STIFF SENTENCES JUST THE FIRST STEP

Prison is what two local criminals deserve. Drug treatment while
they're there is what society deserves.

Jacob M. Harrelson and Kenneth E. Shipman II are, as the law says,
habitual criminals. They might go straight someday, but they've
committed so many crimes that the rest of us should be protected from
them. Superior Court Judge Kenneth Crow has seen to it.

Shipman, who's 28, could spend almost nine years behind bars for his
latest offense - possession of a firearm by a felon. Harrelson, who's
26, could spend almost 12 years in the slammer for two robberies.
Those cots and hots will cost the taxpayers a lot of money, but maybe
it will be well spent.

By the time these novice career criminals get out, they'll be older
and possibly a little wiser. The question is whether they will still
be drawn to drugs. Prosecutors said both have problems with heroin.
Then both need serious drug treatment while locked up. If they can't
be helped after years of therapy - and, one hopes, abstinence - they
might never be helped.

In which case, they'll quickly go back to prison. They'll be too
dangerous to live among us.