Rome dog-fighting home demolished after drugs found

Today, the city of Rome demolished an abandoned house that was a site for dog-fighting

The police broke up a live dog fight in the house a few months ago.

And a few months after that, they found drugs hidden in the walls along with two loaded guns. That’s what gave the city the ability to tear down the house.

Neighbor Dwight Chapman says he expected the drugs but not the dog fighting.

“From my understanding they tore it down because of drugs. There are drugs everywhere. You can’t stop it.”

In Rome alone, there are two other dog-fighting cases in court this week, and a third in September.

In two previous cases tried in July, both defendants were found guilty and given a $270 fine.

Some state lawmakers have said Georgia's dog fighting penalties are not strong enough, and have vowed to push tougher punishments during the next legislative session.

Free and low cost drug bus rolls into Savannah

Hundreds of Savannah residents showed up today for help receiving free or low cost drugs from a pharmeceutical company bus.

Venetia Franklin is unemployed, uninsured, sick and now tearfully grateful for the help she received from the big orange bus armed with drug industry reps signing people up for free and low-cost drugs.

"I have one-prescription that's about 2-hundred-dollars a month just for 30-pills," Franklin says. "I'm trying to see if I can get some help."

Drug makers started the Partnership for Prescription Assistance two years ago amid criticism that they weren't doing enough to make medicines available to the poor. At today's event, its spokesman, talk show host and M.S. patient Montell Williams, said lawsuits, not drug companies, are responsible for the high cost of drugs.

"I'm not saying that's the only reason, but if we want the government to do something, why don't we step up to the plate and do something?" Williams said.

The P.P.A. bus also stopped this week in Bainbridge, Alma, Jesup and Moultrie. The program has served almost 200,000 Georgia residents.

Richmond schools to use aerosol spray to detect drugs

A school system in the eastern Georgia city of Augusta plans to use a unique method for identifying students who use illegal drugs. Here's how it works: Coat a desk or a locker with aerosol spray. If the object turns a different color, the student may be using illegal drugs.

Richmond County school officials say using the spray would be less intrusive than bringing in police dogs or conducting urine tests. It can detect marijuana, cocaine, heroin and amphetamines.

"We could actually, rather than testing the student, we may opt to go to their locker," said Dr. Dana Bedden, Richmond County's school superintendent. "It could be a parent who comes to the school and say I may be concerned that my child might be involved, and we can offer a resource to them to say do you have any of their clothing or anything that you may want to have us test."

The spray is part of a research study funded by the federal government.

Prison employee charged with drug smuggling

A Georgia prison employee has been arrested on charges she tried to smuggle drugs to inmates at Valdosta State Prison. Authorities said a tip led to Wednesday's arrest of 26-year-old Deborah Watson. She faces several charges, including intent to distribute a variety of illegal drugs. Lowndes County sheriff's officials said marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy was found in tube socks that Watson hid on her body.
(Associated Press)

Two Georgians caught with $1M worth of drugs

A Georgia man and woman have been caught carrying 180 pounds of marijuana in their rented pick-up truck. Marsenna Louise Jenkins of Stone Mountain, and Shelvin White of Atlanta were pulled over for speeding this morning outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Police found the drugs in the bed of the pick-up. They say the marijuana – which was worth nearly a million dollars -- was purchased in Atlanta and destined for New York City.

Dope ... On A Rope

Lt. Frank Farr, an investigator with the Winder Police Department, said he had never seen anything like it in his 20 years of service - a takeout window for drugs. He found it in Winder this week when authorities arrested two alleged drug dealers. Police said customers would notify the dealers by ringing a wireless doorbell attached to a tree in a nearby stand of woods, setting off a chime in the second-story apartment. Police said a bucket was lowered and buyers placed their money in it for the dealers to haul up and count, then the drugs were sent back down in the bucket.
Police charged 30-year-old Antwon Scruggs and his 27-year-old girlfriend Laurnecia Fulton with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Athens Banner-Herald

Middle Georgia Drug Bust

Law enforcement officials from Bibb, Monroe, and Twiggs County say teamwork was key in a recent drug bust.

For the past four months investigators from the three counties worked together to follow a large cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana trafficking organization.

Eight suspects were arrested. Police seized over 600-thousand dollars worth of drugs, cash and property.

Officials say all of the suspects are familiar to local law enforcement, and that more arrests could come as a result of this investigation.

Bibb County Sheriff Jerry Modena says, "This investigation takes a large chunk of drugs out of Bibb County and puts a major hurt on some of our drug dealers."

An anonymous tip led to the investigation.

