New trend
Prescription pills could be latest drug of choice
July 7, 2007
By
CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal staff writer
There are some who think the illegal drug culture in the United
States is one that affects the most desperate, degenerate sect of
society.
One nationally high-profile arrest in the last week should go a
long way toward dispelling those myths.
Al Gore III, son of former Vice President Al Gore, was arrested
July 4 after officers pulled him over as he was allegedly driving
more than 100 miles per hour on the San Diego (Calif.) Freeway in
his Toyota Prius at 2:15 a.m. Gore reportedly had marijuana in
his possession, as well as prescription pills Xanax, Valium,
Vicodin and Adderall, which is used for attention deficit
disorder.
California authorities have said Gore III, 24, didn’t have a
prescription for any of the pills.
The arrest is seemingly a marked example of the emergence of
fraudulently obtained prescription pills as a drug of choice for
addicts across the nation, particularly young people.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if right now at this point in
time, there are more kids abusing prescription drugs than abusing
marijuana,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman and
president of CASA, the National Center on Alcohol and Substance
Abuse at Columbia University.
According to a CASA report, the number of college-age people
abusing Vicodin has climbed a stunning 343 percent since 1993,
while the abuse of Xanax and Valium has increased a whopping 450
percent. Abuse of Adderall has jumped by a comparatively tame 97
percent since 1993, according to the report.
The numbers are not at all surprising to Greenwood County Sheriff’s
Office Chief Deputy Mike Frederick.
“A lot of people are looking at the abuse of pills as a new,
hot craze,” Frederick said. “Years ago, the mainstream
media was touting crack or heroin as the most rampant drugs, and
(law enforcement officers) were careful to warn that prescription
pills would be a huge problem.
“Sure enough, that has come to pass.”
Besides the hallucinogenic “high” people can get from
the medication, Frederick said one of the reasons some addicts
might be choosing fraudulently obtained pills is the lack of
aversions in the methods in which they are consumed. Rather than
having to stick a needle in the arm, such as the case with
heroin, or inhale toxic fumes, such as they would with crack or
methamphetamines, abusers only have a pill to swallow to get
their fix.
Ware Shoals Police Chief Mickey Boland said these actions are
dangerous and the medications themselves are likely to be highly
addictive, particularly for teens and younger people.
“Yes, it’s a growing trend we’ve seen,”
Boland said. “It seems the kids taking part in it are
getting younger and younger. Some of these kids are buying pills
off other people, but we are also seeing cases where kids are
raiding medicine cabinets at their homes and at homes of their
friends.
“Another problem you run into is that some of these kids don’t
even know what they are taking in a situation like that. Then
they carry those same pills to friends and the cycle keeps going.
It’s bad news.”
Boland acknowledged the drugs do serve a medical purpose, but
asked parents and others taking scheduled narcotics for medical
reasons to discard the remaining pills once they are done taking
them.
“I think many people would admit to being guilty to having a
cabinet full of medicine at home,” Boland said. “I
would just advise they discard any medicine that is no longer
being used. That’s the safest bet.”
Frederick said the trend toward pills as a recreational drug
gained steam in the 1990s when Oxycontin started to pop up as an
abused substance. He noted that, since that time, the practice of
“doctor shopping” has become more prevalent.
Doctor shopping relates to a patient’s addiction or reliance
on a certain prescription drug or other medical treatment.
Usually a patient will be treated by his normal physician and be
prescribed a drug that is necessary for the legitimate treatment
of his current medical condition. Once that condition has been
successfully treated however, most conscientious physicians will
not continue to provide patients with the medications that they
were taking.
These patients then actively seek out other physicians to obtain
more of the same medication, often by faking or exaggerating the
extent of their true condition to feed their addiction to that
drug. Some patients have been known to go so far as to break or
chip teeth and visit emergency rooms complaining of toothaches to
receive prescription painkillers.
Frederick said abusers will sometimes canvass a 10-county area in
search of doctors who will fill a prescription for them. He said
those same people will often bring the drugs back and sell them
for $3 to $5 per pill on the street.
