[From >>  
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1769&dept_id=74969&newsid=10326633&PA
G=461&rfi=9
or http://tinyurl.com/r9um  ]

Vetere wants property seized from misdemeanor drug offenders
By Paul Kirby , Freeman staff 10/16/2003

KINGSTON - Republican mayoral candidate Karen Vetere says anyone convicted
of three misdemeanor drug offenses should lose their home. Or, if they
don't own a home, she said, authorities should be allowed to confiscate
other possessions: a car, stereo, a bicycle.

And if elected mayor, Vetere says, she'll try to pass a law to that effect.

"We caught you three times now. ... You obviously have a habit," Vetere
said. "We told you to seek rehabilitation. You went through it, we caught
you again. The second time we told you to seek rehabilitation again, we
gave you some probation, blah, blah, blah.

"The third time you're out," Vetere said. "Three strikes, you're out, and
we take your possessions."

Vetere's opponent, incumbent Democrat James Sottile, called Vetere's plan
ridiculous.

"This one takes the award for being the most outlandish," the mayor said.
"To say to these folks, 'Sorry, but since you have been convicted, we are
going to take your homes and put you out on the street' is just
outrageous."

City Police Chief Gerald Keller and City Judge Edward Feeney, a Republican,
doubted such a law would do much to reduce drug use or dealing in the city.

Each noted that New York is moving more toward treatment, rather than
punitive measures, for misdemeanor drug offenders, and they don't believe
such a law would be constitutional.

Feeney said forfeiture laws are designed to punish dealers and those who
have profited from drug sales.

"From my perspective ... I would much rather deal with the impact (of the
drug problem) with helping people," said Feeney, who oversees the Ulster
Regional Drug Court, an alternative court set up in November 2001.

"It is kind of silly," Feeney said of Vetere's plan. "People who are
narcotic users, because of their addictions, should really be given
treatment."

Keller said law-enforcement officials, politicians and judges even are
questioning the constitutionality of existing forfeiture laws in felony
drug cases. In some of those cases, Keller said, police departments are
being criticized for being "too overzealous."

Keller said the felony forfeiture laws were meant to punish people making a
profit from the sales of drugs, not people convicted of misdemeanors. For
the most part, he said, people arrested on misdemeanor charges in Kingston
are users, not dealers.

"As far as being an effective tool in fighting drug use, no I don't think
it would be an effective tool at all," Keller said of Vetere's proposal.
"She has a distorted view of who drug users or drug dealers are. ... They
(Republicans) are swinging in the dark."

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


******************************************************
FEAR also offers an unmoderated discussion list and digests for all lists
List unsubscribe: mailto:fear-list-request@mapinc.org?Body=unsubscribe
Swap to digest: mailto:owner-fear-list@mapinc.org?subject=digest
******************************************************