DA, CITIZENS CONFER PROSECUTION OF YOUTHS IS TOPIC

Berkshire County District Attorney David F. Capeless has heard the
concerns of a citizens' group interested in re-examining his decision
to seek the minimum mandatory sentence for 19 young people arrested on
a variety of drug charges last September.

Last month, a group called Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice
sent a petition with more than 400 signatures to Capeless, asking that
he reconsider seeking a minimum mandatory two-year jail term for seven
of the 19 arrested during a months-long "buy and bust" operation in
Great Barrington. Erik Bruun, a member of Concerned Citizens for
Appropriate Justice, said yesterday that a small number of community
members met with Capeless on Thursday for more than two hours.

Bruun said Capeless and the group agreed not to discuss specifics of
their conversation with the media. He said they intend to meet again
to discuss the topic further. Bruun declined to divulge when that
meeting might take place. "We had a constructive conversation on a
difficult issue," said Bruun. "Our goals are exactly the same. We want
to find the best way to cope with the problems of drug abuse."

Neither Capeless nor Fred Lantz, spokesman for the DA's office, was
available to comment yesterday.

A letter circulated with the petition, which was signed by South
County residents, business owners and high school students, asked that
the school-zone charges be reconsidered only for the seven people
charged with small-scale marijuana distribution.

In the September drug bust, 19 people ranging in age from 17 to 24,
the majority of whom live in South County, were arrested on charges
ranging from marijuana possession to distribution of ketamine, a
powerful horse tranquilizer. The majority of those arrested were also
charged with committing a drug violation in a drug-free school zone.

Some of those arrested are facing multiple school-zone charges. State
law requires judges to sentence those convicted of a school-zone
charge to a minimum of two years in jail. A decision whether to levy
the charge in the first place is in the district attorney's hands. In
January 2004, police began an eight-month investigation in response to
several incidents of violent behavior in the former Taconic Lumber
parking lot, which is in front of the Triplex Cinema in Great
Barrington. During a September crackdown by town police and the
Berkshire County Drug Task Force, an undercover state trooper
conducted "buy and bust" operations centered on the Taconic parking
lot.

During the operation, police bought marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and
ketamine, mostly in the downtown parking lot area. The parking lot is
within 1,000 feet of school property that has been declared drug-free
by local officials. Bruun said he is grateful for the dialogue over
this issue and is looking forward to continuing the conversation.

"We very much appreciate the seriousness with which [Capeless] deals
with drug abuse and the enforcement of the laws," he said.