HEROIN FATALITY WAS FORMER CHS STUDENT

The man who died Saturday at Porter Memorial Hospital of a heroin
overdose was a Jackson Township resident and former Chesterton High
School student.

The mother of Shawn Rivera, 18, identified her son Tuesday at the PMH
morgue, Cpl. Mike Grennes of the Valparaiso Police Department told
the Chesterton Tribune late Tuesday.

The 2000 CHS yearbook, Singing Sands, lists Rivera as a junior. He
does not appear in the 2001 yearbook.

The investigation into the circumstances of his death is continuing,
Grennes added. At 5:08 a.m. Saturday two unknown white male subjects
brought Rivera to PMH and advised staff that he had overdosed with
several other unnamed people "in a truck" but that Rivera's
associates had declined or were unable to transport him to the
hospital. As Rivera was being brought into the hospital, the two
subjects left the scene. Police say they were driving an older model
gray four-door American type vehicle.

Bob Taylor, director of the Porter County Drug Task Force, said today
that he knew Rivera. "He seemed like a good kid. He just got involved
with heroin and he couldn't get off it."

Taylor estimated that between 250 and 300 heroin addicts currently
reside in Porter County. A couple of years ago, Taylor noted, he knew
the names of almost all of them. Now the network has grown too large
and extensive to track precisely. "It's kind of like measles or small
pox."

When heroin first started appearing in Porter County, Taylor said,
its "hub" was Valparaiso. Eventually it spread to Portage and then
Duneland. "Now we've got heroin addicts in basically every community,
including Hebron and Kouts."

"Those who were addicted a year ago are more addicted now," he added.
"But adults are also doing it. They're not just kids anymore. The
families know about it but their hands are tied too. I mean, what can
you do?"

Heroin is by no means the only drug of choice, though, and Taylor
expressed concern as well about cocaine, metamphetamine, and Ecstasy.
"It's like an endless battle."