'88 DRUG-AWARENESS ESSAY WINNER BOOKED

NAPOLEONVILLE -- The first-place winner in Assumption High School's 1988
drug-awareness essay contest was arrested and booked with possession of
91/2 pounds of marijuana worth $23,000, Sheriff Mike Waguespack said Tuesday.

Deputies with a search warrant used a police dog to find the marijuana
hidden in the oven of Todd Southall's mobile home at 117 Jacobs St. in
Bertrandville.

Southall, now 26, won the high school essay contest sponsored by a group of
pharmacies, Waguespack said. The contest plaque was on a wall in the mobile
home, the sheriff said.

Southall previously was convicted of distribution of cocaine, the sheriff
said. Deputies found two shotguns in his residence, a violation of his
parole, Waguespack said.

Southall was held Tuesday in the Assumption Parish Detention Center in lieu
of $100,000 bail.