I just found this in the Benton Evening News. I used to live in that town, so I read the paper from there from time to time.
At the end of the article are comments from people who have read it. If you read none of the others, make sure you read the first one. I have added an angry face at the first of it so there is no mistaking it.
What is this world coming to?

PMS



4 sentenced for meth conspiracy

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Benton Evening News
Tue Apr 21, 2009, 12:49 PM CDT

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East St. Louis, Ill. -
A. Courtney Cox, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced Tuesday that four defendants from Southern Illinois have been sentenced in the U.S. District Court for their roles in a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine in Franklin and Williamson Counties.

Much of the methamphetamine manufactured by the members of the conspiracy was “cooked” at property controlled by co-conspirators Dion and Anton Halaska that was located outside of Johnston City.

Dion Halaska, 38, of Johnston City was sentenced to serve 159 months’ imprisonment to be followed by a term of five years’ supervised release.

Anton “Tony” Halaska, 41, of West Frankfort was sentenced to serve 135 months’ imprisonment to be followed by a term of five years’ supervised release.

Clarence “Bubba” McCay, 26, of Herrin was sentenced to serve 80 months’ imprisonment to be followed by a term of five years’ supervised release.

Marshal Rosenberger, 28, of Cambria was sentenced to serve 110 months’ imprisonment to be followed by a term of four years’ supervised release.

All defendants were ordered to jointly pay $6,913 in restitution for the cleanup of the methamphetamine-manufacturing materials and by-products that were seized from the Halaskas’ property in 2003.

The investigation was led by the COMIT Drug Task Force with assistance from the Southern Illinois Enforcement Group, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Franklin, Williamson, and Jackson County Sheriffs’ Departments.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys James E. Crowe III.

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Comments (4)
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LegalizeDrugs5 days ago
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You can bust every meth lab you can come up with and you will not even START to put a dent in the huge demand for meth. Meth addicts LOVE their meth and if you shut down the local labs then the Mexican mafia will simply increase the amount of meth it exports into the USA to meet the new demand. Methamphetamine should be legal. Legalizing meth would kill meth labs, meth houses and the meth mafia overnight. A group of 20,000 very serious policemen, prosecutors and attorneys have formed a group to legalize ALL drugs, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (http://leap.cc ) They see what happened when we legalized alcohol in 1932 as a good example of how drug legalization would work. We can't stop drugs. They're sick of chasing drug users and sending innocent people to prison for decades just because they like to get high. This foolish war on drugs has lasted 37 years and cost us over a TRILLION dollars and we are not an inch closer to stopping drugs. How many millions of Americans are we going to lock up in prison for decades? Legalize ALL drugs now. Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com
3timesmama5 days ago
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that has to be the craziest thing ive ever heard do you know how people act when theyre on meth i guess not thats what i want to live amongest is people on meth what a great world that would be i would say that if they dont want to help these people by putting them away then they should find another job and it isnt legal so they arent innocent !!!!
wf mom of 33 days ago
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We live with people on meth every day. I'm not sure legalizing it is the way to go but it does have some merit. Legalizing any drug gives you the right to tax and regulate it. As it stands now all the pot, meth and crack are taxing the system from the inside out by way of drug enforcement , lawyers, rehab clinics and court costs. I don't use or advocate the use of illicit drugs but they are among us . Drug addicts are here to stay..and that is unfortuante. But the illegal drug activity from Mexico and South America is a multi-multi billion dollar industry. Something has to be done.. because the path we are taking with trying to catch them after the fact just isn't working!
3timesmama3 days ago
Report Abusewell i guess im thinking of the lives it destroys rather than some money in someones pocket

NEVER!! NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!!!! I was one of them. It makes you crazy..it kills your conscience, your heart, your will, and your mind. It makes you dangerous, and do things any normal person would not do. A person on meth is not the same person that started taking it. It changes you..you become hate...sick...ugly... NEVER!


Kat

Maybe we can just have them take that starter fluid straight up.

I agree with you. You are not going to stop people from taking it, and banning it has created violence.

You wanna know how to end gangs? Legalize drugs. Where do the gangs get their money? Drugs and guns. If you make drugs leagle and make dealers that have licensees the gangs will run out of money and will die down. Just like gangs during the prohibition.

Besides if drugs are legal they will cost more. Which will make it more expensive for people to get.

Would you swallow a spoonful of drain cleaner? Does the thought of injecting brake fluid into your arm appeal to you? Care to top off your dessert with a bit of rat poison?

These are a few of the common ingredients to Meth.

Alcohol -
Gasoline additives/Rubbing Alcohol
Ether (starting fluid)
Benzene
Paint thinner
Freon
Acetone
Chloroform
Camp stove fuel
Anhydrous ammonia
White gasoline
Pheynl-2-Propane
Phenylacetone
Phenylpropanolamine
Rock, table or Epsom salt
Red Phosphorous
Toluene (found in brake cleaner)
Red Devil Lye
Drain cleaner
Muraitic acid
Battery acid
Lithium from batteries
Sodium metal
Ephedrine
Cold tablets
Diet aids
Iodine
Bronchodialators
Energy boosters
Iodine crystals

I have been on the recieving end of having to clean up Meth labs with a Hazmat team, and I cannot see how this highly toxic recipe can be something that the average american can say to themselves "Sure lets legalize this drug so we can spread it to our kids".

