BILL WOULD HELP PROTECT CHILDREN

Sometimes, waiting to get a bill passed makes a better bill. Such is
the case with a measure that seeks to protect children who are
present in a drug house. After a filibuster delayed and then killed
debate and passage of the Endangered Children Protection bill in the
2005 session of the Alabama Legislature, proponents resurrected a
stronger version in 2006.

Pushed as part of state Attorney General Troy King's crime package,
the bill would make it a felony to have children present in a house
where illegal drugs are found.

The 2005 version would have made it a felony only if children were in
a house in which crystal methamphetamine was being manufactured.

It simply didn't go far enough, and King rightly asks this year, "Are
children in a crack house any less in danger than children in a meth
house?" The bill answers that question, making it a Class C felony
for a child to be present in a drug house, a Class B if the child is
injured and a Class A if the child is killed.

Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens and St. Clair
District Attorney Richard Minor are on board with the proposed
legislation, pointing out that it gives them another tool with which
to fight crime here at home.

But more important, they say, it helps them better protect children.

And it provides an appropriate punishment for those who would subject
innocent children to such environments.

The bill has already passed the House of Representatives and is now
headed to the Senate.

We encourage its passage there as well. Whenever there is an
opportunity to protect children, it ought to top the legislative agenda.