Editorial

When Columbia County Sheriff's Deputy Jeff Jenkins searched Melinda Meske's home at Valley View Court in Dayton on the evening of May 6, he found 14 different colored baggy containers with trace amounts of methamphetamine.

He also found one needle, two torches and a metal smoking device - enough evidence of controlled substanc­es to send the 30-year-old woman to jail.

It seemed disturbing enough that a mother of three, in­cluding an 11-year-old, a two-year-old and a three-year-old would be in possession of the items. But that's not where the story ends.

Just days before, Meske had looked after her friend's 13-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter at her home on Valley View Court. During their visit, she had given them each marijuana to smoke and told them that if they ever wanted to try meth, they should come to her for it. Last Thursday, Meske was sentenced in Columbia County Superior Court to 59 months or nearly five years in jail after pleading guilty to one count of distribution of controlled substance (marijuana) to a person under the age of 18. Judge William Acey picked the middle of the range (51 - 68 months) from the sentencing guidelines. On Monday, she was transported to Walla Walla, from where she is likely to go to the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Purdy near Gig Harbor.

The case is shocking, particularly because of the age of the children: 11 and 13. However, interviews with Sheriff Walt Hessler, County Prosecutor Rea Culwell and others indicate that, sadly, the case isn't as rare as it may seem.

More than most of us would be comfortable hearing, young children are offered not just so-called "soft drugs" but harder drugs whose effect on their smaller bodies are much more devastating than that on physically larger adults. As with other criminal activities, many instances go unreported so the cases we hear about may just be the tip of the iceberg. In most incidents, as in this one, the drugs do not come from strangers. They are offered by adults who have the children's and their parents' trust. Meske and the mother of the victims went to school together. Meske had the kids over to her home. Children are always at risk of harm: in the outdoors, in the streets, in the playground. As parents, it's impossible to control our childrens' environment 100 percent of the time. But it helps to ask the question how well we know those whom we rely on for some of their care. In Meske's case, she was a known drug user. Police reports indicate Meske and the victims' mother had even done meth together. It's still a leap from there to offering hard drugs to underaged kids, but drug use doesn't exactly lead to good judgement. There's also the self-defeating notion that some kids will end up doing drugs anyway so why not protect them against the greater potential harm of drugs from unknown sources that they might obtain from outside the home by giving them the substance outright.

We find this reasoning deeply flawed and criminally negligent in the case of young children. Children should have a chance to grow up without the dangers and distor­tions of drugs, let alone the opening door to a life of ad­diction. Drugs are toxic chemicals against which kids should be protected. The antidote isn't only a healthy lifestyle of constructive activities such as sports and outdoor pursuits, it is also a community of adults who know the dangers and can read the signs, especially among those they trust to be around their children.

In the case of Meske's victims, they reportedly didn't care for the marijuana. Hopefully, they'll have a bad taste in their mouth about all drugs. Meske is now paying the consequences of her actions. Our only concern is about the wellbeing of her own chil­dren who will not see their mother much in the next half decade. Hopefully, this will be a wakeup call for both families and other families who skirt the abyss of underage drug use.