FIELDS CASE RAISES SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUTH, DRUGS

This is the first of three editorials that focus on crime, young
offenders and public safety in Huntington.

Today's editorial deals with the drug trade and teens. Monday's
focuses on identifying at-risk youths early. The final editorial
addresses cuts to the police force.

If the Huntington community cannot stop Detroit drug dealers from
getting their hands on our children, we can expect to see more sad
cases like that of DeAaron Fields.

Fields, 15, of Huntington was convicted last month of first-degree
murder in the shooting of Karen Stultz, 39, of Catlettsburg, Ky.
Stultz died of gunshot wounds suffered April 21, 2004, in an incident
near the former Little John's Chevron convenience store on Hal Greer
Boulevard over a $40 debt for crack cocaine.

Fields will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years, having
already received credit for having been in custody since his arrest
the day after the shooting. Fields, who was 14 at the time Stultz was
shot, was tried as an adult. He will remain in a juvenile facility
until his 18th birthday, when the state Department of Corrections will
determine his placement in an adult penitentiary.

This case raises so many questions.

How many 14-year-old crack dealers are out there? This trade obviously
preys on teens. Adolescents usually are out of reach of the adult
court system. Because of secrecy provisions in laws pertaining to
juveniles, the public has next to no way of knowing how many teenagers
are accused of selling drugs, or what happens to them. The Fields case
shows that they are there. He cannot have been the only one.

Fields, however, was tried as an adult. He had been in and out of the
juvenile court system since he was 10 years old. This case sent him to
adult court.

Circuit Judge Alfred Ferguson, who presided over Fields' trial, took a
few minutes at the sentencing to address the influx of out-of-state
drug dealers who use youths to sell crack and other drugs. He said a
trend of youths carrying firearms is a cause for further concern.

Fields supposedly borrowed the gun used to kill Stultz from a
16-year-old friend. Fields denied owning a gun at the time of the
shooting. Prosecutor Chris Chiles, incredulous at that statement,
asked Fields if he were the only crack dealer in Huntington who didn't
carry a gun.

Huntington lawyer John Laishley, who headed Fields' defense, said the
community should see the case as a wake-up call.

"That the children of our community can be so blatantly corrupted
by crack dealers from Detroit, Columbus and Huntington gives us all
concern. Innocence is gone -- vanished. It has been replaced with
greed, corruption and violence -- uncontrolled and unabated violence."

Obviously, the community must stop letting Detroit wholesalers get
their hands on our kids. But how? The dealers can parachute into town
for a few days, do their business and disappear.

The damage they cause cannot be measured, but we can't seem to stop
them. Law enforcement efforts are hampered by lack of manpower. There
are too many people in Huntington willing to participate in this
business, and too many people from outlying areas willing to drive
here to be its customers.

This is something city, county and state officials need to explain.
What can be done to put a stop to this, and what resources are necessary?

Then it's up to the community to decide if it wants to commit those
resources to this effort or else live with the present situation.

This is the first of three editorials that focus on crime, young
offenders and public safety in Huntington.

Today's editorial deals with the drug trade and teens. Monday's
focuses on identifying at-risk youths early. The final editorial
addresses cuts to the police force.

If the Huntington community cannot stop Detroit drug dealers from
getting their hands on our children, we can expect to see more sad
cases like that of DeAaron Fields.

Fields, 15, of Huntington was convicted last month of first-degree
murder in the shooting of Karen Stultz, 39, of Catlettsburg, Ky.
Stultz died of gunshot wounds suffered April 21, 2004, in an incident
near the former Little John's Chevron convenience store on Hal Greer
Boulevard over a $40 debt for crack cocaine.

Fields will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years, having
already received credit for having been in custody since his arrest
the day after the shooting. Fields, who was 14 at the time Stultz was
shot, was tried as an adult. He will remain in a juvenile facility
until his 18th birthday, when the state Department of Corrections will
determine his placement in an adult penitentiary.

This case raises so many questions.

How many 14-year-old crack dealers are out there? This trade obviously
preys on teens. Adolescents usually are out of reach of the adult
court system. Because of secrecy provisions in laws pertaining to
juveniles, the public has next to no way of knowing how many teenagers
are accused of selling drugs, or what happens to them. The Fields case
shows that they are there. He cannot have been the only one.

Fields, however, was tried as an adult. He had been in and out of the
juvenile court system since he was 10 years old. This case sent him to
adult court.

Circuit Judge Alfred Ferguson, who presided over Fields' trial, took a
few minutes at the sentencing to address the influx of out-of-state
drug dealers who use youths to sell crack and other drugs. He said a
trend of youths carrying firearms is a cause for further concern.

Fields supposedly borrowed the gun used to kill Stultz from a
16-year-old friend. Fields denied owning a gun at the time of the
shooting. Prosecutor Chris Chiles, incredulous at that statement,
asked Fields if he were the only crack dealer in Huntington who didn't
carry a gun.

Huntington lawyer John Laishley, who headed Fields' defense, said the
community should see the case as a wake-up call.

"That the children of our community can be so blatantly corrupted
by crack dealers from Detroit, Columbus and Huntington gives us all
concern. Innocence is gone -- vanished. It has been replaced with
greed, corruption and violence -- uncontrolled and unabated violence."

Obviously, the community must stop letting Detroit wholesalers get
their hands on our kids. But how? The dealers can parachute into town
for a few days, do their business and disappear.

The damage they cause cannot be measured, but we can't seem to stop
them. Law enforcement efforts are hampered by lack of manpower. There
are too many people in Huntington willing to participate in this
business, and too many people from outlying areas willing to drive
here to be its customers.

This is something city, county and state officials need to explain.
What can be done to put a stop to this, and what resources are necessary?

Then it's up to the community to decide if it wants to commit those
resources to this effort or else live with the present situation.