FOUR DEATHS MAY BE TIED TO HEROIN

Families bemoan lack of help for teen addicts

Janet Gabbert gave up a job and went into debt so she could help her
daughter, Rhyna, fight a drug addiction that school officials and others
said they couldn't handle.

Mrs. Gabbert's patience and round-the-clock care appeared to be paying off:
Rhyna, 16, was still in school and had passed all of her drug tests this
year.

Then last week, Mrs. Gabbert rushed her daughter to the hospital after a
suspected heroin overdose. Rhyna died about noon Friday at Columbia Medical
Center in Lewisville.

"The problem tore the family apart, but we thought we had it licked," Mrs.
Gabbert said. "That's why this was such a shock."

Rhyna's death was one of four suspected heroin-related deaths in the area
within a 24-hour period. Two of the others were also teens.

Attention to heroin use has grown since 1994 because there have been more
than 30 deaths - many of them young adults or teens with ties to Plano or
northeast Tarrant County.

The most recent death was discovered early Saturday in Plano when
18-year-old Tyler Marston's parents found him in his bedroom with drug
paraphernalia, Plano police confirmed.

Mr. Marston was found dead about 3:30 a.m. in the family's home in the 3000
block of Princess Lane, said police spokesman Officer Carl Duke.

Two Tarrant County residents have also died since Friday morning from
suspected heroin overdoses, police said.

Jason Steele, 19, of Arlington died Friday night, several days after a drug
overdose that police suspect may have involved heroin. He was found
unconscious at his mother's central Arlington home Nov. 8, police said, and
was taken off life support Friday.

The death of a Bedford man Friday morning was also being investigated as a
possible heroin overdose. Claude A. Pittmon, 48, died in his bathroom,
police said. Family members said Mr. Pittmon did not abuse drugs. Police
were awaiting lab and toxicology tests.

"It's really unbelievable," said state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano,
commenting on the deaths after a town hall meeting in Far North Dallas on
Saturday.

"There is no one solution," she said, discussing bills she and others will
sponsor to attack the area's drug problem. "It is going to take a community
effort."

Among the measures expected to be introduced in the 1999 legislative
session is one that would allow schools to require student drug-testing,
require mandatory reporting of overdose cases and increase penalties for
anyone involved in a drug-related death.

Numerous community meetings and drug awareness presentations have already
been held across North Texas to encourage residents to work together in the
fight against drugs. Some efforts have led to the creation of community
task forces and police initiatives.

Since 1994, at least 19 teens with Plano ties have died. In northeast
Tarrant County, authorities have reported more than a dozen heroin deaths
since 1996. Ages were not available.

Many heroin-related deaths and the presence of large amounts of drugs led
federal authorities to designate North Texas a High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area in September.

The Northeast Tarrant Narcotics Intelligence Coordination Unit - made up of
officers from the county's police agencies - was recently provided with a
full-time data analyst by the Bedford Police Department to collect
information on drug dealers and addicts.

The city of Plano has also fought back against drug dealers. A crackdown
resulted in the arrest and federal indictment of 29 suspects. Nine have
pleaded guilty, and the rest are scheduled for trial Jan. 5.

The families of two of the latest victims say their experiences highlight
the need for the stronger community efforts that Ms. Shapiro mentioned.

The Gabberts and the Marstons say their children's deaths marked the end of
a long, desperate and ultimately unsuccessful struggle to find help.

>From the first time the Gabberts asked school leaders for help until their
>daughter went through inpatient treatment, they said they faced a lack of
>direction and community help.

"We felt like we were the worst parents in the world," Mrs. Gabbert said.
"But we weren't going to lose her."

Lake Dallas schools Superintendent Thomas Davenport says he remembers
telling Mrs. Gabbert three years ago that his staff couldn't help Rhyna.

The school had one counselor who helped with only career counseling, he said.

"I told her that we didn't have someone in the district to handle students
with those problems," said Mr. Davenport, who said he suggested that the
Gabberts find a pastor. "It's unfortunate, but basically it comes down to a
matter of resources."

After trying a different school district and then alternative school, the
family looked at drug-treatment programs.

"It took us a court order and I don't know how many counselors to learn
what all of Rhyna's problem was," Mrs. Gabbert said.

That problem was severe bipolar depression, which made her drug addiction
more dangerous and unwieldy, her parents said.

After she entered an in-patient clinic in late 1997, she was put on
anti-depressants and got sober.

But even that program ended with no referral for out-patient counseling,
the Gabberts said.

"That's when I quit my job," Mrs. Gabbert said. "I would sit in bed and
hold her and she would say, 'I don't know what to do, Mom.' "

The Marstons felt some of the same frustrations.

When their son overdosed on heroin in October 1997, Debbie Marston enrolled
him in private school because she said he couldn't get the right counseling
and personal attention in the public system.

The Marstons said they faced another obstacle when they couldn't persuade
their son to enroll in a rehabilitation program. Since he was 17, the law
wouldn't allow them to commit him.

"We begged, we talked," Mrs. Marston said. "He was in total denial. He
didn't have a problem in his mind."

Tyler Marston moved out of his parents' house about three weeks ago. After
a a few days in jail on a drug-possession arrest, he moved back in with his
parents on Tuesday.

Three days later, he spent Friday night alone, at home, with heroin, she
said. He was dead the next morning.

"There's nothing out there to help these kids," Mrs. Marston said. "He
needed a lot more than counseling, and unless you're very, very wealthy,
that's not available."

The Gabberts spent Saturday looking for 730 small guardian angel pins -
symbols of her daughter's death that Mrs. Gabbert wants to hand out at her
memorial service Monday. It's scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at Methodist Church
in Lake Dallas.

"I want to give each of the 730 kids at Lake Dallas High School an angel,"
Mrs. Gabbert said. "It will be something on their shoulder to remind them
of Rhyna and remind them before they take a drug what can happen."

The Dallas Morning News staff writer Brenda Rodriguez and Arlington Morning
News staff writer Nancy Calaway contributed to this report.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson