HEROIN DEATH A HARBINGER FOR COUNTY

Twenty-three-year-old Bill Counard, the subject of Tuesday's column whose
body was found recently in the bedroom of a ramshackle house in Newburg,
was not the first one in Washington County to die of an apparent heroin
overdose.

Less than three months ago, 19-year-old Jason Smith, a West Bend resident,
died of the same thing at St. Joseph's Community Hospital, according to the
West Bend Police Department.

The ongoing investigation into that death is being handled by police in
Milwaukee - which makes sense given where this stuff usually comes from.

Heroin, it is true, is still - mostly - a big-city phenomenon.

Heroin isn't like pot. People don't grow it in their basements or out in a
field. It's estimated that 60% to 70% comes from South America. Much of the
rest comes from Asia. Milwaukee gets some from both places, according to
Randy Romanski, a spokesman for the attorney general's office.

From the city, it often moves out into suburban and rural areas.

"I don't think there is much heroin in Newburg," said Michael Maeder, the
part-time police chief of the tiny village that has only about 1,100
residents. "I think there is some marijuana and there might even be some
cocaine."

The numbers

Maeder would appear to have statistics on his side.

Ozaukee County Coroner John Holicek has been on the job for 14 years.
Washington County Coroner Marlene Yoost has been in her position for almost
10. Neither could remember a single heroin-related death around here, ever
- - until the two that occurred in Washington County in the past three months.

However, statistics, upon closer examination, offer little comfort.

While there haven't been any actual heroin deaths in Ozaukee, a young
Cedarburg teenager, Christopher Koleski, did recently overdose - and die -
in Milwaukee. On April 5, the day after Smith died in West Bend, Koleski
died in a house on N. Holton St.

According to an autopsy, he had ingested heroin as well as cocaine, Ecstasy
and marijuana.

Something is happening here.

And I do mean here.

Ozaukee and Washington still aren't Milwaukee. In 2000 alone, the number of
heroin-related deaths in Milwaukee County reached 26, perhaps as the result
of a bad batch. Since then, however, heroin-related fatalities in Milwaukee
County have dropped sharply.

Only is an unfair adjective. But Koleski was only the fourth heroin-related
fatality in Milwaukee County this year at the time that he died.

The numbers, there, are down.

Washington County, in the meantime, is heading the other way.

Police confirm that Smith's death was caused by heroin.

Toxicology reports on Counard are not back, but his parents suspect the
drug is the cause. They say he became addicted to snorting it.

"We do occasionally hear of more heroin, which was not the case a few years
ago," said Washington County Sheriff Jack Theusch.

The fears

There still aren't many deaths. But the police blotters are sprinkled with
occasional allusions to users getting into trouble.

Expect more of it.

Heroin is becoming increasingly available in the Milwaukee area, according
to Romanski. But it's also becoming stronger, which means users can snort
it rather than inject it.

That alone is a significant problem because while heroin users love the
drug, they often aren't fond of the stigma of being a fried-out needle
junkie that used to come with it. Nowadays, it's possible to be a clean-cut
suburban kid who just happens to stick something up his nose that makes him
feel good.

And occasionally kills him.