The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/927609
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Michael B. Kirby, 23, of 8 Southside Ave., Washington, was arrested by Petersburg Cpl. Jared Simmons at 2:12 a.m. on Sunday. Cpl. Simmons said he noticed a white Mitsubishi SUV, driving north on Highway 57, cross the centerline three times and he stopped the vehicle near CR 650 N. While talking to Kirby, who was driving the SUV, Cpl. Simmons said he could smell the odor of burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle. Pike County Deputy Buck Seger arrived with K9 officer Bleck, who indicated the presence of narcotics in the vehicle. A search of Kirby's vehicle found a half burnt marijuana "blunt" in the ashtray and a marijuana cigarette in a pack of cigarettes under the driver's seat. Kirby was taken into custody on a pre- liminary charge of possession of marijuana. Kirby arrested on pot charge after traffic stop By Andy Heuring A Huntingburg woman and Velpen man were both arrested on possession of meth charges after police stopped them for driving er- ratically and found them on- ly partially dressed on Jan- uary 7. Jessica Messmer, 20, of 5900 S. 750 W., Hunting- burg, was arrested on charg- es of possession of meth, a level 5 felony, driving while suspended, possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, and operat- ing a vehicle while intoxi- cated. Shawn Cook, 41, of 3638 S. CR 900 E., Velpen, was ar- rested on charges of posses- sion of meth, a level 5 felo- ny, and possession of para- phernalia. Pike County Sheriff's Sgt. Dallas Killian said he was first called to the Circle A convenience store in Ot- well at about 6 p.m. to check out a suspicious man at the store. Employees told Sgt. Killian the man had been walking around the store for a while. Sgt. Killian talk- ed with the man, identified as Brett Stout, who said he was waiting on a ride. Killian checked to see if there were any warrants for him and found there weren't. Killian said he decided to stay in the area. While run- ning radar, he noticed a gray van brake rapidly and then accelerate right in front of him. He then noticed it was the same description of the vehicle on which Stout told him he was waiting. Killian followed the vehi- cle, which turned as soon as he got behind it. He said he noticed there was no visible license plate. He stopped the vehicle and when he ap- proached it, noticed there was a temporary plate taped to the top of the rear window. Killian said when he talk- ed with Messmer, who was driving, her behavior was er- ratic, her speech was slurred and she had dilated eyes. He also noticed her pants were unbuttoned and on in- side out and her underwear was on the floor. Killian said he also noticed Cook didn't have a shirt on and it was 38 degrees that night. She told Sgt. Killian she didn't have a driver's license and she was only driving be- cause Cook was too intoxi- cated to drive. When he asked her where they were coming from, she said they had been "fool- ing around," according to Killian's report. Killian said he told her to get dressed while he re- turned to his car. Once she got dressed, Killian conduct- ed field sobriety tests, which she failed. Killian said Mess- mer agreed to take a chem- ical test. She then said, "he did this to me." She told Killian that Cook had dropped a pipe down her pants as she was getting out of the vehicle. Killian said she then dropped the glass pipe out of her pants and said there was more. She also had a plastic bag that contained a crystalline sub- stance that field tested pos- itive for meth and weighed 7.7 grams. Both were taken into cus- tody on the charges. Two arrested on meth charges after driving erratically, partially dressed path to heroin addiction isn't the hard-core druggies look- ing for a bigger high. In- stead, it is middle class peo- ple who get addicted to opi- oid painkillers, often fol- lowing a surgery or chronic pain issue. They have trou- ble affording the opioid pills, or their prescriptions have expired. Heroin initially ap- pears to be a cheap alterna- tive. The undercover police- man said it is so bad, the ad- dicts using meth are actual- ly making fun of the heroin users. Craig Cook is one of those people who never dreamed he would use heroin. He is a Pike County native who was never in trouble in school, and the son of a state police detective and school teach- er. He graduated from high school and began looking at what he wanted to do with his life. He loved mu- sic and traveled to Oregon. "It was a summer adven- ture that took me to the west coast," said Cook. "I identi- fied with the Grateful Dead and the Phish. I went to Eu- gene and fell in love," said Cook. It was a college town with lots of live music and performances. Cook loved the lifestyle. What he also found was how much of the Eugene lifestyle revolved around marijuana. "They sold it in the streets." "It (Oregon) is very, very liberal and marijuana use was very open. They had decriminalized marijuana, even in the 90s," said Cook. Cook said he fit into the scene. "I was already smok- ing marijuana and drinking a lot." He lived there for a few months, going to college and hanging