Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2005)
Spilyay Tyrooo, Wqim Springs, Oregon March 17, 2005 Meth: seminar speakers, public discuss problem (Continued from page 1) Even more dangerous, Ike said, is that drug tests of tribal members have shown that among those who test positive for meth use, traces of PCP or "angel dust," cocaine and hero ine have also been found. "We're rinding now that meth amphetamine is being laced with new products," she said. Ike, in offering suggestions and solutions to the crisis in the local community. She said it is up to citizens to "involve our local leadership and keep them informed," because the leaders hold the purse strings to funds that would help keep drugs off the streets. She said citizens need to "maintain close ties" to child protective agencies, because "your report will save a child's life," and that protective agen cies need to be able to work with mental health agencies. "And mental health agencies need to understand that while they need to be available for their clients, they need to keep those working with our clients - shared clients, such as with probation, Child Protective Ser vices and the courts - informed on their compliance," she said. Ike said mental health coun selors who are "burned out" should consider "clearing the way" for new counselors who are able to counsel clients, par ticularly methamphetamine us ers who need consistent therapy for the first three to six months after their arrest. "How I know this," she said, "is my son, my second oldest son, was addicted to metham phetamine. And during the first three months, we took him to mevemegeicy iroom apprctxiv" mately five times becaitf he be-i. lieved he was dying. I thought he was getting better after the fourth month. "He shared with me later that he didn't feel normal for a year, so it's really important that Men tal Health understand how criti cal it is to get treatment for these people." Ike encouraged judges and prosecutors to establish close ties with agencies such as Child Protective Services, treatment centers, and those in the law enforcement system that deal directly with methamphetamine users, to use citizens groups, and to have "patience, compassion and hope." During the question-and-an-swer session that followed Ike's talk, and those of several oth ers from law enforcement offi cials and treatment providers, Charlotte Pitt, who identified herself as a drug and alcohol counselor in Warm Springs, said counselors "do send these people to treatment." "It usually takes two to three weeks to get them in," she said. "I kind of feel hopeless and helpless at times." She said that people in her field "don't get credit for what we do." "I do make sure that these reports reach the court and the probation officers and CPS," she said. "I'm probably more re sponsible because I know what it does to families." She said tribal leaders and managers must become more informed on meth's effect on the reservation community. In her response, Ike said she agreed with Pitt that tribal lead ers need to "educate them selves". "They are aware of it, but being aware of it doesn't help when they don't situate the money and the dollars that are needed for our law enforcement agencies or any other program that's needed." She said her adult probation officer supervises about 120 adults on probation. "She has a very active case load," she said. "If she were able to break down that caseload, by maybe adding one or two more supervisors, we'd have more adequate coverage in dealing with our methamphetamine or any drug user. "All we can do is let our bosses know what we arc doing and what we're trying to accom plish and hopefully that'll reach our tribal leadership. We are a sovereign nation and tribal lead ers need to be proud of that." Dorothea Barney, a Warm Springs tribal member, gave her take on what officers Dan Allison and Jim Porter, from Central Oregon Drug Enforce ment, or CODE, arc focusing on. Barney said CODE is more concerned with stopping the labs that create methamphetamine than with stopping those that sell the drug. "One time I was looking for a relative who was on meth, and all I did was come over here to Madras," she said. "And I parked. I wouldn't know who does drugs, but I followed him, and I went to four different drug houses. That's how easy it was for me to find all those places. "And so I find it really hard when you guys say, 'Oh it takes a year or so and 100-some visi tors.' Everybody knows who they are." Retired Oregon State Police officer Jim Dent, who served as moderator of the seminar, responded that with funding for law enforcement shortened on nearly every level, there can't be enough officers available to handle every complaint imme diately, and that it does take time to investigate a criminal case "because we have to work within the law." "What do you do when you , hax$ one person thatV dedicated . (iri funding) out of Jefferson County to work drug investiga- tions," he said. "He has to have days off. He has to sleep. We just don't have enough people." Allison, the Jefferson County sheriff deputy charged with in vestigating drug crimes, said that in fact his department is con cerned with labs, the dealers and the users alike. "Jefferson County itself has seen a reduction in labs," he said. "We don't have the manpower to detect labs like we used to. Labs are easier to make. They're faster to produce (methamphet amine). Some of the laws that have been enacted have helped slow labs down a little bit in our area. "However, there's only one of me right now, and I am over whelmed with the amount of stuff to do in Jefferson County." He said he has just come off leave for his wife's pregnancy, and had 15 new "drug-dealing targets" waiting for him and "stacks of paper" on people suspected of selling the drug in the county. Allison urged people like Barney to help law enforcement by reporting when they see ille gal activity related to metham phetamine sales and use. In his presentation, Allison saiuttj's burner House Louvre Tuesday All you can eat Prime Rib Wednesday All you can eat spaghetti Friday All you can eat Prime Rib or Fish & Chips uxdits night with Karaokz. on. Thursday hcaraokt avd ctakvcUvg on Friday nvui Saturday nights said methamphetamine accounts for 90 percent of illegal drugs manufactured