SISTER GIVES UP HOPE FOR DRUG-USING BROTHER ON THE RUN

The 31-year-old woman works part time at a high school cafeteria. She earns
minimum wage for cleaning trays. Her youngest brother is a fugitive from
the law. She's scared that he'll turn up dead.

"It's been one thing after another since he was a teen-ager," she says.
"Drugs. What is that stuff? Oh, yeah, crank. I don't know whether he makes
it or sells it. Probably both. He never tells me the truth. The only way
for me to find out is to read the arrest report in the newspaper."

She says her brother has been in jail numerous times. She says he's never
been able to hold down a job.

The woman told me her brother spent many nights at her house, often
sleeping for as many as 18 hours. She says the visits caused arguments with
her husband, who feared the brother's drug buddies would see the house as a
safe haven.

"Growing up, we were very close," the woman says in explaining why she took
him in. "I couldn't just say no when he needed me."

Then in September her brother broke into her kitchen.

"His face was all beaten up. I almost didn't recognize who it was. He told
me he had gotten in a fight when somebody insulted his wife. I didn't
believe him. It was about the crank. He probably didn't pay what he owed.

"We have two small children and I don't want them to see this kind of
thing. I said that was it. No more coming over to my place.

"I cried. He cried. He swore he would turn his life around. Then the next
day he was back with his buddies.

"It hurt my feelings knowing he didn't really come to see me. I was being
used the same way he bums off his so-called friends."

Her brother missed a court date on a drug charge. His lawyer told the
family that prison time was in the offing.

"That's when he took off. He used to tell us that the county jail was like
a vacation. The prison thing scared him."

The woman thinks he might be in Florida where her other brother lives.

"But I don't want to know. If the cops ask, I want to be in the clear."

She says her brother calls their parents from time to time.

"It's bad enough what I've been through. It's even worse with Mom and Dad.
To have to go to bed every night knowing your son is running from the law."

She says her brother has two children by his ex-wife.

"They're the ones I feel sorry for. They're the ones who saw their father
drink and do drugs and get arrested.

"On Thanksgiving, I got his kids so the family could spend some time with
them. They kept asking things like 'Where's my Daddy?' and 'Is it really
true that he's hiding from the police'?"

The woman brings up the story of a Tri-State drug user whose body was found
a few months ago in a ditch.

"Nobody cared enough to give the case a thorough investigation. It was
like, hey, it's only a junkie. No big deal. Just bury the man and be done
with it.

"That's what I see happening to my brother. Dead by the side of the road.
Crank is bad stuff. He'll do something wrong by somebody and they'll get
back at him.

"There's nothing we can do about it. That's the worst thing. Just sit
around and wait until the bad news comes."