DEATH SHOWS NEED FOR CHANGE IN WAR ON DRUGS

KIMBERLY ANN GRAY was a 23-year-old Westside High School graduate from a
fine family who died after four days in a coma. Police later arrested
two young men in connection with her death. One of them is accused of
giving the girl a prescription cough medicine which authorities say -
and to me, this is incredible - she injected twice before collapsing.

Sad to say, authorities know this was not the first time she and friends
had dabbled with drugs.

Such tragedies, which happen every day in communities large and small,
remind us how illegal drugs ruin lives regardless of age, race, class or
religion.

Kimberly's death - and the deaths of a growing number of young people in
our two-state area, especially those now using the Ecstasy drug -
underscore a simple fact: Demand, not supply, drives the drug trade.

It remains irritating to this observer that all too many police and
prosecutors don't want to target petty drug users. They want to go after
``the big guys.'' More and more cases involving small amounts of cocaine
and heroin are even being dismissed in Georgia, South Carolina and other
states. This reflects society's growing ambivalence toward drugs.

Everyone deplores ``drug kingpins'' and ``drug gangs'' - but few want to
call for hard time for all users, because that could include a son or
daughter.

Yet the problem exists because these very ``kids'' are craving
mind-altering illegal drugs.

Jail time for young users could be an effective deterrent; it would
diminish demand which would drive some big suppliers out of business.
But there's a dilemma. Many young people in their late teens and early
20s likely to be arrested for possession and use are ``kids'' that
society is reluctant to jail.

Maybe if more young users were locked away for a short time - while
simultaneously getting help and treatment - society might save future
Kimberly Ann Grays from addiction. There is not enough jail space, you
say? True enough, in some parts of the country. But when we keep giving
second and third-time chances to the ``small-time'' user, America's drug
problem will never go away.

Is Sue In Hot Water?

GEORGIA HOUSE Speaker Pro Tem Jack Connell, D-Augusta, was stunned to
read the following paragraph on legislative redistricting in The
Columbia News-Times quoting state Rep. Sue Burmeister, R-Augusta:

``Burmeister says Democrat Jack Connell won't run again, so other
Democrats will cannibalize his district for the numbers they need to
keep their own seats safe, while cutting out the Republicans and putting
them in Burmeister's district.''

When asked if this report that he's not running is true, Connell said
``absolutely not.'' Then he shot back, ``I have certainly never
discussed this subject with Ms. Burmeister.''

The truth is that freshman Burmeister, who says she basically spent the
past session ``observing and learning,'' is worried that the 114th House
District she represents will be altered.

For one thing, some legislators are irked that she doesn't keep her
word. Burmeister, for example, burned Sen. Charles Walker, D-Augusta, by
signaling him her position on an optometry bill and then voting just the
opposite.

For another, will Republican and Democratic friends of former Rep. Robin
Williams, R-Augusta, on the House Reapportionment Committee tweak the
114th's lines to make it more favorable for a Williams electoral
comeback? Several Democrats and Republicans on that panel also tell this
columnist it is extremely unlikely there would be any plan to extend
that district from Augusta into Columbia County.

And, oh yes. Democrats on that panel say it would be absurd to think
they would not instinctively move to preserve Democrat leader Connell's
115th District seat.

Jockeying For Marshal

RICHMOND COUNTY is one of the few Georgia counties boasting of a
marshal, whose duties include everything from serving warrants to
executing evictions.

Under a new law, this public servant is to now be elected countywide. So
incumbent Steve Smith is being challenged by veteran Augusta cop Moses
McCauley and sheriff's investigator John Gray.

Smith, who has ably held the post for the past decade, should have a leg
up on the other two political unknowns. The affable incumbent has scored
points in recent years for strenuously urging better Municipal Building
security, and he has tried to crack down on litter even when city
fathers wouldn't back him.

Qualifying for the position with the Board of Elections begins in
September. Fund-raising had better begin now for Smith, if he is to fend
off these two and possibly more challengers.