out, going to parties and convincing him- self this was the life and he wasn't in any danger. "The big thing was I had in my mind, I would never do that kind of thing," said Cook "I had a real resistance to hard drugs." And he did have for sev- eral months, but that all changed in an instant and his life would never be the same. Some friends and Cook decided to go to Tucson to visit other friends. While in Tuscon, they went to a col- lege party. He was invited in- to a room where people were doing heroin. All of that re- sistance he thought he had to hard drugs, all of the dis- cipline to resist peer pres- sure disappeared with the mere invitation. He joined in and immediately fell prey to the most insidious addic- tion he has ever known. "Within a matter of sec- onds of doing it and feeling that pleasure and high, I was trying to figure out how to move from Oregon to Arizo- na," said Cook. It was such a euphoric high, he couldn't stop. He didn't do heroin once at the party and then go home. He just kept using it. He stayed high for three or four days. "I kind of came to my senses and said 'I have to get away from here.'" He realized the heroin scene was a disaster and so he packed up and went back to Oregon, where he had never so much as seen her- oin before. They drove 1,500 miles north to get away from her- oin and back to the mellow scene of marijuana and hap- py-go-lucky parties. "We kind of lived that life, where you just walk up to your friends' home and walk in," said Cook. He and his friends had just hit town, so the next night, they went to see some of their best friends. None of them had ever done heroin or really ever thought about it. They walked in the door of their friend's house like they had many times before. They expected to find the group playing Phish tunes and smoking. Instead, they were doing heroin. "I had left Tucson to get away from it and the next night, we go to their house and there they are doing her- oin. I joined them." Cook had gotten away from it after his first expo- sure to it. That was 1,500 miles from his west coast home, a foreign land from which he thought he could escape by returning home. He was wrong. Now the second time around, heroin had found its way not only to him but also into his cir- cle of friends and it would not let go. "You get addicted to it the moment it hits your system, but it is 1,000 times better the euphoric moment when you shoot it," said Cook. Just days earlier he had thought there was no way he would ever do heroin, let alone jam a needle, from God only knows where, into his veins and shoot the devil himself into them. "Heroin is an insane soul stealer on every level. Crime, deviance, all related around heroin." LIFE IN THE HELL THAT IS HEROIN Next week, Cook talks about the daily life of ad- diction, crime, shame and avoidance he lived until his unlikely escape. The follow- ing week will be about his plunge into and his escape from what he literally thinks was hell. Wednesday is last built- in snow day for schools By Andy Heuring Pike County Schools will use its last built-in snow day on Wednesday. School was cancelled for the fourth day in a row after Pike County and much of the Midwest was hit by an ice storm Fri- day morning, followed by about four inches of snow later that day. Then anoth- er four or so inches fell ear- ly Monday. Pike County School Su- perintendent Suzanne Blake said she is hoping they can go on a two-hour delay Thursday and Friday. If they have to cancel classes, then the school year will have to be extended beyond Memo- rial Day. Early Tuesday eve- ning, Blake said it was too early to tell if the road con- ditions will improve enough to operate on a delay. The forecast calls for a high of 22 degrees on Wednesday and 32 on Thursday, then 39 on Fri- day, with it being sunny all three days. Tuesday temper- atures never ventured out of single digits. Last Friday's ice storm un- derneath the snow compli- cated the situation for coun- ty, city and town road crews, who have pretty much been plowing since Friday morn- ing. None of these munic- ipalities have salt to help melt the ice. Consequently, there is little they have been able to do other than get the snow off the roads, but the ice remains. State crews use salt and were able to get most of the highways clear at times be- fore the new snow covered them again. Winslow Street Super- visor David Gayhart said they started plowing at about 5:30 a.m. Friday and went until 11:30 p.m., when he was notified of a wa- ter break on Winslow-Cato Road. He said their crews then worked all night to fix a three-inch water main break and then went back to plow- ing streets. "We got the top layer off down to the ice," said Gay- hart. He added, "It melted a lit- tle bit today when the sun came out. I figure next day or so if it warms up, it might start melting. I guess we will just wait on Mother Nature," said Gayhart. Josh Byrd, with the Pike Snow, cold forces school, business closures Winslow's street crew of David Gayhart and Steve Nelson were out Saturday night plowing the streets of Winslow. Gayhart said they plowed everyday since Friday combating the nearly 10 inches of snow and ice dropped since Friday.