By Sara Strong
The second meeting of Parents: The Anti Drug and Violence Task Force drew at least 85 people to the Pizza Ranch Tuesday night.
Assistant County Attorney Terry Vajgrt spoke at the meeting. "We must be making progress," he said. "It's difficult to share personal stories with others as these parents have."
The group started out as frustrated parents trying to deal with their children's drug abuse problems. It branched out to include many concerned community people who wanted education on drugs and drug abuse, more communication from law enforcement and a list of goals and objectives for leaders to address.
Vajgrt was there as an educational source on warrants and how law enforcement gets information that the County Attorney's Office uses in prosecutions.
"The Fourth Amendment protects us all from a government that can become too intrusive. It gives us all rights to privacy and prevents unreasonable search and seizure," he said.
Vajgrt said it's important to place the burden on government to justify searches with the right information.
People in the community have complained about a perceived lack of results from tips to law enforcement.
"We have to have probable cause to determine if we can get a warrant signed," Vajgrt said.
Probable cause is loosely defined as being more likely than not that evidence of a crime will be found after a search. Third-hand rumors can't be used on their own for search warrants, nor can neighbors seeing lots of traffic coming and going from a home.
Officers can use that information to ask questions and start an investigation, but it's not enough to get a warrant.
"They are cautious," Vajgrt said, "and I think rightfully so. We have an entry team of about 11 armed officers that execute search warrants, and we don't want that to be a mistake."
Vajgrt went through recent drug arrests and explained the chain of evidence used in getting search warrants. "The unfortunate thing is that primarily law enforcement gets information from bad guys. Ordinary citizens have a harder time giving better information," Vajgrt said.
"It's critically important in my mind that the public have good communication with law enforcement, and that's what community policing is doing."
Luverne resident Bob Osterday spoke up at the meeting to caution concerned parents from forming vigilante groups. Intimidating letters have been circulated to suspected people involved with drugs, and Osterday said those should stop.
"I'm all for this group, but it could get ugly," he said.
"Don't try to find out from your children who drug dealers are. That's got to be left up to the police. It puts unsafe pressure on kids. And let's remember that it's not just kids who are using."
In other business at the Parents meeting:
Lila Bauer, owner of the Pizza Ranch, said she recently obtained $20 home drug-test kits for other parents who might be interested in buying them.
Public Health Educator Paula Anderson reminded parents that her office has educational material on drugs and prevention along with general parenting information.
She pointed out that the danger zone for school-aged children to start using drugs is from 4 to 6 p.m., before parents get home from work.
With alcohol and tobacco being "gateway" drugs, Anderson said it's important to tell children they aren't allowed to experiment with those either. "Alcohol is not a right of passage, and don't write off smoking either."
Luverne Community Hospital drug assessment and abuse counselor Stephanie Pierce said the hospital offers aftercare to recovering addicts, so driving for services isn't necessary. "Staying locally connected is so important," she said.