Lately, the headlines on Fort Scott residents being arrested for allegedly purchasing illegal amounts of pseudoephedrine/ephedrine found in over-the-counter decongestant medicines has caught my attention - mainly because my maiden family name was listed.

Don't worry. The embarrassment is already out there. This will not add to it.

I won't judge the "alleged" decisions of people in my family. They are my family. I love them nevertheless. I just really, really do not agree with this particular "alleged" decision. In fact, I think it was just plain idiotic.

However, I think that it provides an excellent opportunity to express my opinion on the matter in writing, as I have already expressed it in person.

I hate drugs. I think they are the stupidest things anyone could ever get involved with. I have never been able to understand how people could do it. I have watched drugs ruin the lives of family members and dear friends, take away everyone and everything they have worked for, put a barrier between them and God, therefore, preventing a good life.

That said, even if you do not do drugs, why would you purchase ingredients for people that are making one of the worst drugs out there, meth?

The ingredients of meth are atrocious. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (www.kdheks.gov) lists several ingredients such as lye, brake fluid and drain cleaners, all of which I am pretty sure are labeled "poisonous" on them.

Meth is highly addictive and dangerous. KDHE lists short-term side effects such as convulsions, aggressive behavior and paranoia and long-term effects such as liver, brain, lung and kidney damage, and permanent psychological problems, not to mention death.

So let me ask this question -- would you want your kid on this? Then why would you contribute to making it possible for someone to potentially sell it to your kid? Oh, it won't happen to your kid, right? I hope the money was worth it.

It terrifies me to know that my son will be confronted with this as he grows up. It's a far cry from what I was faced with as a kid. I know we will train him in the way he should go (Proverbs 22:6), but lately it seems like meth is all around. What will it be like when he has to deal with it?

Bourbon County charged nine people with one count of unlawful acts, a non-person misdemeanor for purchasing illegal amounts of pseudoephedrine/ephedrine found in over-the-counter decongestant medicines. Yet the manufacturing of meth is a felony. In my personal opinion, people who purchase ingredients for people to make meth should be charged with a felony as well. Yet they seemingly get a slap on the wrist. I see no difference. People who purchase the cold medicine know what the ingredients will be used for.

Besides the threat to our children, which by all means is a topic unto itself, meth manufacturing has negative repercussions on the entire community. It has an overbearing negative affect on the community's overall economic development. It creates hostile environments for children and teaches the next generation to produce a drug that kills people instead of getting a job and becoming productive citizens. It breeds theft and violence. When a meth lab is seized, who do you think pays for the cost of housing the suspects and cleaning up the lab? That's right, you do. According to KCI: The Anti-Meth Site (www.kci.org/meth_info/faq_meth) "Cleanups of labs are extremely resource-intensive and beyond the financial capabilities of most jurisdictions. The average cost of a cleanup is about $5,000 but some cost as much as $150,000. The KCI sites motto is right; Meth destroys lives, families and communities.

The unreasonable logic behind it all simply has to be greed. Greed for money. A sad trade off that is. Is it worth your losing your life? Losing your children? Losing your salvation?

As I and most of the people I know work our rear ends off to make Fort Scott a better place, it sickens me to see people counteract all that hard work by continuing to run themselves and their community into the ground.

LUK 12:15

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

The Neighborhood Revitalization action team of Fort Scott Community Visioning will host a series of neighborhood clean-up block parties. At those parties, the team will gauge interest in establishing a neighborhood crime/meth watch. If you are interested in establishing a neighborhood watch, contact the NR team at NRfortscott@hotmail.com.