I n d ep en d en t
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V o ic e
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September 2011
Volume 24
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Boise, Idaho
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Addiction Local author exposes dangers of meth through her family’s story Stephanie Casanova Journalist
Students abroad need to immerse themselves in the culture, too.
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Bump, set, spike!
Volleyball opens homestand this week.
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Pedestrian problems
“I froze when I walked through the door and saw him standing there. I watched him for a brief moment as I was trying to find the right words. When he looked back at me, it was as though I had no control over my mouth. I took a deep breath and repeated the exact words Barbara had said to me just minutes before, ‘Steven is in the hospital and has been unresponsive since last night,’” Leslie Webb, Dos Palos, Calif. native said in her recently released book “Murder on Cell Block 9.” Webb’s stepson, Steven, died in January 2008 of an “accidental overdose of methamphetamines.” He lived in Alabama with his mother. Just a month before his death, Steven, his girlfriend and their baby visited Webb’s family in Caldwell for the holidays. “We’re on an airplane to Alabama thinking he’s sick and we get there and he’s got brain damage from the drugs … we’d seen him just weeks before and we had no clue,” Webb said. Webb, the third in a family of four children and a mother of five herself, has always been a family-oriented individual. “We took them to the movies, we took them on outdoor picnics, we did a lot of outdoor things with our kids,” Charlotte Holmes, Webb’s mother, said. “That’s how my mom is too,” Webb’s only daughter, Kayla Dean, said. After moving around Oregon, California and Idaho as a child, Webb’s family finally settled in Caldwell in the early 1980s. Webb spent her high
school years rollerblading on Fridays at Rollerdrome, the local rollerblading rink in Nampa with her friends and cousins. “That’s where everybody used to hang out was the skating rink … you know the disco ball, the music, the skating,” Webb said. She also spent a lot of time at the local police station volunteering at the dispatch center. Early in 1988, Webb was sent home from the dispatch center. Curious and confused, she left the station after being told there was a conflict of interest. Her uncle, Richard Holmes, whose story she later told in “Murder on Cell Block 9,” was being taken into the jail. Webb didn’t spend much of her time with that side of her family growing up. The few times she did see her uncle were usually at family reunions at grandma’s house. “I had an idea … what I thought I saw was drugs on the coffee table when we were (at Uncle Richard’s) one time,” Webb recalled. Now, as a substitute teacher, Webb is concerned about the future of the children in her community. She wants to educate Illustration Alex Rhodes/THE ARBITER
See ADDICTION I page 3
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“Murder on Cell Block 9” contains a strong message of caution wrapped in a seedy true story of drugs and murder. The story takes place in Idaho and chronicles the life of Richard Holmes, a notorious drug dealer of the 1980s. The book recounts his life, arrests, incarceration and subsequent murder on the cell block, as the title of the book describes. The author, L.D. Webb, has a personal familial connection to Holmes that shines through the entire novel. She makes interesting use of her voice throughout the story, where she lends a great deal of commentary and speculation to the facts of the case. A vein of compassion for Holmes’ plight as a misunderstood small-town man who got mixed up in the wrong business, pounds through the book. The author prefaces the story with a strong warning about the dangers of drugs, especially meth and the consequences that those choices can have on people’s lives. The introduction has a personal account of a “dear friend and neighbor” falling to the ills of methamphetamine use. Webb’s use of opinion through the book gives the impression of personal bias about the story. She makes many assertions about brutality at the hands of the law enforcement officials that are unsubstantiated, except by personal accounts of the incarcerated. The tone of the narrative encourages readers to imagine law enforcement as the bad guys and the drug dealers as misjudged. “Murder on Cell Block 9” is written in a readable fashion, with language that is easy for everyone to understand. This device, however, makes the novel feel slightly unprofessional. At times, the author adds such a significant amount of detail to otherwise unrelated events, the story feels forced. Webb also adds so much personal commentary that readers may question which parts of the novel are speculations and which are facts. All in all, “Murder on Cell Block 9” is an interesting, compelling story that leaves readers with a message of caution to the dangers of illegal drugs, especially methamphetamine and the irreparable harmful effects it can have on the user’s life. CODY FI NNE
Y/THE AR
BITER
What is Meth? controlled substance that is manufactured in clandestine laboratories
easy to make using common household chemicals
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Murder on Cell Block 9
Street names speed, ice, chalk, meth, crystal, fire or glass.
Adult Meth use in the U.S. has increased by 60% from 2008 to 2009
highly addictive
Student is hit by car while jaywalking on campus.
ingested by swallowing, inhaling, injecting or smoking
12.6 million Americans have used meth
Book Review
The side effects include irritability, nervousness, insomnia, nausea, depression, and brain damage According to RAND, Meth abuse costs the U.S. an estimated $16.2 billion to $48.3 billion annually.
meth is considered more addictive than heroin
No formal chemistry training is needed. In 2010, 11% say someone has offered them, or tried to get them to try, meth
Idahoans battle Details of Cell Block 9 meth problems exposed Bryce D unham-Zemberi Journalist
Lindsey Hileman Lifestyles Editor
This tale of the life and death of Idaho drug king Richard Holmes is one of conspiracy, kidnap and murder as told by Holmes’s niece and 2009 Boise State graduate, L.D. Webb. Holmes began selling cocaine and meth to try and raise money to pay for his daughter’s surgery, but stuck to dealing when he realized how easy and quickly he made large amounts of money. Soon after Holmes was arrested by Nampa Police in 1987, the informant who assisted in his capture disappeared and was later found to be murdered. While serving time at the Idaho State Penitentiary, Holmes was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate while prison guards allegedly looked on but did not interfere. Early on, Webb took an interest in her uncle’s story, but after her own son died as a result of a meth overdose, she was especially compelled to educate others about the dangers of drug use.
What is your definition of meth? “It is horrible. Meth is very addictive.” Do you still do meth? “No, never again.” What made you quit? “It gets to the point where you start hearing, ‘sell the playpen and [the baby] can sleep with us.’ That’s when you know you are going way too far, is when you starts messin’ with kids stuffs you’ve gone too far,” Krista Doe*, a 28-year-old Boise State alumna, said. She is an ex-meth addict celebrating a year and a half clean. The Idaho Meth Project website states 88 percent of Idaho teens strongly disap-
prove of taking meth even once or twice -- up 8 percent from 2007 -- and 65 percent of all teens surveyed now see a great risk in trying the drug, up 10 percent from 2007. Most adults are mature enough to make the decision to not use meth, but teens are more likely to try something at least once. This doesn’t entirely exclude college students, as evidenced by Doe’s story. Many new users are middle to upper class young people who want to try it, according to the Boise
See BATTLE METH PROBLEMS I page 3 arbiteronline.com