MILEY WONDERS WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR HIM AND HIS FAMILY

Gene Miley, who is awaiting sentencing for burglary in Jones County, agreed
to an interview detailing his past as a drug addict, enforcer, and father.
This is the third of a three-part series written from the interview which
took place at the Jones County Adult Detention Center recently. It is both
graphic and heartbreaking in its subject matter. Miley wanted to use this
opportunity to inform young and old about the trappings of drug addiction
and the type of life you will be led into if you chose this path. The
contents may be offensive to some readers.

Gene Miley is currently being held in the Jones County Adult Detention
Center. He is going back to prison for the theft of the Porsche in Petal.
He is waiting to see how much time is tacked on for the theft of a ring a
few months later in Jones County.

In the meantime, Miley and his wife have divorced. The family he said he
loves so dearly, the only tangible thing he found he could really cling to,
is gone. All he has are infrequent visits in order for him to see his sons.
Those visits are holidays for Miley. They are just one of a scant few
occasions which really bring him joy. And hope.

"I'd managed to stay out of jail for seven years and remain basically clean
until the deal with the car," Miley said. "When the episode with the ring
happened, I guess my wife decided enough was enough."

What Miley says hurts so much is the fact he twice let down his family, not
to mention the very people he sought for so long to gain a measure of true
respect. He said he had worked hard to do the right thing.

"All those people," he said with his voice trailing off. "I let them down."

But Miley isn't about to put the blame on his family or the environment in
which he was raised. Instead, he says he has taken on all the blame noting
no one held a gun to his head and made him do the things he did.

"Everybody blames my parents and all I've got to say to that is not true,"
Miley said emphatically. "I made the decisions. I chose to do it. I've
busted my tail to tell my sons that. No matter what age you are, you still
have some say in what happens to you. You aren't completely helpless."

Miley was and still is honest to a fault when telling his boys about what
he has gone through. He hopes his mistakes will not become theirs. He hopes
they can learn from him and avoid the catastrophic lifestyle Miley knows so
well. Miley realizes now he has few if any rights left to him. He has
called in all his markers, the cards have been dealt. But that doesn't mean
his children have to suffer the same fate.

"My kids are the most important thing to me now," he said quietly. "If I
have to stay in jail or prison for the rest of my life to save them, then
so be it. I'm ready and willing to do it for them."

And he may have to if his craving for drugs, his demon, doesn't release its
grip on Miley's soul.

Leaning forward in his chair, Miley grew suddenly intense. His dark eyes
grew even darker as he strained to get his point across. It was a lesson in
a series of crash courses he has taken all of his life.

"The whole illusion behind drug addiction and what it does to your life is
once you become dependent on it, you will forever want it," Miley said in a
low growl. "Marijuana to cocaine. Cocaine to crystal. Crystal to God only
knows what. It grabs you until it chokes you down."

Miley added that being a drug addict is the same as being a prostitute.

"You work 40 hours a week and you can't wait to get that check cashed so
you can buy you some dope," he said leaning back. "The dealer is your pimp.
You are giving him your money for the dope. Who do you think bought him
those $3,000 rims on his fancy ride? You did."

Inevitably though, Miley's mind goes back to the family he once had. He
stays busy 18 hours a day at the Jones County Adult Detention Center,
washing laundry, polishing floors, washing cars, moving boxes, to the point
it helps him from going crazy. Facing at least three years in prison, Miley
knows he will have a lot of time to think about what might have been. What
if he'd stayed clean. What if he'd done the right thing. Those questions
and the answers which are sure to follow will shape Gene Miley as he faces
the rest of his life.