Boland added he thinks stricter enforcement, both at the point of
prescription and in court-ordered punishment, would best quell
the prescription drug abuse epidemic.
He recommended a code-based system in which a person’s
prescription could be verified by a unique code, which he thinks
would greatly cut down on prescription forgeries.
“I also think stiffer penalties in court would definitely go
a long way here,” Boland said. “I realize that would
cost the state money in terms of treatment. But, at some point,
people have to learn a lesson or they’ll be caught in the
cycle forever. Because I can promise you, these drugs know no
boundaries. Anyone could get a call tomorrow about their own kids
(being involved with pills).”
His saved faith
African trip an eye-opener for Johnnie Waller
July 7, 2007
By
MIKE ROSIER
Index-Journal staff writer
CALHOUN FALLS — Sure, there have been
moments when Johnnie Waller has wanted to give up and walk away
from this tiny Abbeville County town.
At its worst, being the mayor just hadn’t seemed worth the
effort.
The tax base was leveled by plant closings — prompting
layoffs of town employees — and resident complaints were
spiking each week.
Then there were accusations of mismanagement and two embezzlement
investigations (one is still open) conducted by the S.C. Law
Enforcement Division. Taken together, it was nearly more than he
could bear.
Johnnie Waller’s faith in many things was beginning to flag
— ever so slightly. But then, an unlikely hero stepped in
and saved the day.
And he doesn’t even remember her name.
Waller, also pastor at Springfield Baptist Church, boarded a
commercial flight in May for the continent of Africa, his fourth
such trip there.
It was this trip abroad that has redefined his focus.
It’s given him the strength and resolve needed to make it in
Calhoun Falls. The enduring smiles and unending poverty he found
made him understand.
They made him see just how lucky he really was — even to be
the mayor of a town viewed by many mostly as a dying South
Carolina community.
Now, more than ever, he can still see her face.
He remembers the tears she cried as he merely tried to kneel
beside her bed to tell her of his Jesus. The hospital was like
all the others he had visited — it was full of dead people;
they just didn’t know it yet. He remembers a dread and most
extreme sort of sorrow that accompanies his unique knowledge that
if he were in an American hospital that most of the people he was
looking at would have taken their beds, arisen and walked out the
door.
But he wasn’t in America anymore — he was in Africa.
This was a fact made all to clear when he arrived in the Congo, a
country still very much gripped by communism. Communism may have
died a quick death and vanished from much of the rest of the
world, but no one told anyone living in the Congo. Trips in and
out of the country can be tricky — especially for
well-dressed mayors of small American towns.
“I can say that we were fearful for our lives,” Waller
said. “They are just now building an American embassy there.
The soldiers there had machine guns in their hands, not slung
over on their shoulders. There were hundreds of people being
jostled around. Some of them were being pushed around. We just
learned very quickly to keep our mouths shut.”
So why take the risk to start with?
Why leave freedom to risk imprisonment?
It’s a question missionaries have been answering for
centuries. It’s also a question the Africans themselves ask
when they meet Americans who are willing to stop for a moment and
pray for them.
Their own tribal leaders and politicians do not do this. Why has
an American flown here to speak of this Jesus? And why would this
Jesus love me?
Johnnie Waller lives to answer that question.
“These people are hungry for the word of God,” he said.
“They will sit and worship for hours on end. So many have no
hope. They have only the hope that is given to them through
Jesus. You see real miracles here. You see things here that you
do not see in America because the Africans believe.
“They are amazed that we are here. No person of status here
will even speak to the sick people. And here we are in the midst
of them.”
Which is what draws his mind back to the beautiful young lady
lying in the hospital bed and dying of AIDS and tuberculosis
— she was not so sure.
“I remember her telling me, ‘I know, sir, that I need
Christ, but I am going to wait until later’ which I thought
sounded more like an American answer,” Waller said. “I
almost walked out of there, but I turned around and went back. I
told her right then and there and told her that God had sent me
all the way from America to meet her.