Pro Wrestler's Doctor Indicted

The personal doctor of pro wrestler Chris Benoit is facing a federal indictment for illegally distributing painkillers.
Benoit, a star with World Wrestling Entertainment was found dead in his home last month in a tragic murder suicide.
He apparently strangled his 7 year-old son and his wife before hanging himself.
Anabolic steroids were found in his home, which lead investigators to his physician Phil Astin.
Now Astin is facing a 7 count indictments for illegally dispensing drugs 2 years ago to people other than Benoit. But records show that Astin did prescribe steroids to Benoit until May of this year.
Federal drug agents are looking into whether Astin prescribed any drugs to Benoit on June 22nd, the day he apparently killed his wife.
Some experts believe excessive steroid use can alter the brain.

$9 M Worth of Drugs Still Missing

$9 million worth of pharmaceutical drugs are still missing from a Georgia truck stop. The FBI is now involved in finding a tractor trailer stolen Friday night in Haralson County off Interstate 20. Police say the truck was hauling meds like blood thinners and cold and nasal medicine. The driver had gone inside the truck stop to take a shower.

(Associated Press)

Rochelle woman asks cops to check her cocaine

ROCHELLE, Ga. — A woman was arrested after she called police to help "get her money back" after she was unhappy with the crack cocaine she purchased.

Juanita Marie Jones, 53, called Rochelle Police late Thursday night after she purchased what she thought was a $20 piece of crack cocaine, according to police reports.

She told officers she broke the rock into three pieces and smoked one, only to discover the drugs were "fake."

She took Officer Joel Quinn and Deputy John Shedd of the Wilcox County Sheriff's Office into her kitchen and showed them the drugs, police said.

She was promptly arrested on charges of possession of cocaine.

In a related story, 25 people have been indicted in a statewide pot-growing operation. Click here and here for more.

(Associated Press)

Delta employees cited in drug ring

Seven Delta Air Lines employees have been named in a New York drug ring. The FBI says the ring sought to smuggle drugs through John F. Kennedy Airport. Agents also intercepted the shipments of more than 100 pounds of cocaine, 55 pounds of heroin and 6.6 pounds of the drug ecstasy. Prosecutors say the Delta group concealed drugs in luggage on jets traveling from the Dominican Republic, then retrieved the bags at JFK before they could be inspected by customs agents.

Georgians charged in Net drug scheme

An Atlanta-area company and four Georgia men have pleaded guilty to conspiring to import unauthorized prescription drugs from Central America and selling them on the Internet, taking in millions of dollars. The pleas entered Friday in federal court are the latest stemming from the indictment of 11 people and Norcross-based Hi-Tech Phamarceuticals Inc. in September 2006. Two North Carolina men admitted their roles in February 2007. All defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and importation and distribution of adulterated, unapproved, and mislabeled drugs. Other defendants were from South Dakota and Belize, where
prosecutors said generic versions of pharmaceuticals such as Xanax, Valium, Ambien, Vioxx, Zoloft, Viagra, and Cialis were manufactured in what essentially was a four-room house.

(Associated Press)

Dope bust may lead to trafficking ring

Federal and state authorities say they have uncovered a drug smuggling route into western Georgia.

Officials seized 140 pounds of marijuana, 70 thousand dollars in cash, guns and several vehicles at an empty house in Harris County Tuesday. The drugs were packed and ready for shipment.

The Columbus Metro Narcotics Task Force and the Harris County Sheriff's Department say the raid is part of a long-term operation.

Harris County Sheriff Mike Jolley says the find indicates a cross-border drug route:

“We believe the drugs were brought in through a traffic route from the Mexico – Texas area. So DEA is in the process of doing follow-up investigative activity.”

Authorities have put out a warrant for a convicted felon in connection to the case. They believe he is part of a larger drug trafficking ring throughout the southeast.

Click here for more GPB News about drug arrests in Georgia.

Life in prison for couple who gave drugs to friend

A couple has been sentenced to life in prison for supplying the drugs that killed a friend of theirs two and a half years ago. 36-year-old James Carter and his wife 55-year-old Val Carter were found guilty of felony murder in the death of 52-year-old Debra Coley. Coley, of Houston County, died after she took an injection of Oxycodone while she was already intoxicated more than double the state's legal limit. The Carters, of Jones County, gave Coley the narcotic as the three friends sat in Val Carter's pickup truck outside a home where Coley had been staying. According to testimony during the trial, the Carters left Coley alive outside the home, where she was later found dead with an injection mark in her right forearm.

Savannah drug bust nets 18

Savannah area police have arrested at least 18 people for conspiring to move over a million dollars of cocaine a month onto city streets.

The police operation started with a routine traffic stop that led to a chase and was still going on during a news conference when drug cops abruptly left the room on word of another suspect's whereabouts. Savannah-Chatham Counter Narcotics Team Commander Roy Harrison says, the bust represents a complex and multi-agency untangling of "mid-level" dealers.

