Fighting Back: Part 7c

CITIZENS: 'STRAIGHTEN UP OR LEAVE'

LUCEDALE - Ask Pam Touchard what state law has to say about bond revocation
on a drug case and she'll say, "I've got it right here," and read aloud
from the law books.

She's no lawyer. She's a 32-year-old mother of four children. She teaches
third grade at Agricola Elementary in George County. But she has come to
know some aspects of the law out of necessity for her well-being and the
well-being of the community where she has lived all her life: George County.

Two years ago, the rural South Mississippi county had the reputation of
being easy on drug cases. Whether it was possession or dealing, few who
were arrested went to jail. As that reputation grew, so did the county's
problem with methamphetamine, said Touchard.

The problem of home-cooking the strong, illegal stimulant was so widespread
by early 2001 in the county of 19,000 that an unofficial poll indicated the
drug affected one in three families.

But when it touched Touchard, things began to change.

Meth use hits home

A close member of Touchard's family got tangled up with the drug without
Touchard realizing it.

"It was a total surprise when I got a call to pick that person up at the
jail," she said.

Touchard began asking questions. She talked with judges who wondered how
she could not have known about the problem. Her relative promised to quit
the drug, but while Touchard was getting up to speed on the issue, the
relative was arrested again for methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine is referred to as "poor-man's cocaine," an assistant
district attorney explained. Easily manufactured at home, it provides a
terrific high when first taken, but subsequent doses do not give the same
effect, leaving the user "chasing" the first high. It is highly addictive
and physically dangerous.

Drug rehabilitation seemed to work for her relative until Touchard, now
more aware, began noticing signs of relapse - staying out late, manic
behavior. She went to the courts and law enforcement for help and no one
seemed to care, she said. "No one could tell me what to do. I had nowhere
to turn."

So Touchard began speaking out in the community and organizing support. By
June 2001 the county held its first drug education seminar. One hundred
seventy people attended. They learned what to look for, learned about the
law and how to report drug crimes. And they looked into starting a
Crimestoppers program in the county.

At an August 2001 meeting, 450 attended.

Citizens group empowered

The group, calling itself George County Citizens Against Drugs, began to
speak with authority. It began monitoring the courts and the prosecution of
drug cases, finding that people were being arrested and bonding out
repeatedly without having their first bonds revoked.

People arrested for methamphetamine were back using and selling the drug
again within days.

Dividing into small groups, Touchard's organization began to ask why cases
were being continued, why bonds weren't being revoked and why people
weren't required to stay in jail when they had been arrested repeatedly for
felony drug crimes. They kept up with the court docket and logged the
sentences handed out for drug- and alcohol-related crimes.

They began attending court and following cases, and things began to change.

On July 17, 2001, the county held its first drug trial since 1999, she
said. The message to drug users and dealers changed from "It's OK, we're
going to give you another chance," to "If you do drugs in George County,
you're going to pay a high price," she said.

With that, people awaiting prosecution were more interested in entering a
plea and the overloaded court docket began to clear. A new assistant
district attorney, ex-police officer Dustin Thomas, pushed cases, and
judges handed out tough sentences.

"I'd like to think the message is that we're tougher," Thomas said. "That's
what I want to convey. You have to send a tough message to these people. To
keep people from using drugs, they have to be scared something will happen
to them."

He and state law enforcement both say they are seeing a turn-around for the
county. And one of the most helpful things Thomas said he has is citizens
who come and talk to him about who and what they're seeing.

But there are still frustrating cases.

Sending bad message

David Finch, a user in his 40s, was sentenced in May to 10 years with five
to serve for two methamphetamine charges.

"Four months to the day, he was back home," Thomas said. "The Mississippi
Department of Corrections sent him home on house arrest. It was a bad
message to the community.

"Judge (James) Backstrom had the authority to put Finch on house arrest,
and didn't because obviously he felt that wasn't the right course, yet here
he is," Thomas said.

But on the other side, a couple arrested for having the materials needed to
cook methamphetamine insisted on taking their case to trial recently and
lost, Thomas said.

"The jury convicted them within 45 minutes, and Judge (Kathy) Jackson gave
them each 25 years," he said. "All of a sudden more people wanted to plead
their cases."

Circuit Court Judge Jackson said she thinks the county is in the process of
turning things around.

"Anytime citizens get involved, it's good," she said. "They come to court.
They ask questions. I try to answer them."

Taking a different tack

Jackson is about to begin a special drug court in George and Greene
counties, funded by the counties, to try and handle the burgeoning cases of
drug use and the myriad crimes and problems that go with them. The program
will include rehabilitation, strict and random drug testing and a lot of
accountability.

"I told the George County supervisors when I asked them for the money (to
set up the program), 'We can send everyone in George County between the
ages of 15 and 30 to the penitentiary or we can try to do something different,'

" she said.

There's a distinct lack of rehabilitation programs for offenders, Jackson
lamented. The state doesn't sponsor them.

Touchard is excited about the drug court coming.

"It fits perfectly into everything that's happening," she said.
"Everybody's afraid of Judge Jackson. No one wants her to be their judge,
and if they have to answer to her every week, they'll either straighten up
or leave George County.

"And that's what we want: Straighten up or leave."

Drug prevention help

There are programs either available or being created in South Mississippi
to help individuals before they get into drugs or help them get out before
it's too late. They include:

Drug court: Circuit Court Judge Kathy Jackson has secured $15,000 from
Greene County and is requesting $25,000 from George County for a drug
court. She says methamphetamine labs in those rural counties have become a
major problem. Likely to use the program are people charged with alcohol or
drug abuse or crimes that stem from abuse, such as forging checks or felony
shoplifting. The two-year program includes in-house treatment, then weekly
meetings with the court administrator, probation officers and the judge. It
offers counseling, help with job searches or work toward a GED and frequent
and random drug testing.

Drug prevention: The Jackson County Children's Services Coalition and the
Gulf Coast Mental Health Center in Gulfport are the two agencies in South
Mississippi this year that have received Mississippi Alliance for
Prevention grants through the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. Gulf
Coast will teach children in the Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center
how to refuse drugs and alcohol and how to cope with their feelings. The
Children's Services Coalition will use the $100,000 it receives over three
years to teach decision-making, leadership and better parent relationships
to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in Gautier, Ocean Springs and
Pascagoula schools.

Parent accountability: Ocean Springs City Judge Matthew Mestayer and
Pascagoula City Judge Michael Fondren have instituted programs that hold
teens more responsible when they are caught drinking. The judges learned
from advocates and law officers that teens who were ticketed for drinking
were passing the hat at parties to pay their fines. Some of the youths were
paying up without even letting their parents know they were in trouble.
Mestayer now requires that parents accompany teens to court. He also has
used some innovative methods of punishment such as requiring teens to spend
evenings at City Court, where they learn firsthand about the crimes
associated with alcohol abuse.