“I wasn’t going to leave her until she had accepted
Christ. I began to get on my knees and tears began to stream down
her face as she begged me not to kneel. Then she said ‘I
will take this Jesus. He must be real for you to have done this’
and I was just overcome.”
So don’t be shocked if Johnnie Waller doesn’t get too
upset when something doesn’t go exactly right at the next
Calhoun Falls town council meeting.
His mind is probably still thousands of miles away — in a
dirty hospital with a young girl who never had a chance in hell,
until an American who loved her walked in the door with a man he
called Jesus.
His saved faith
African trip an eye-opener for Johnnie Waller
July 7, 2007
By
MIKE ROSIER
Index-Journal staff writer
CALHOUN FALLS — Sure, there have been
moments when Johnnie Waller has wanted to give up and walk away
from this tiny Abbeville County town.
At its worst, being the mayor just hadn’t seemed worth the
effort.
The tax base was leveled by plant closings — prompting
layoffs of town employees — and resident complaints were
spiking each week.
Then there were accusations of mismanagement and two embezzlement
investigations (one is still open) conducted by the S.C. Law
Enforcement Division. Taken together, it was nearly more than he
could bear.
Johnnie Waller’s faith in many things was beginning to flag
— ever so slightly. But then, an unlikely hero stepped in
and saved the day.
And he doesn’t even remember her name.
Waller, also pastor at Springfield Baptist Church, boarded a
commercial flight in May for the continent of Africa, his fourth
such trip there.
It was this trip abroad that has redefined his focus.
It’s given him the strength and resolve needed to make it in
Calhoun Falls. The enduring smiles and unending poverty he found
made him understand.
They made him see just how lucky he really was — even to be
the mayor of a town viewed by many mostly as a dying South
Carolina community.
Now, more than ever, he can still see her face.
He remembers the tears she cried as he merely tried to kneel
beside her bed to tell her of his Jesus. The hospital was like
all the others he had visited — it was full of dead people;
they just didn’t know it yet. He remembers a dread and most
extreme sort of sorrow that accompanies his unique knowledge that
if he were in an American hospital that most of the people he was
looking at would have taken their beds, arisen and walked out the
door.
But he wasn’t in America anymore — he was in Africa.
This was a fact made all to clear when he arrived in the Congo, a
country still very much gripped by communism. Communism may have
died a quick death and vanished from much of the rest of the
world, but no one told anyone living in the Congo. Trips in and
out of the country can be tricky — especially for
well-dressed mayors of small American towns.
“I can say that we were fearful for our lives,” Waller
said. “They are just now building an American embassy there.
The soldiers there had machine guns in their hands, not slung
over on their shoulders. There were hundreds of people being
jostled around. Some of them were being pushed around. We just
learned very quickly to keep our mouths shut.”
So why take the risk to start with?
Why leave freedom to risk imprisonment?
It’s a question missionaries have been answering for
centuries. It’s also a question the Africans themselves ask
when they meet Americans who are willing to stop for a moment and
pray for them.
Their own tribal leaders and politicians do not do this. Why has
an American flown here to speak of this Jesus? And why would this
Jesus love me?
Johnnie Waller lives to answer that question.
“These people are hungry for the word of God,” he said.
“They will sit and worship for hours on end. So many have no
hope. They have only the hope that is given to them through
Jesus. You see real miracles here. You see things here that you
do not see in America because the Africans believe.
“They are amazed that we are here. No person of status here
will even speak to the sick people. And here we are in the midst
of them.”
Which is what draws his mind back to the beautiful young lady
lying in the hospital bed and dying of AIDS and tuberculosis
— she was not so sure.
“I remember her telling me, ‘I know, sir, that I need
Christ, but I am going to wait until later’ which I thought
sounded more like an American answer,” Waller said. “I
almost walked out of there, but I turned around and went back. I
told her right then and there and told her that God had sent me
all the way from America to meet her.
“I wasn’t going to leave her until she had accepted
Christ. I began to get on my knees and tears began to stream down
her face as she begged me not to kneel. Then she said ‘I
will take this Jesus. He must be real for you to have done this’
and I was just overcome.”
