BLAND RESIDENTS PLAN UNIFIED APPROACH TO DROWNING OUT COUNTY-WIDE DRUG PROBLEM

BASTIAN, Va. - About a decade ago, the Bland County Board of Supervisors
came up with a clever slogan in an attempt to market the county, calling
Bland "the light at the end of two tunnels. In recent years, that light has
been shrouded to some extent by the "rampant" abuse of prescription drugs
among the county's youth. Although drug abuse constitutes a major problem
in both rural and urban parts of the country, somehow its hard for most
people to fathom that Bland County, one of Virginia's most rural locations
with a population of about 6,600 souls, has a drug problem.

"It's here, and I would say it's growing," Merry Etling, a nurse
practitioner who works at the Bland County Medical Clinic in Bastian, said.
Etling also helps addicts and their families cope with addiction through
the local ALANON Chapter. "It's killing people. We had another drug
overdose last week. It's devastating in a county this size."

Etling said the abuse of prescription medication isn't limited to young
people. "I had one woman who said she had become addicted to Xanax. Her
doctor got her hooked on it, and she said she didn't even know it was
addictive. It took her days to go through withdrawal. She said it was hell.

"We have another woman whose son became addicted to prescription pain
killers," Etling said. "Once they're hooked, they'll do anything to get the
drug. He's in a nursing home now. He acts like a little child, but he's in
his 30s."

Of course, OxyContin remains one of the most popular drugs, according to
Etling. "They still call it 'hillbilly heroin,' and it's abused by people
from the very young to middle age. The doctors prescribe it, or addicts
will buy it from old people who have a prescription. Can you tell me why a
doctor would ever prescribe OxyContin to a 20-year-old. There's no reason."

Etling said that about 80 percent of Bland's drug problem is abuse of
prescription medications. "They're snorting it, and they're shooting it
up," she said.

"As a result, we have a growing Hepatitis C problem in Bland County from
addicts using dirty needles," Etling said.

"There's something we can do," Etling said. "We need older people to quit
selling their prescription medications to make extra money. It's killing
people. We can't make an addict quit, but we can stop enabling them by
doing nothing. We need to work together."

One Bland County mother who has been struggling with her son's addiction
for several years, heard Etling's message at an ALANON meeting and started
taking action. On Wednesday, about 35 people who are either in drug-ravaged
families or willing to join the fight against drug abuse, came out for a
meeting at the Bastian Church of God to discuss the possibility of taking a
unified approach to the problem.

"We were all encouraged," the woman said. "I think all of us wanted to see
how the in-coming officials would respond to our comments. Our in-coming
sheriff, Jerry Thompson, was there, as well as Henry Blessing, the
in-coming supervisor from Bastian and our new School Superintendent Don
Hodock. I was so impressed with them."

But it was the personal stories of tragedy that motivated the woman. "I was
just blown away by the county people who stood there and told stories about
how drugs tear families apart. Prescription drugs are so addictive."

Thompson was in the Virginia State Police before running for Bland Sheriff
this November. He said that the message from the Bastian meeting resonated
loud and clear with him.

"We have no other choice," he said of his plans to take an aggressive
approach to irradiating the county's drug abuse problem. It's what the
people want us to do. Yes, we have widespread drug abuse ... I'd say,
rampant. We in law enforcement can do a lot, but it takes people too. The
real fight against drug addiction starts in the home."

Thompson said he was impressed by the willingness of the group that called
themselves "Concerned Parents" to take an active part in the war on drugs
by supplying police with good leads they can follow up on. "We're a poor
county here in Bland," he said. "We really have nothing for our young
people to do other than church and school activities. Still, I'll work with
any parent who's willing to join this fight."

"We all have a mandate," Blessing said. "It's going to be a whole new board
coming in January, and things will change for sure. The whole county's got
to get organized to address this problem and the first thing is to admit
that we have a problem," Blessing said. "We have a problem."

Blessing was particularly unsettled by a countywide drug round-up in the
spring that resulted in 32 arrests, but only one defendant who actually
went to jail. "You have to set an example," he said.

"If we can get these kids high on (sports) or church activities, it will
keep them away from drugs. I grew up on a farm and I had to work. Kids have
to work too. We're going to work on this problem," he said.

"Blessing characterized the meeting at the Bastian Church of God as "a good
start," but added that the entire county has a long way to go. "Maybe in
six months, we can talk about this again," he said. "I don't know of any
other county that has come out and shown a willingness to cooperate in
order to solve this problem."

Etling said that Clint Kegley, the newly-elected Bland Commonwealth
Attorney has also expressed his willingness to be part of the countywide effort.