in the tri-county (Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson) area. Methamphet amine, he said, is responsible for 80 percent of property crimes and 50 percent of crimes against persons (including as sault, rape and murder). The number of meth labs in the area has decreased, he said, largely because of Oregon's new laws that make it more difficult for individuals to buy from re tail outlets the necessary amounts of ingredients that make up the components of making methamphetamine. He said that in 2004, 177 people were arrested related to methamphetamine possession, including 15 involving endanger ing children, and that five meth Libs had been discovered and dis mantled. Steve Lcrichc, Chief Deputy District Attorney for Jefferson County, said methamphetamine use is directly involved in 32 percent of all felony cases in the county. "That's a little bit astound ing," he said. He encouraged those as sembled to not let meth dealers "feel welcome in our communities." "If you have word of mouth information about someone, call," he said. "You'd be sur prised how many observations (of illegal activity) can lead to a warrant. "A lot of times people in law-, enforcement don't know as much as people on the street." He cited the things to notice as unusual traffic at a neighbor ing home at all hours of the day or night, with visits of no more than five to 10 minutes in length, but he warned not to directly confront a dealer because they may behave unpredictably and may be armed. Porter, a Bend police officer and the supervisor of CODE, said the biggest change he's seen is that his city has had three homicides in a year. "We're used to one a year," he said. He said efforts like CODE face difficulty in the future, be tween an increase in meth use and victims of meth-related crime, and cuts in nationwide drug enforcement from $230 million a year to $100 million recommended by Pres. Bush. "We can't do it alone," Por ter said. "We need to support it all the way around, aftercare, and after jail." Lois Estimo, a Warm Springs resident, asked the morning panel if law enforcement could have mercy on first-time offend ers who are only meth users or allow for mediation, "if a person's willing to get help." Estimo said she would also favor a "recovery home" to help users who have quit stay off meth. Allison said that as a law en forcement officer, he is bound to take action when a crime is committed. "However, once I take ac tion, the case is in the system," he said. "The system is kind of like a wheel that's working, but Thursday All you can eat BBQ Pork Ribs Saturday All you can eat Prime Rib or Crab sometimes it's not. We like to see folks get into the system so that they can get help." Ixriche said there was at one time a program that provided a dialogue between a treatment provider, the user, the court and the district attorney's office, "where they could get together and work on the person's indi vidual problem" until funding for it ran out. "I think we'd like to see that program come back so that it provides a team response to an individual's problem, to try to get them to be healed on a first time basis," he said. "But, sad to say, the funding's not there." White, a Madras resident, said he was inspired to do his movie, "Downfall," on methamphetamine's reach that touched him, as it affected his brother-in law. He first approached Cpt. Greg Partin of the Jefferson County Sheriff Department for help. "We had provided some training videos for the Sheriff's Department, so we knew that they would help us," White said. "He goes, Well, you should do a story about meth."' After an Internet search re vealed how pervasive metham Training, Dedication, Written Warranty, Talent, Tools and Equipment. 1 .-I-. 1,r-i." -W ..... ... f I .,: 111 I I I I I I I i l i i i i itt - m mm 3T When the best is expected, no one does it better! FENDERS BY ENDRES 1 1 89 SW Hart, Madras 475-649 1 1 ,w. . J U-h v' . t. ' I 1 f t 1 v O" I ! I u'11- fn rrsn V 1 MSi v Open 7 days a week, on HWY 97 in the old Outpost building, 475-9776 upen i a.nu in mtamgnt, mon-i nurs. vvecKenas a.vu m z a.nu phetamine is, White said he de cided to wriie a screenplay for it. As a low-budget independent project, White said the story would have to be able to sell the movie, as he and his acquain tances would have to be the ac tors. The cast also included lo cal law enforcement, as well. The 90-minutc film is about a man who was once a meth amphetamine user who found his way back into it, both using and selling, through circum stances. Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies also allowed While ride with them as part of his re search. "I was amazed at how much happens after dark in Madras," he said. To market "Downfall," White said he plans to find a way to distribute it to people who might benefit from it, "whether it's law enforcement of schools." "I'd particularly like young people to see it because as far as the war on meth, that would be a good target audience to try to help," he said. "The movie became a lot bigger project than we thought it was going to be come." He said he plans to send .'-ii - "... T miU i.iir Mil i t ISI2) rtfi y Cold Beverages, Ice, Soda, Groceries & more L I screeners to studios like lion's (iate, I'ine line Features, which he called "medium-style- studio that like to pick up these kind of productions." "They especially like to pick them up, too, because of the story behind the movie," he said. "They say, 'I lere's a family that decided to make an attack on the meth problem by awareness and education, and the commu nity kind of joined with them.' That's always a good story." I le said he planned to hold a screening at the Tower Theater in Bend, approached Oregon l'ilm and Video for help in find ing other potential outlets, and even contacted the Oregon leg islature to say, "Listen, we're from a small town in Oregon where meth is huge. We at tempted to deal with it by mak ing a movie. The community helped us. We'd like you to see it. "Obviously, we're going to need some help getting it out there. I think it's entertaining, but it's also very educational as far as what meth's about, what it's made of, what it does to people, how it destroys families, how it affects the community and law enforcement." t i -. a . . A4-T L 24-hour towing