So don’t be shocked if Johnnie Waller doesn’t get too
upset when something doesn’t go exactly right at the next
Calhoun Falls town council meeting.
His mind is probably still thousands of miles away — in a
dirty hospital with a young girl who never had a chance in hell,
until an American who loved her walked in the door with a man he
called Jesus.
Man says he lost $1,183 in holdup
July 7, 2007
By
CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal staff writer
Police are investigating an armed robbery that reportedly took
place on Independence Day.
According to Greenwood Police reports, officers responded to an
incident on Orlando Court in Greenwood about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The victim told police he was invited inside a residence on
Orlando by a man.The victim said he walked through the door of
the residence following behind the man. Once they were inside,
the man reportedly stuck a gun in the victim’s face.
The victim said it was a black revolver, but he was unfamiliar
with the caliber.
The man reportedly said “Give it up,” then insisted,
“Don’t move; just give it up!”
The victim told police he then reached in his pocket and handed
the man $1,183. He said the man snatched the money from the
victim’s hand and told the victim to get out of the house.
The victim said he turned and ran to his vehicle, got in and told
his girlfriend to drive. When they were a block away from the
scene, the victim said he called the authorities.
The victim said he is somewhat acquainted with the suspect, who
he described as wearing denim shorts, a brown shirt and
Timberland boots.
Several officers went to the incident location and surrounded the
house. They checked inside and all around and found the property
to be vacant.
Police reportedly took the victim to city hall to look at a photo
lineup of possible suspects. When the photos were placed before
the victim, officers said he took about three seconds to identify
one of the photos as depicting the man who robbed him.
Officers were to obtain warrants on the suspect.
Greenwood playoff-bound
July 7, 2007
By
SCOTT J. BRYAN
Index-Journal sports editor
Greenwood’s Post 20 baseball team will play in the American
Legion baseball playoffs, but the opponent and location are still
very much in the air.
In all likelihood, Post 20 will finish in a two-way tie with
Walhalla for first place in the League VII standings. Greenwood
currently has a 10-5 record with one game remaining against
winless Greenville scheduled for 7 p.m. today on the road.
Walhalla, meanwhile, is 9-5 and has two games remaining against
Greenville. Walhalla was scheduled to play Greenville Friday, but
Greenwood manager Billy Dean Minor said that doubleheader was
rescheduled for Monday.
Should Walhalla and Greenwood finish with identical records, a
one-game playoff for first place will likely take place Tuesday,
according to Minor.
“There will be a coin flip to determine where that game is,”
Minor said. “We’re trying to get the coin flip
scheduled for (tonight).”
The winner of Tuesday’s game will host a five-game series
starting July 16. The loser will be a second-place team and there
will be yet another coin flip — this time with a League V
team based out of the Rock Hill area — to determine who has
home-field advantage in the five-game series.
The two-way tie was forced after Thursday night’s games,
where Greenwood was upset by Belton and Walhalla was knocked off
by Easley.
“We didn’t hit the ball real well, and I thought the
last two or three games we started playing better,” Minor
said.
“We went to Walhalla and won. We went to Easley and won. Our
pitching has been pretty good all year. I thought we were coming
together. We were disappointed by the loss, but that’s
baseball.”
Greenwood is hitting .301 as a team. Post 20’s leading
batter is Josh Lovvorn, the team’s regular starting catcher,
who is batting .397. Brandon Miller, a pitcher/first
baseman/corner outfielder, is batting .367, while Justin Collier,
a second baseman who has moved up in the lineup from the No. 9
spot, is hitting .365. Also hitting above .300 are centerfielder
Christian Powell (.347) and first baseman/outfielder Drew
Willingham (.337).
On the mound, Brad Dorn leads Post 20 with a 5-0 record and a
2.23 ERA. Miller, a USC signee, is 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA, while
Christian Powell is the only other starter with a winning record
at 2-1.
Justin Collier has logged the most innings with 37, and he’s
posted a 2-2 record with a 3.65 ERA.