"These folks were involved in bringing it in and they do what's called stepping on the drugs to add something to it really to boost their profit," Harrison said. "When you're interrupting this the street level dealers can't get as much of the drug out to sell."

Police seized cash, drugs, vehicles and guns, but acknowledge those arrested represented just one of many area drug operations. The problem, said one officer, is that other dealers will move into their places.

I-20 "drug pipeline"

Interstate 20 that runs east-west between Augusta and Alabama is becoming a major drug pipeline. Federal authorities say every month they seize cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana from the corridor. One officer with the Taliaferro County Sheriff’s office says it’s never hard to find someone shipping drugs on the highway. Authorities say many of the drugs are linked to Atlanta.

Atlanta police officers raised concerns before shooting

Some of the Atlanta police officers involved in last November’s fatal shootout with an elderly woman had raised concerns about such raids two months earlier. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports that when officers raided 80-year-old Frances Thompson’s home in September, she confronted them with a toy gun because she thought she was being robbed. Police later determined that the people coming and going from Thompson’s apartment were not buying drugs … they were church members visiting because Thompson’s son had just died. Soonthereafter several narcotics officers scheduled a meeting with their boss to voice their concerns. Two months later, plainclothes officers raided 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston’s home, killing her when she opened fire on them.

Pharmaceuticals found in Atlanta drinking water

A national investigation found pharmaceutical drugs in the drinking water of at least 41 million Americans. Georgians among them.

The study conducted by the Associated Press tested metropolitan areas. It found acetaminophen, caffeine, and cotanine, a human by- product of nicotine in Atlanta’s drinking water.

The AP says the concentrations are small, far below what’s in a medical dose, but some scientists are worried about the long-term consequences to human health. Researchers don’t know exactly what the exposure does to humans, but recent studies have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.

Many pharmaceuticals get into the water supply through treated sewage, because current sewage treatment methods don't remove them.

Atlanta cop pleads guilty to conspiracy

A former Atlanta police officer pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges for his role in a botched drug raid that ended in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman.

The former officer, Arthur Tesler, faces more than 10 years in prison on a charge of conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death. The police originally said officers had gone to the home of the woman, Kathryn Johnston, in northwest Atlanta, in 2006 after an informant said he had bought drugs there. But after finding none, officers tried to cover up the mistake by planting bags of marijuana, prosecutors said.

In May, Mr. Tesler, 42, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for lying to investigators, but federal prosecutors decided to pursue more charges after reviewing the case.

(AP)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of police affairs.

The 411 On Swine Flu

Here is a list of discoveries from NPR reporters and editors.

First, the new swine flu strain IS treatable with existing drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza. The US has a stockpile of 50 million "courses of treatment" which means one week of treatment for 50 million people. Tamiflu is not thought to be in short supply in the commercial market, but inevitably we will see spot shortages as the news of more cases picks up. Relenza is not as widely used as Tamiflu.

Treatment has to start within 24-48 hours of the first symptoms to be effective. Even then, it only shortens the course of the flu by a day or two, but it does make the disease miler and helps prevent it from going into pneumonia.

Prevention is what you've heard by now - handwashing, social distancing - and today the CDC is telling people to stop social kissing when greeting. All things to stop the spread - which is almost exclusively through drops in the air from cough and sneezes (also cover coughs and sneezes).

You can't get it from eating properly cooked pork, even if the pig had the virus.

SYMPTOMS OF SWINE FLU: (you may have heard this in ATC Monday):

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, a few people get swine flu every year in the US. The symptoms of swine flu in people are pretty much the same as regular flu -- fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. In the current outbreak at the school in New York City, people also reported gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting. The CDC says this is normal, too. In past outbreaks, swine flu has caused severe illness like pneumonia and respiratory failure. These severe illnesses are occuring in Mexico -- there may be as many as 100 deaths. And that's what's prompted the heightened concern over the new swine flu strain.

TERMINOLOGY: (you may have heard this in ME Monday)

An outbreak is defined as a sudden increase in the numbers of a particular illness. That's about where we are now - and have been - for the past several weeks. What caused doctors in Mexico to sit up and take notice was a sudden jump in serious pneumonias at the end of the regular flu season. Tests are underway now to determine how many of these cases might be swine flu.

An epidemic is an outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely. Since officials aren't sure how many of the cases of pneumonia in Mexico are actually swine flu, it's still a little too early to call it an epidemic. And the few cases in the U-S and Canada definitely are NOT an epidemic.

A pandemic is where a disease has spread across a wide geographic area and is affecting a large proportion of the population - typically millions. We're not there yet with swine flu, but public health officials worry we might get there if the outbreak in Mexico, the US and Canada grows larger.