BAD NEWS

Grand Jury's Report Distressing

Serving on the Grand Jury can be a real eye opener. Unfortunately, for the
most part grand juries see more than probably they ever wanted to of the
seamier side of life. It's a necessary part of weighing the evidence
compiled by law enforcement officers to determine if it is sufficient to
warrant bringing those accused of criminal acts to trial.

A Grand Jury, and two of them are impaneled here each year, serves for six
months at a stretch, and the 12 men and women making up the ranks of each
listen to prosecutors, police officers and sheriff's deputies testify about
the criminal investigations they have done and the arrests they have made.
They also may hear from private citizens who have witnessed criminal
activities, or perhaps from those who have been the victims of criminal
actions.

Perhaps it's good a Grand Jury serves for only six months, because what
they hear during their time of service often is anything but pretty.
Indeed, it could easily become jaded, if not cynical about society in
general as a result of all it is exposed to during its tenure.

Like many of its predecessors of recent years, the most recent Grand Jury
dealt with the "scourge of drug abuse." While there's sometimes a tendency
to think of drug abuse solely in terms of what it does to the individual
using drugs, we shouldn't, because it is a problem that touches all of us.
"There have been a host of property crimes committed by those whose
ultimate purpose was the procurement of illicit drugs," the grand jury
noted in its most recent report. And indeed, seldom does a day pass without
the columns of this newspaper containing several accounts of thefts from
vehicles and homes, and in many of those incidents, they are thefts
committed to obtain money to buy drugs. "Clearly," the Grand Jury declared,
"our community's security and economic wellbeing are at risk as a result of
drugs."

Drugs, an earlier Grand Jury lamented, take a "devastating toll" on the
community's citizens, "both the young and not so young." Said yet another
Grand Jury in 1999, drugs and alcohol exact an "awesome" price on the
community. It expressed "deep and abiding concern for this blight on our
way of life."

While previous Grand Juries have urged that local law enforcement agencies
be given additional resources to help them address the problem of drug
abuse, this one suggested efforts be made to work with state and federal
agencies to "interrupt the flow of drugs before they get to our community."
It's a most commendable goal, and unquestionably worthy of pursuing. And as
much as we would wish for success, we fear that the battle against drug
abuse will not be quickly or easily won.

Still, as the latest Grand Jury report noted, there have been "some major
inroads into the arrests and convictions of drug traffickers at the local
level." Certainly that is most encouraging, and hopefully the beginning of
a trend that will only gain momentum with each passing month.

Fortunately every coin has two sides, and while the Grand Jury saw much
that was bad, it discovered, as have previous grand juries, that this
community can take great pride in the efforts of both its law enforcement
officers and its judicial officials. It properly lauded them, and certainly
all of us should be grateful for those who serve on our behalf, including
grand jurors who remind us from time to time that we live in an imperfect
society. Let us resolve that in the coming year individually and
collectively we'll make addressing the problem of drug abuse a top
priority, so that together we can build a better society.