EX-HEROIN ADDICT PROPOSES MEMORIAL

I am 20 years old and a recovering heroin addict. Like all of the tragic
victims in Plano, I grew up in an upper middle class neighborhood. I moved
to lower East Dallas in 1995 when the drug began to take over my life. I
spent a year in hell and watched four of my friends die humiliating deaths.
They were all from varying socio-economic backgrounds, races and religions.

Heroin terrorizes kids from both ends of the spectrum. Melissa was an honor
student on her way to Baylor University. She overdosed a few months before
she transferred, Jeremy was a middle school dropout who never had the finer
things. He grew up trying to make the best out of what life had handed him.
I guess the struggle took its toll. He died of an overdose.

I am not trying to minimize the loss that has occurred in Plano. It makes
me cringe to wonder what amazing people we might have lost - doctors,
lawyers, teachers. I can honestly relate and my heart goes out to everyone
whose lives have been touched by the recent deaths. However, I am angered
that the Melissas of the world are being remembered and honored by the
media while the Jeremys seem to be forgotten. Heroin kills all people the
same way and Dallas is losing kids daily.

I propose a memorial to all the lives that have been lost to this fatal
addiction. We all need to be reminded of how many youths have been taken
from us in the same way that the Vietnam Wall or the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier reminds us of those losses. I do not believe the public understands
how quickly this epidemic is spreading. Dallas and Plano need a tangible
monument to shock people into realizing that this killer must be stopped.

JENNIFER HOWARD, Dallas

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)