smoke it. Why hide it anymore?"

One of the reasons to hide it was the Boston police. They had a large
uniformed presence at the rally, and undercover officers roamed through the
crowd, making arrests.

Sixty-one people were arrested and taken to the Area A station near
Government Center by the time the five-hour rally officially ended at 5
p.m. That number was less than half last year's count of 150.

There were no violent confrontations between the police and the pro-pot
crowd. Officers demonstrated restraint while being baited with "oink, oink"
chants from rallyers, particularly Bill Downing, president of rally sponsor
MassCann (short for cannabis).

Downing donned a pig nose and shouted "oink, oink" while walking behind
undercover officers, giving warning to his followers.

At one point, a frustrated officer told Downing to "get the (expletive)
away" and then hauled him in to the festive yellow-and-white police booking
tent set up behind the stage.

Police commanders acknowledged that Downing had not actually violated the
law and turned him loose despite his vow to continue the "oink, oink" routine.

However, just as Downing had pointedly followed the undercover officers,
two uniformed officers shadowed Downing the rest of the day, making it
impossible for him to partake in any illegal smoking.

As with many aspects of the rally, it was difficult to get a straight
answer to the question of how many people were there. Police said 35,000; a
MassCann spokeswoman said 50,000; Downing said 100,000.

Last year, approximately 60,000 turned out for the rally, and 150 were
arrested.

Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Margot Hill spent much of last week
urging rallyers to forget about smoking pot because of this year's "zero
tolerance" policy.

"It's been very peaceful," said police spokesman Kevin Jones as the event
wound down yesterday. "Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. People
were warned about zero tolerance, and they do it (smoke) at their own peril."

There was no shortage of people who took that risk.

In pipes, joints, blunts (cigars) and a gas mask outfitted for smoking,
hundreds broke the law while keeping a wary eye out for law-enforcement
officials.

One young man had draped around his shoulders a boa constrictor, whose head
was wrapped around a cigar tube. The man said there was no pot in the tube.
No one checked.

Dressed in a red, white and blue top hat and a star-spangled blazer, Robert
Robinson of New Paltz, N.Y., handed out fliers for his Harvest Fest '98
next weekend near Lake George.

Robinson described himself as the founder and president of the New York
State Cannabis Action Network, while his friend piped up, "He's not just
the president. He's also a client."

Dan the Bagel Man, a pushcart vendor and a Boston Common fixture for many
years, turned up the heat in his campaign for Boston City Council. He
strolled through the throng, handing out fliers proclaiming, "Dan the Bagel
Man for City Council 1998" -- even though the election actually is in 1999.

Dan's literature heralded his campaign platform succinctly: "I inhaled (and
I will do it again). I have been arrested for my beliefs (and I will do it
again). I have had sex with different partners (and I will do it again)."

Copyright 1998 Boston Herald, Inc.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Clear thinking on the drug warrior front (Today's chuckle from a list
subscriber)

From: "Peter McWilliams" (peter@mcwilliams.com)
To: "Peter McWilliams" (peter@mcwilliams.com)
Subject: Post to mmm as "Clear thinking on the drug warrior front"
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 00:30:34 +0100

The following is copied verbatim from the drug warrior web page:

"Fact: Marijuana can mess you up. Your performance in school, sports and
other activities will suffer if you're Copyright 1995, The Detroit News
Copyright 1995, The Detroit News Copyright 1995, The Detroit News Copyright
1995, The Detroit News"

Enjoy,

Peter McWilliams

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Amnesty puts US in the dock over human rights record (The Daily Telegraph
in London says Amnesty International will release a 153-page report Tuesday
that for the first time will make the United States the focus of its
worldwide campaign, accusing it of double standards and creating a climate
"in which human rights violations thrive." Federal and state authorities,
police, immigration and prison officers are all criticised in the
wide-ranging report that paints a picture of generalised gratuitous violence,
sexual abuse and cruelty.)

Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 23:42:44 -0400
To: rlake@mapinc.org
From: Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org)
Subject: Newshawk Alert! RE: Amnesty puts US in the dock over human
rights record

***

Friends,

So far I have not seen this story (below) come in from any newspapers. I am
sure the tie between the US human rights record and the War on Drugs is
clear to us all.

In order for our excellent Letter to the Editor writers to take advantage
of this story, we need it from the press. If you can us find the stories,
the more the better, please send them to editor@mapinc.org

Please follow the basic newshawking tips (so we can get the articles out
quickly) at:

http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm

Thanks for your assistance!

Richard Lake
Senior Editor; MAPnews, MAPnews-Digest and DrugNews-Digest
email: rlake@DrugSense.org
http://www.DrugSense.org/drugnews/

***

(London) Electronic Telegraph International News

ISSUE 1227 Sunday 4 October 1998

Amnesty puts US in the dock over human rights record

By Christina Lamb in London
and James Langton in New York

(The death penalty - North America Project -- Amnesty International)

***

THE United States government is planning a furious rebuttal to a stinging
denunciation of its human rights record by Amnesty International.

For the first time, the London-based human rights agency has made the US
the target of its worldwide campaign, accusing it of double standards and
creating a climate "in which human rights violations thrive".

The 153-page report, which is released on Tuesday, attacks the US for what
it calls "a persistent and widespread pattern of human rights violations".
Although Amnesty has often criticised the US in the past, and carried out
investigations into specific issues, it is the first time it has made it
the focus of its campaign for the year. Previous subjects in recent years
have included Rwanda, Haiti, Afghanistan and Guatemala.

US federal and state authorities, police, immigration and prison officers
are all criticised in the wide-ranging report that paints a picture of
generalised gratuitous violence, sexual abuse and cruelty. Shocked at being
singled out for such ferocious criticism, the State Department is planning
to issue a detailed repudiation tomorrow. The Clinton administration in
particular has always been a supporter of Amnesty International, and there
was a clear sense of betrayal over the report.

The authors of the report said: "While successive US governments have used
international human rights standards as a yardstick by which to judge other
countries they have not consistently applied those same standards at home.
Across the USA people have been beaten, kicked, punched, choked and shot by
police officers even when they posed no threat."

Aside from famous cases such as the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles
police, numerous instances of police brutality are cited. "Police officers
have beaten and shot unresisting suspects; they have misused batons,
chemical sprays and electro-shock weapons; they have injured or killed
people by placing them in dangerous restraint holds."

It claims that authorities pay out millions of dollars in damages rather
than actually tackle the problem or institute any form of accountability.
The report accuses the US of refusing to recognise the primacy of
international law, reserving the right to use death penalty against
juveniles, not paying its dues to the UN, to which it now owes over a
billion dollars, and being one of only two countries (along with Somalia)
that has failed to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Conditions in American prisons come in for particular criticism. The number
of people in US jails has tripled since 1980 to more than 1.7 million, and
chains and leg-irons are commonly used as restraints despite being
prohibited by international law.

The report says: "Women and men are subjected to sexual as well as physical
abuse. Overcrowded and underfunded prisons control inmates by isolating
them for long periods and by using methods of restraint that are cruel,
degrading and sometimes life-threatening. Victims include pregnant women,
the mentally ill and even children."

According to the authors of the report, much of this abuse is linked to
racism. They say: "The US has not succeeded in eradicating the
discriminatory treatment of blacks, Latinos and other minority groups."

They also point out that up to one third of all young black men are in jail
or on parole or probation and that in 39 states, gays and lesbians can be
legally dismissed from their jobs because of their sexual orientation. It
contains graphic descriptions of asylum seekers held in shackles, placed
behind bars and detained in "inhuman and degrading" conditions. It says:
"The USA was built by immigrants and claims to stand against oppression.
Yet the US authorities violate the human rights of people who have been
forced by persecution to leave their countries and seek asylum."

Amnesty has been involved in a long-standing battle with the US over its
continued use of the death penalty. Executions are on the increase, more
than 350 people put to death since 1990 and a further 3,300 people are on
death row.

According to Amnesty, the death penalty is "applied in an arbitrary and
unfair manner and is prone to bias on grounds of race or economic status .
. . it has become so highly politicised that virtually no politician is
willing to speak out against it".

It cites for example the case of Karla Faye Tucker who was executed in
February despite her acknowledged reform while on death row when she
admitted her guilt, became deeply religious and spoke of her desire to help
others to learn from her experiences.

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Hemp Gaining Respectability (The Toronto Star says Canada's first industrial
crop of cannabis sativa in 60 years has farmers abuzz. Focusing on Hempology,
a new company dedicated to marketing hemp products, the article says hemp
has the potential to become as important in the next century as plas