March 29, 2018

My trip in quest of needle dump sites…

NEEDLES YOU ASK?

‘The three of us cleaned up at least 100 needles that had been dumped or used at the old Blaine school’

After a tip from a concerned citizen, Blaine’s Constable Daniel Castle of District 3 took matters into his own hands, literally.

After a “NO” across the board at the latest Fiscal Court meeting on a new needle exchange program, it is apparent that people will get their hands on needles if they choose to. Parents can only pray that our children don’t come in contact with one while innocently playing.

Castle led us to a surprising cache of needles at the old, old Blaine school thqt was actually scary.

 My trip with the Constables

District 3 Constable Daniel Castle, District 1 Constable Paul Wells and I met at the site of the old Blaine High School (an abandoned building now) located just off of Route 32 and less than a mile from the Blaine Elementary school where a source reported to Constable Castle of finding a large dumpsite for used needles.

The three of us cleaned up at least 100 needles that had been dumped or used at that site on North 201.

It is clear that Blaine, just like all other communities across the country remains in a crisis with drugs, and IV drug abuse is a part of that problem.

“The good folks of Blaine want a solution to the drug epidemic that has affected virtually every family in this community,” Castle said. “A concerned citizen reached out to me about a pile of needles and explained where they were located.”

Castle said he contacted a county official and asked if there were needle proof gloves available to safely clean this area up and was informed that there were “none available”.

“I then called Constable Paul Wells of (District 1) and asked for his assistance and we found what we needed.”

“This community is actively doing something about it while others do nothing more then stand around and argue about it.”

As of May, 2017, Kentucky led the nation in Hepatitis C infection rate according to Kentucky Dept. for Public Health’s state assessment which ultimately means a staggering cost to taxpayers to treat people with the disease.

There was a sickening number of 1,089 new cases of Hepatitis C reported in Kentucky from 2008-2015. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that Kentucky remains among seven states where the incidence of new hepatitis C cases was more than twice the national rate. This doesn’t even touch other diseases such as HIV/AIDS which leaves all of us seeking a solution, quickly.

The Lawrence Co. Fiscal Court just voted unanimously this week to block a Needle/Exchange program sponsored by the Lawrence Co. Health Dept. because, they said,  most community members fear attracting more drug users with such a facility.

Until the meth outbreak is confined, there will be a greater need for some type of program to rid Lawrence County of the used needles that cause Hepatitis C.