HEROIN CASES HAVE TARRANT FEARING TREND

Grapevine death may mark upswing in northeast cities

GRAPEVINE Northeast Tarrant County officials said Saturday they are
alarmed about the spread of heroin, which may have killed a Grapevine
man last week and put a Bedford 22yearold into a coma.

"It's really a cause for concern out here," said Bedford police Lt.
Larry Romines. "We're seeing more and more dealers that are dealing to
teenagers. We're getting more complaints from sister cities. It
definitely appears to be on an upswing."

Aaron McGee, 21, of Grapevine died Friday morning after a night of
shooting heroin, police and friends said Saturday. The second man, James
Heath Noble, 22, of Bedford has been in a coma since Oct. 31.

The men were friends, but police say the suspected overdoses are not
related. Witnesses have told officers that both men used the drug
shortly before losing consciousness, and 3 grams of blacktar heroin
were found in Mr. McGee's pocket. Officials are awaiting test results to
confirm that heroin was involved in both incidents.

Mr. McGee is at least the third northeast Tarrant County young person to
die of a suspected overdose in the last 12 months. Derrick Lee Dowse,
13, died at his Bedford home in January from an overdose of Mexican
blacktar heroin. A Grapevine teen also died of a heroin overdose late
last year in Dallas, officials said.

And at least 10 teenagers with Plano connections have died of heroin
overdoses since 1996.

"I just want to know why these young people are screwing up their lives
and getting hooked on this stuff," Mr. Noble's grandfather, Bob Noble,
said Saturday after returning home from his grandson's bedside at Harris
Methodist HEB hospital.

"Naturally I'm angry. I just don't understand this," he said.

James Noble and Mr. McGee had been friends since junior high school, and
Mr. McGee visited him in the hospital Wednesday night. Thirtysix hours
later, Mr. McGee was dead.

During the visit, Mr. McGee "was visibly shaken," said Bob Noble, who
was there at the time. "He stood there and looked at my grandson and was
very distraught. He was just overwhelmed."

That's why Mr. McGee's death, which police consider an accident, is so
tragic, said Nicole Patton, Mr. McGee's livein girlfriend. "He was so
upset about James. It's hard to believe he even wanted to do it after
seeing him," she said.

Ms. Patton, 18, was with Mr. McGee at their apartment Thursday night
about 7 p.m. when he became unconscious after shooting heroin, she said.
"He was just going to do it one last time, and he ended up doing it once
too much," she said.

Ms. Patton said she got scared when Mr. McGee didn't respond to her
voice. "I shook him, and then I slapped him, and he didn't wake up. His
lips were turning blue," she said. "I was very scared, so I pulled him
on the ground and attempted to do CPR, even though I don't know how."

Mr. McGee was taken to Baylor hospital in Grapevine, where he died about
6 a.m. Friday, police said.

"If I could turn back time I would. If I had known anything like this
was going to happen, I never would have let it happen," said Ms. Patton,
crying. "I'll never touch any drugs. Never."

Grapevine police Cpl. Larry Hallmark said tests due back Monday will
confirm if heroin killed Mr. McGee. "If it is in fact heroin he took, it
appears he just accidentally took too much," said Cpl. Hallmark, who
oversees Grapevine's criminal investigation division.

Bedford Mayor Rick Hurt said the incidents involving Mr. McGee and Mr.
Noble show the publicity over Derrick's death earlier this year was not
enough to discourage heroin use.

"This is a continuing plague on society, and it's just one more blot on
Tarrant County," he said. "At some point in time we've got to admit
we've got the same problems here in the suburbs as society has with the
inner cities."

Lt. Romines, the northeast unit commander for the Tarrant County
Narcotics Intelligence Coordination Unit, said blacktar heroin is
lethal.

"Blacktar heroin is very, very strong stronger than the white,
powdery stuff. You get some of that that's stronger than the stuff
you're used to and you have an overdose," he said. "That's what we're
running into."

Mr. Hurt organized a multicity meeting after Derrick's death to
brainstorm for solutions to the drug problem. More such meetings are
needed, he said Saturday.

"Sometimes I think those of us in the suburbs think of ourselves as
being in a safe environment, free of these problems. And that's just not
the case," he said. "People need to start recognizing that."

Bob Noble said his grandson's case should serve as a warning. "These
kids aren't hoodlums," he said. "And a lot of people shooting heroin
these days aren't hoodlums and thugs."