HEROIN KILLS GIRL, POLICE SAY TEENAGER 11TH WITH TIES TO PLANO TO DIE

By Dave Michaels / The Dallas Morning News

A 16yearold Plano girl died Sunday afternoon after a night of heroin use
at a friend's apartment in Denton, police said Monday.

Erin Baker, a junior at Plano Senior High School, is at least the 11th
teenager with Plano ties to die of a suspected heroin overdose since 1996.

Her death follows a suspected heroin overdose last week that killed a
21yearold Grapevine man. Aaron McGee was at least the third Northeast
Tarrant County young person to die of a suspected overdose in the last 12
months.

Erin had passed the night Saturday with two friends at an upscale apartment
complex about five blocks southeast of the University of North Texas,
Denton police said.

Authorities said she ingested what they think was black tar heroin early
Sunday before lapsing into sleep. About 2:30 p.m., when Erin's friends
couldn't wake her, they called 911, Denton police Lt. Lonnie Flemming said.

Paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive her, said Ken Gold, battalion
chief of the Denton Fire Department.

"When they arrived, she had no heartbeat. They did CPR and started an IV,"
Chief Gold said. "But that is about as bad as it gets."

Erin died at 3:05 p.m. at Denton Community Hospital. Authorities are
awaiting toxicology results to confirm whether a heroin overdose caused the
death. The results should be available in about three weeks, according to
the Tarrant County medical examiner's office, which is handling the case.

Police said no charges are expected against the two friends who were with
Erin. Their names were not released.

Police were trying to determine the source of the drug.

Erin's family was not available for comment Monday afternoon, but a woman
who said she was the mother of a close friend of the teenager said Plano
Senior High students were grieving the loss of their friend.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, said that Erin may have had
a drug problem but that the girl and her friends had difficulty dealing
with it.

"It's very sad. They're all distraught," she said. "She was a sweet little
girl, and he [the woman's son] liked her a lot. All the kids thought they
could help her, but they couldn't.

"Instead of telling the adults what was going on, they didn't. They didn't
realize how bad it was."

At Plano Senior High, news of Erin's death spread rapidly among students
fresh from a weekend homecoming celebration and football victory.

"It was sad. I was just sorry it happened to her, to her family and our
community," said Winston "Dali" Chang, a senior at the school and an
officer for STAND, Students Taking Action Not Drugs.

Dali said that he hadn't known Erin well but that they had some friends in
common.

He said her death underscored the continuing need to educate the community
about drugs, particularly heroin.

"We're going to address this problem," said Dali, 16. "A lot of people look
at Plano as the heroin capital of the world. It's just really a lot of
unrelated incidents.

"We're going to work on some more awareness."

The Plano Police Department is sponsoring a heroin education awareness
program from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday at Plano Centre, 2000 E. Spring Creek
Parkway.

An official with the Collin County Substance Abuse Program said heroin has
become more dangerous than ever before.

Even as use of the narcotic increases, teens may have less awareness of
what they are dealing with, said Sabina Stern, a program coordinator for
the agency.

"What has happened is the old heroin, the white powder, was about 10
percent pure heroin," Ms. Stern said. "Now it's more like 40 percent pure
heroin."

The risk is compounded when heroin is mixed with antihistamine capsules, a
common, convenient means of packaging the drug. The heroin is first cut up,
sometimes in a coffee grinder, and then packed into the prescriptiondrug
capsule, Ms. Stern said. The concoction, called chiva, is usually snorted.

"It is as unscientific a method as there is," Ms. Stern said. "The kids
just don't know how strong it is."

The public is invited to attend two seminars that deal with drug use in
Collin County.

The first, sponsored by the Collin County Mental Health and Mental
Retardation Center, will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Collin County
Community College's Central Park Campus in McKinney, 2200 W. University
Drive. The program is titled, "Drugs in Our Communities: It's Everybody's
Problem."

The Plano Police Department is sponsoring a Heroin Education Awareness
Program from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday at Plano Centre, 2000 E. Spring Creek
Parkway.

Both programs will feature a guest moderator and panel to answer the
public's questions and provide practical information on ways people can
address the drug problem in their community.

For more information, call the Collin County Mental Health and Retardation
Center at (972) 5620190 or the Plano Police Department at (972) 4245678.

Staff writers Linda Stewart Ball and Nita Thurman contributed to this
report.