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Pound Ridge Is No Place For Drugs or Predators

POUND RIDGE, N.Y. -- For those who have been asking, I am happy to say I am still here. A recent slip and fall resulted in a herniated disk and some shattered nerves. While on the mend, there is much catching up to do in terms of interviews and writing about Pound Ridge.

Two issues standing out are subjects I find extremely disturbing – yet both are well familiar for me in how they affected my life many years ago.

A recent arrest for possession of drug paraphernalia resulted in the determination the person taken into custody is a heroin addict. It also confirms the problem of drugs has found a way into our small quiet town.

I know what it is like to face demons that acutely haunt a heroin addict. Which is why I would be the first to agree anyone with an addiction needs help. The reason I know about those demons is when I was 16 I was addicted to heroin. It was a result of getting mixed up with bad people who in turn did some very bad things to mess up my life.

As for the individual arrested for possession, it appears with drug paraphernalia, it also includes weapons possession, specifically a handgun that may have been used to commit a homicide. While I am all for offering an addict the help needed to turn their life around, toss into the fray the issue of guns and that is where serious jail time is needed along with serious rehab.

The other issue has been the matter of sexual predators being caught with or illegally communicating with minors. I could not care less about the excuse an attorney has for these animals and in my view, anyone caught being a predator deserves a fair trial and then a fair hanging.

For anyone asking why I have the right to such an opinion, the answer is I also know what it is like to be a 10-year old child molested by someone I was supposed to trust. Forty-three years ago, society did not know how to deal with a predator, let alone children victimized by one.

When my parents sent me off to a camp in New Hampshire, they had no way of knowing eight weeks later why I was terrified to explain my sudden anti-social behavior. More than likely, it explains why I spent most of my teenage years dealing with depression and why a few years later I got mixed up with that wrong crowd.

What parents should be grateful for are those who work in our schools who look for signs of drugs and odd behavior in order to help a child before it is too late. While I cannot do anything to change my past, I am confident parents these days have the know how to keep their kids safe from those same demons.

While not the first time saying it and not the last either, our town should once again be grateful to the efforts by Police Chief Ryan and his department for working every day in keeping our kids and community safe.

Be well, my friends.

Larry Baschkin is a resident of Pound Ridge.

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