MURDER SUICIDE ATTEMPT STORY ON PAGE A2
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Headlight Herald TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM • MARCH 6, 2013
Suspected heroin dealers arrested
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“Pills are as deadly as guns and your kids are playing with them.” - Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office Detective Paul Fournier
Join Italian food lovers at the Schooner to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure
On February 27, Tillamook County Narcotics Team (TNT) detectives arrested two men suspected of dealing heroin near the Tillamook Jr. High School and East Elementary. According to investigators, Jeffrey Daniel Watts, 23, a transient staying in Tillamook, and his brother Zachary D. Watts, 26, of Gresham, were arrested by Tillamook County JEFFREY Narcotics WATTS Team (TNT) detectives on Evergreen Dr. near Alder Street in Tillamook. This area is within 1000 feet of the ZACHARY Tillamook Jr. WATTS High. Both Jeffrey Watts and Zachary Watts were in possession of heroin when confronted by TNT. Detectives recovered approximately 1.5 grams of heroin packaged in several separate bindles. “We have been seeing a huge increase in heroin use in Tillamook County, especially among younger people,” said TNT Detective Sgt. Troy Jackson. “It is very concerning to us that these two were actively selling heroin in the middle of the afternoon and so close to an elementary school and the Jr. High school,” said Jackson.
PRESCRIPTION
DRUGS
BY JOSIAH DARR sports@orcoastnews.com
“The most serious problem in our community” BY MARY FAITH BELL mfbell@countrymedia.net
A
sked what he considers the most serious problem in the community, Tillamook Police Chief Terry Wright answers "Prescription drugs," without hesitation. “Because they are so dangerous, and so readily available," said Wright. "They’re everywhere." Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office Detective Paul Fournier concurs. “Pills are the most serious problem in the community because they’re so prevalent and they can kill you -- or your kids. People need to realize that pills are as dangerous as guns, and your children are playing with them. If you have a handgun in the house, hopefully you keep it locked up where kids can’t get at it. But pills are just as serious a threat, and people keep them in the medicine cabinet where their kids can get them. If there is one thing I would like to get across to people, it would be this: lock up your pills, and not just with a flimsy little padlock. Keep them in a handgun safe. Count them. Do you know how many pills are in your bottle right now? Check this out, your kids probably know.” Kids are taking pills from their parents’ prescriptions and bringing them to school, buying, selling, trading, and giving them away for fun. They often do not know what they’re taking, said Tillamook High School Vice-Principal Lisa Dion. “So far this year we’ve had two ‘official’ prescription drug incidents with students at the high school,” said Dion, “where we had to call the police. There have been many more reports -- by students --of pills in school. We act on those reports immediately, but we don’t always find anything.” In one case this year a student took pills that came from another student who got them from someone else; the student who took the pills got sick, which is how the incident came to the attention of school administrators. “The student didn‘t even know what kind of pills they were,” said Dion. “That’s the scary part; it’s the casual attitude kids have toward pills. They seem to think that pills are OK and somehow less dangerous than illegal drugs
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‘Stop the War in My Rack’ March 12 at the Schooner
because they come from a doctor and they see their parents taking them. At some level they know better, because they hide them. But still, there’s the misconception that pills are safe. Some parents do the right thing and keep their pills locked up, but there are a lot more who don’t. In fact, it’s not always a matter of kids taking their parents’ pills; sometimes parents or even grandparents are dispensing the pills to kids.” Fournier said this is called "diversion," when prescription drugs are diverted from the person for whom they are prescribed, and given or sold to someone else. "People have so many pills for so many different conditions," said Fournier, "they act like personal pharmacies for their family and friends. 'Oh, here's a muscle relaxant, or oxycodone; what you need is a xanax.' It's crazy, it's dangerous, and it's against the law. People need to understand that it is a crime to possess medication that was not prescribed to you. If we pull you over for a traffic stop and you have pills that were not prescribed to you, you're going to jail. If you're dispensing controlled substances to other people and you're not a pharmacist, you're going to jail." Chief Wright said that prescription drugs are particularly destructive to the community because they are affecting the mainstream, tearing at the sturdy fabric of society. "Illegal drugs like methamphetamine are a problem," said Chief Wright, "but meth users are a small percentage of the population, and they’re easily identifiable. We know who the meth users in the community are. But prescription drugs are in the mainstream; they're in every house on the block. Law abiding citizens go to a doctor for a legitimate reason, generally pain, and they get a prescription for something that takes the pain away. These are productive members of society with no criminal history. Pretty soon they need more pills, so they go back to the doctor. This cycle continues indefinitely, depending on who their doctor is, or until the doctor stops prescribing.”
See PILLS, Page A7
PHOTO BY PAUL FOURNIER
If there's one thing Tillamook can hang its hat on, it's that Tillamook residents are extremely generous when it comes to helping others. Anyone who's seen the community involvement in Tillamook High School's Charity Drive knows there is an outpouring of generosity from Tillamook County unequalled in communities many times larger than ours. That same kindness and generosity of spirit will be on display when the Schooner Restaurant in Netarts holds the first ever “Stop the War in My Rack,” event, Tuesday, March 12 to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. This foundation helped support Tillamook resident Dee Hancock when she found out four months ago she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer.
See Fundraiser, Page A7
PUD transmission line appeal March 5 Tuesday evening, March 5, at 5:30 p.m. the Tillamook City Council was scheduled to hear the appeal of the Tillamook City Planning Commission’s approval of a conditional use permit for Tillamook PUD’s proposed transmission line to Oceanside, which is proposed to run along an unused Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad rightof-way, and then through Tillamook on Front Street. The Headlight Herald will have already gone to press by the time the hearing takes place. We will post a report online as soon as possible following the hearing, and will have a report in next week’s print edition as well. The city council’s hearing is “on the record,” meaning that all testimony is based strictly on the record of the prior hearing by the Planning Commission; new evidence that wasn’t available to the Planning Commission isn’t allowed.
Crab races the Dungeness version of NASCAR BY JOE WRABEK jwrabek@countrymedia.net
GARIBALDI – Where else but Tillamook County? This weekend, March 9 and 10, for the 28th year in a row, the Oregon Coast’s iconic crustaceans will be racing in Garibaldi, at the Pacific Northwest Championship Crab Races. The races take place indoors – weather on the Coast isn’t always ideal in March – at the Old Mill Marina Resort, at the foot (shoreline) of Third Street in Garibaldi. The Old Mill has been the site of the races for several years. The doors open at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 9, and 11 a.m. Sunday, March 10. (Daylight Savings Time starts Sunday morning, so that “11 a.m.” is going to feel a lot like 10 a.m.) Racing starts about an hour later, following opening ceremonies. Racing lasts until 5 or 6
p.m. “or until we run out of crab,” honcho Judy Riley advised. Riley is president of the Garibaldi Lions club, which puts on the Crab Races. The crab – all Dungeness, the Coast’s specialty – are locally caught. This year, they come from Deepwater Seafood in Garibaldi. The crab race on an inclined plane, with their human “managers” – adults and kids of both sexes -- positioned behind. The “managers” aren’t allowed to touch their crabs; they have to encourage them instead, by pounding on the table and shouting. “Expect a lot of noise,” Riley said. Track Announcer Laurice Myers will be announcing the races, Track Secretary Samantha Moore signs up contestants (the crabs’ human “managers”), and races will be started by Track Steward PHOTO COURTESY OF JUDY RILEY Tim Sutfin. This is the third year the There was fun for the whole family at 2012 Garibaldi Crab Races and this year three have held these jobs.
See CRAB, Page A5
looks to have much of the same in store.
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