“We’re playing hard, and I think we’re a lot
better than we were at the beginning of the year,” Minor
said. “We’re happy with where we’re at. The kids
have played hard.”
Post 20 has played this season short-handed. Three of the
Greenwood’s players — Matt Titus, Casey Pippin and
Nathan Holland — have failed to play a regular season game
due to injuries, while Brent Wham, who missed most of June, is
injured again.
But Minor isn’t one to make excuses, and he said his Post 20
club has shown vast improvement.
“We’ve started playing better defensively,” Minor
said. “I really thought we were making that push. (The
Belton loss) was disappointing, because I thought we were playing
as well as we could offensively, defensively and pitching-wise.”
Obituaries
Edgar Elam Jr.
Edgar
Elam Jr., of 121 Taggart St., husband of Carrie Lugean Robinson
Elam, died Friday, July 6, 2007 at Self Regional Medical Center.
The family is at the home.
Services will be announced by Parks Funeral Home.
Meagan Evatt
CROSS
HILL — Funeral services for Meagan will be 2 p.m.
Sunday in the Liberty Mortuary Chapel. Burial will be at Red Hill
Baptist Church Cemetery. Visitation will be Saturday evening from
6 until 8 p.m. at the mortuary.
Meagan Deanna Evatt, 9, of 102 Buds Lane, died Thursday, July 5,
2007 at the Medical University in Augusta, Georgia, from injuries
sustained in a horse-riding accident.
Born in Easley, South Carolina, she was a rising third-grader at
Joanna Elementary School.
Surviving are her mother and stepfather, Shannon and Roy Smith of
the home; her father and stepmother, Mitchell and Melissa Evatt
of Easley; a sister, Destiny Cheyenne Evatt of the home; a
brother, Dustin Keith Evatt of the home; 4 stepsisters; a
stepbrother; grandparents, Buddy and Juanita Stewart, and Dean
and Wanda Evatt, all of Pickens, Diane Fowler and Charles Burkett
of Easley and Gail Smith of Waterloo; 3 great-grandmothers, Lois
Britton, Delfie Mosley and Hazel Evatt, all of Pickens.
The family will be at the home of Buddy and Juanita Stewart, 138
Medlin Drive, Pickens, SC 29671.
Memorial messages may be sent to the family by visiting www.libertymortuary.com.
Liberty Mortuary is handling arrangements.
Curtis T. Robinson
DONALDS
— Curtis T. Robinson, 82, formerly of 6 Tribble
Road, died Thursday, July 5, 2007 at Seneca Health & Rehab
Center.
The family is at the home of a sister Julia M. Hawthorne, 20
Tribble Road.
Services will be announced by The Holloway’s Funeral Home
Inc., Belton.
Ralph Yingling
Ralph
Clair Yingling, 70, of 110 Sanders Ave., husband of Alice Marie
Mattson Yingling, died Thursday, July 5, 2007 at his home.
Services will be announced by Harley Funeral Home and Crematory.
Opinion
Give
police and teachers ‘backing’ on discipline
July 7, 2007
While
many South Carolinians agree that a lack of discipline is a
problem in some schools and society in general, there should be
no mystery why a problem exists. In fact, we seem to go out of
our way to perpetuate situations that help cause it.
Consider the teacher and the policeman, for example. They could
help solve their own problem, of course ..... if they were
allowed. The reality is that both the teacher and the policeman
are hindered in their duties because of fear ..... fear that all
of us have allowed. Either that or they are reluctant to do
anything because of that fear.
What is it? There have been many instances when teachers and
policemen have tried to carry out their duties only to be sued
for doing it. There have been so many lawsuits over legitimate
restraining efforts that anyone would think twice before doing
anything.
In fact, there also have been so many frivolous lawsuits for so
many ridiculous and outrageous reasons that no one ever knows if
he or she might face losing everything.
Under the circumstances, who wouldn’t hesitate to apply
discipline in many situations. The result, of course, is that we
all lose. Lawlessness takes another step forward and the social
fabric tears one more time.