TM

Well if it is legalized and controlled those ingredients will not be used.

LOL (anyone got a match?)

I have never done any drug other then a little pot, when I was young, as most of us did. I can't say I have ever tried meth. But I know I never will either.
I don't care what anyone says, I say keep it illegal.

PMS

NO NO NO NO NO! I would rather shove broken glass shards up my nose and roll around on a fire ant hill.

METH is totally evil. I have only see three justified cases where a prescription and mandatory councilling were involved while on it.

You have your head way up your ass if you think legalizing that poison is good for anyone. Pot is one thing but Meth?


No FU*KEN WAY!

You agree with the paper, nobody else agrees.

And I was not aiming this ant anyone posting in particular but the paper that posted that?

What are you crazy!!??? I mean it. Are you?? This is not a drug to mess around with. It is very dangerous. So cvary dangerous. If you think not...am I gonna say this? Do it. Go get you some and shoot it straight in your veins. It will be a high you will never forget and will certainly do again...that is..if it didn't scare the hell out of you first. This stuff kills. People doing this drug will do anything to get it. You think the world is bad now...just make that crap legal. You haven't seen nuttin yet honey. It isn't just a gang drug either. People make it in their cars, their basements...in the woods. It is easy and cheap.

Kat

I am not surprised, but thats ok.

I agree that it shouldn't cost the tax payer $30000 a year to put one guy in prison.

Well of course I am not going to use it. I have never done a drug in my life (besides medicine) and I don't plan to. But illegalizing drugs does more harm then good. Yes drugs are very bad, but it is a personal decisions and the government has no right to tell you what you can and can't put in your body. And I am not just talking about meth I am talking about all drugs.

When I was doing that sh*t..I would not blink an eye to rob you set you up...or even kill you if someone wanted my help. Meth is evil..pure evil....people that do it become monsters. To their own families, friends..(did I say friends?)ha!! They do not have friends..only cohorts and using buddies...people to run with and steal with...one meth junkie is terrible...but get two or more together? All the locks in the world won't stop them.
It dosn't matter if it is legal. It is what it is. Legal illegal...the meth monster will still do damage to whomever gets in the way.
Kat

And it being illeagal never stopped you. I never said drugs were a good thing. I don't think anyone should take them. But I, nor anyone else has the right to stop people. And drugs being illeagal hurts more people than just the user, if you make it leagel, regulate it, and enforce laws that will actually work on keeping society safe. The effects that drugs have on the people who don't use it will go down.

\Nope. It did not stop me. A meth user does not care if is or not.
9legal) Doesn't matter. It can be made much cheaper than any government will charge you for it. It is deadly..a mixture of chemicals that by themselves will kill you. It is so explosive and unrealiable. It makes you see things outside..in trees...hear people in your house...it makes you paranoid...it will send a user outside with a loaded weapon to seek and do away with their imagined monster of this devil. It changes the face of the user to an almost unrecognizable ugly nothing. It kills the heart. It poisons the soul..it absolutely ruins the brain and the body. The common sense is all but forgotten. No wait...IT IS FORGOTTEN.

Kat

(((if you make it leagel, regulate it, and enforce laws that will actually work on keeping society safe. The effects that drugs have on the people who don't use it will go down.)))

You just said that??? Really? You really think you can make the law work if it is legal and "regulate" it? lol lol that is so funny. It is illegal now. You think making it legal would make a difference? That the law would have half a chance to enforce something it could not enforce before? HELLOOOOOOOO....Did you hear yourself? The effects of people who don't use it will stay the same or worse. If is is legal...it will be even more dangerous to you and every other person on this planet. I did speed for twenty years. To the detriment of my health, the sanity of my family not to mention their safety and mine. This stuff needs to be stopped permantly. No law will change what it is doing now. No law will effect it. It is a drug that is too easy to get and make. Meth users are hooked on the high of unreality. No feeling involved. You just carry on in a numb world...with nothing on your mind but another hit. Where to get it and how to get it.

Kat

i have watched people literally stay in a shower for several hours, coating their entire body with lice shampoo and scratching their skin off to get the bugs out of their veins.

i have seen mothers leave their six-month-olds alone to get a fix.

i have watched full grown men crawl on the ground to avoid the "peeping eyes" that might be peeking through the windows...that were boarded up and covered with boxes, tape, and even mattresses.

i have watched as women pulled out all of their hair...

i have watched as people crawled on the ground, licking the literal dirt to get up a spilled bit of tweak...

souls lost. never legalize.

amphetamine is legal - it's called adderall. anyone who says they get distracted easily gets it.