SUMMIT FOCUSES ON EVILS OF METH

Ashley Smith likes to say Brian Nichols probably "scared meth and
hell" out of her.

Smith, who was held hostage in her Atlanta apartment last year for
more than seven hours with alleged Fulton County courthouse gunman
Brian Nichols, spoke Friday at Piedmont College as part of an anti-drug summit.

The summit, billed as "Meth: The Devil's Drug," continues from 8 a.m.
to 4 p.m. today with other speakers including Phil Price, a special
agent in charge of North Georgia regional drug enforcement for the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The event is organized by the nonprofit group "Not in My Kid, Not in
My County."

Friday's lecture featured the glowing Smith, whose life-changing
turnaround after encountering Nichols in March 2005 has been well publicized.

Smith, 27, chronicled her dark past, which started in high school
when she was a highly-recruited basketball player who often played
high on marijuana.

She later began using cocaine in college and became pregnant with her
first daughter. She later married to Mack Smith, who was stabbed to
death in 2001 and died in Ashley Smith's arms. His killer was
convicted of murder last month after the case was reopened.

Smith turned down a path of drug use, particularly meth, after her
husband's death.

"It took away the pain of losing my husband and the thought of
raising our child on my own," she said. "I didn't realize how many
people I was hurting."

Family members later took away her daughter. Her solution, cover it
up by using more drugs. She later claimed terrorists were after her
and was placed in a mental hospital.

"(Meth) took everything away from me, but I still did it," she said.

After going in and out of several drug programs, she recalls moving
to a Duluth apartment and unpacking until 2 a.m. Nichols, who is
accused of escaping after fatally shooting a Fulton County judge,
court reporter and deputy on March 11, 2005, waited in his truck
outside her apartment.

Nichols, 34, tied Smith up and later took a hit of meth from her
personal supply, she said. For the first time in her life, Smith says
she declined to use the drug with Nichols.

"I was a prisoner to meth, but at that moment I felt so free," she
said. "I knew I was going to be a different person if I made it out alive."

Smith read to Nichols from a faith-based book she had received and he
began to open up to her. She convinced the accused killer to give
himself up the next day.

"I was given the blessing of having my daughter and my family back
and that's the best feeling in the world," Smith said. "There's hope
for everyone out there on meth. I'm living proof of it."

Smith's lecture Friday was an eye-opener for some and confirmation of
how deadly the drug is for others.

One couple, whose daughter is an addicted meth user, wanted to hear
Smith speak for advice with their daughter's drug problem. The couple
declined to give their names.

Sunny Mendelson, owner of The Charm House, a center for abused and
battered children, said meth is at an "epidemic level."

"We've got to get kids young and we've got to scare them straight,"
she said. "What served (Smith) is a near-death experience. We've got
to scare the hell out of them and get kids on the right path."

Mendelson said meth is one of the main reasons some parents abuse
their children. The drug is widely available in Northeast Georgia
because it is so cheaply made and easily distributed, Mendelson said.

Her daughter's life has been ruined by the drug and she plans to work
with state programs to get young people off meth, she said.

If you're going

What: Anti-drug summit on methamphetamine abuse.

When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.

Where: Piedmont College in Demorest, various campus locations.

Admission: Free, excluding morning breakfast with GBI special agent
Phil Price ($15 per person).

Free Events: Mock meth lab demonstrations and raid by the Douglas
County Sheriff's Office; Habersham County Medical Center drug
seminar; teacher seminars; parents' open forum; speaker Tony Eubanks,
chaplain for Clemson Tigers football, closing speaker at 3 p.m.

On the Net:

www.drugsnotmykidnotmycounty.org