DA ASKED TO REVISIT SCHOOL-ZONE CHARGES

GREAT BARRINGTON -- More than 400 South County residents, business owners
and high school students have signed a petition asking District Attorney
David F. Capeless to reconsider seeking a minimum mandatory two-year jail
term for seven of the 19 young people arrested last September on a variety
of drug charges.

A letter being circulated with the petition from Concerned Citizens for
Appropriate Justice asks that so-called school-zone charges be reconsidered
only for those seven charged with small-scale marijuana distribution. In
all, 19 people age 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. 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 lies with the
district attorney.

"Our contention is not that criminal acts should go without consequences,
but that not all of these young people should be looking at a minimum of
two years in jail," the letter reads. "Punishment should be made in
proportion to the crimes.

Two years in jail is too harsh a penalty for a teenager with no criminal
record who is involved in selling a small quantity of marijuana," the
letter continues.

Erik Bruun, a member of Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice, said
the petition and more than 400 signatures were sent to Capeless on Monday.
Yesterday, Capeless said he received the letter and petition and planned to
meet with the members of Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice in the
next few weeks.

"I want to sit and discuss this issue with these people and I don't want to
rush to any judgment," said Capeless. Capeless said his office is regularly
contacted by groups and individuals who both agree and disagree with the
way cases are handled. He said the office had also received calls from
people who support the planned prosecution for this series of cases.

Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice has been circulating the
petition for about two weeks, Bruun said. "We were really trying to do this
discreetly and keep it out of the media," he said. "It is better not to
engage in a dialogue like this through the press. This is about trying to
express and understand the profoundness of the problem and come up with an
equitable solution."

The letter suggests that a combination of "probation, public service, and
drug treatment" could have a lasting positive effect "at a far lower cost
in both human and fiscal terms."

"There is widespread and growing recognition that mandatory minimum
sentences, particularly for nonviolent drug offenses, do not serve the
public interest and do not deter the behavior they were intended to
address," the letter reads.

Bruun said the petition and letter are ways for citizens to express their
opinions about the situation. "Many people haven't had an avenue to express
their concerns," he said. "... Do we want as a community to support dishing
out justice in that one-size-fits-all approach?"

In January 2004, police began an eight-month investigation in response to
several incidents of violent behavior in the Taconic parking lot, which is
in front of the Triplex Cinema complex. During a September crackdown by
town police and the Berkshire County Drug Task Force, an undercover state
trooper conducted "buy-and-bust" operations centered around the parking lot
of the former Taconic Lumber building. Over several months, undercover
police bought marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine, mostly in the
downtown Taconic parking lot area. The location is within 1,000 feet of
school property that has been declared drug free by local officials. Some
of those arrested are facing multiple school-zone charges.

Bruun said he understands the frustration that merchants, the public and
law enforcement experience over the problems in the parking lot. And he is
interested in hearing specific details about the various cases.

On Monday, Mount Everett High School senior Becky Kuhn read the letter
aloud to fellow students in a morning English class.

Following her reading she fielded questions and discussed the letter with
about 20 students and asked that they sign the petition.

"This is an attempt to try to make a change," said Kuhn. "I'm not condoning
what [the defendants] did. But to change them I don't think sending them to
jail will be the best way to deal with it."

Many of the students said they were concerned the minimum penalty may be
relaxed for all of those involved.

"If they did go to jail I think it would set a good example," said senior
Lindy Marcel. "If you sell drugs in a school zone it is not OK and you go
to jail."

The majority of the cases are proceeding in Central Berkshire District
Court. Bruun said many of the cases are scheduled for trial in May.
Capeless declined to comment on the individual cases. Alexandra Brenner,
17, of State Road, Great Barrington, charged with possession of marijuana,
submitted to facts sufficient to warrant a guilty finding at her March 10
trial. Her case was continued without a finding to March 9, 2006. She was
ordered to be evaluated at the Brien Center, not use drugs or alcohol,
submit to random screens and pay $21 per month to probation.