Two years ago, this reporter watched a documentary on MSNBC, called \u2018Here comes the Horse\u2019 and it dealt with heroin in small town America. One of the three towns it focused on was Lewistown, just 50 miles from here.
\nTwo years later, Heroin is the top story in The Daily Herald for 2002.
\nTyrone Police Chief Joe Beachem said heroin is behind most of the crime in Tyrone this past year.
\n\u201cWe can trace 40 percent of all crimes to people who are stealing to get money for drugs,\u201d said Beachem. \u201cAnother 30 to 40 percent we don\u2019t have solid proof that the crimes occurred because of drugs, but we have a strong feeling.\u201d
\nIf those numbers add up, 70 to 80 percent of all crimes in the Borough of Tyrone can be attributed to drugs in one form or another.
\nIn 2002, 17 residents of Tyrone Borough were arrested for distribution of a controlled substance (heroin, crack or marijuana). There were 10 arrests of people from either Logan Township or Altoona who were supplying the Tyrone dealers.
\nOne bust that started out harmless, a man urinating beside the post office in broad daylight, produced a bust of 17 grams of crack cocaine.
\nOther major crimes in Tyrone that were attributed to drugs were the robbery of the Dollar General Store on February 19, the robbery at Puff-N-Snuff on March 10 and the stolen gun case in October were all drug related.
\nTyrone Borough Police estimate that several thousands of drugs have been taken off the street by local police and amounts from the State Attorney General\u2019s Drug Task Force office will be released after the first of the year.
\n\u201cOver 60 percent of the drug cases in Blair County included heroin,\u201d said Blair County District Attorney David Gorman. \u201cThere were 200 cases in 2001 and 375 through the beginning of December of 2002. With thefts and burglaries that in one form or another dealt with drugs.\u201d
\nThe efforts to stop the drug problem in Tyrone is coming from many directions, law enforcement, the school and the community.
\n\u201cWe are proud of the efforts of our department,\u201d said Beachem. \u201cWe are sending a message that we have eyes and ears everywhere and if you are going to sell drugs in Tyrone, we are going to find you and arrest you. There will be no let up on our part.\u201d
\nThe Tyrone Police Department has entered the Narcotics and Residual Crime (NARC) task force to help stamp out the problem.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep throwing the NARC team out,\u201d said Beachem. \u201cSo far we\u2019ve been pretty successful. We are also continuing our relationship with the Blair County Drug Task Force and the district attorney\u2019s office.\u201d
\nWhen asked if the problem will get worse before it gets better, Beachem said he doesn\u2019t believe so.
\n\u201cPeople are starting to realize that selling drugs in Tyrone will not be tolerated,\u201d said Beachem. \u201cWe are trying to make it as uncomfortable as possible to deal drugs in Tyrone. If the message isn\u2019t clear yet, it will be… you will be caught.\u201d
\nThe big undercover buys are becoming a thing of the past.
\n\u201cThe bigger dealers are staying clear,\u201d said Beachem. \u201cThe undercover purchases have been from people who have been dealing to support their own habits.\u201d
\nThe Tyrone Area School District became of the part of the fight against drugs. In an unanimous vote during their August meeting passed a random drug testing policy for students involved in extracurricular activities. That includes everything from athletics to driving your car to school.
\n\u201cThis policy started out with Becky (Erb), Tony (Yaniello) and I with the research of the policy,\u201d said Tyrone Superintendent of Schools Dr. William Miller. \u201cWe received copies of Altoona\u2019s and Johnsonburg\u2019s policies and when the Supreme Court made their decision upholding testing on extracurricular activities, it opened the door for even more. We have revised the policy with intensive involvement from the board of directors to make it a fair policy with some teeth.\u201d
\nThe policy has four phases and includes suspension from extracurricular activities and admission to the Student Assistance Program (SAP) for a first offense to expulsion of one year of extra extracurricular activities for a third offense.
\n\u201cThe policy is punitive, but rehabilitative,\u201d said Miller. \u201cEveryone will be treated equally. We have even gone to the point that if a student is on school grounds for an activity, they are subject to the testing. We will do a lot of work with staff, students and parents. There is a drug problem here and we have to deal with it.\u201d
\nThere are almost 800 students in the Tyrone Middle and High Schools who participate in extracurricular activities and are eligible for the random testing.
\nSince the policy went into place, the Tyrone School District has tested 60 students and have had three positive tests.
\nThe Tyrone community started a Drug Task Force over the summer. They held several functions over the summer. Their efforts have been quiet of recent months.
\nEditor\u2019s note: The drug problem is priority number one for the Tyrone Police Department and hopefully the Tyrone community. Part of the way we as a community can solve this is to be vigilant.
\nIf you see people who are using drugs or know of people using drugs, call the police department. We are part of the solution to this problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two years ago, this reporter watched a documentary on MSNBC, called \u2018Here comes the Horse\u2019 and it dealt with heroin in small town America. One of the three towns it focused on was Lewistown, just 50 miles from here. Two years later, Heroin is the top story in The Daily Herald for 2002. Tyrone Police […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}