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Show i" f r fr -- r" rr t - r ' rr t - CJTHE :i IPtJ ass! assified Ads Sunday March 18, 2007 ; r Utah Valley edition www.heraldextra.com $1.50 YOUR TOWN YOUR NEIGHBORS YOUR NEWSPAPER Chlorine attacks - " f1 killeigh in Iraq 1 if Karin Brulliard THE V WASHINGTON POST Three trucks BAGHDAD, Iraq rigged with chlorine and explosives blew up in the Sunni insurgent center of Anbar province on Friday, killing at least 8 people and sickening hundreds, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Saturday. The U.S. military also reported the deaths of six American soldiers in other attacks. h The chlorine attacks two near and one near Ramadi left at least 350 people and seven U.S. soldiers ill from exposure to the chemical, the military said. At least eight people were Fal-luja- The Leifsons: Jordan, 21; Riley, 24; his son, Boston; Travis, 23; and Mechelle, their mother. Mechelle Leifson said drugs tore only now, as her sons are recovering from drug addictions, that her family is beginning to heal. her family apart. It is killed in the Fallujah bombings, including two policemen, said Sadoun Abdul Karim, an official with the Ministry of Interior. Drugs cost Utah County in tax dollars, safety and broken families. Overdose deaths are increasing and support groups draw hundreds from around our valley every month Dealing with Militant groups have shifted the na ture and locales of their attacks as the U.S. and Iraq deploy additional troops to suppress violence in the capital under a month-ol- security plan. While no insurgents claimed responsibility for Friday's bombs, an American military spokesman said the chlorine blasts bore the hallmark of the Sunni in Iraq, which extremist group has fought U.S. and Iraqi forces for control of the province. in Iraq use "We have seen this type of tactic to scare the population and use it as a terror weapon," said Lt. d See Natalie Andrews Daily Herald Caleb Warnock DAILY She's the woman you see at the mall, with her tagging behind her. I Getting into her sedan at the end of the trip, new pink sweater in the Macy's bag, her cell phone rings. I But sometimes when Mechelle Leifson's phone rings, the mother of four recovering drug addicts' heart jumps. There have been too many late night phone calls in ) I the past six years for her stomach to not still drop, for her to not worry about her boys. ! Rewind to 2000. Riley Leifson is her oldest. He was just graduating ; from high school an exciting time for any mother. But something wasn't right, There were secrets. He wasnt smiling the same and he was talking on the phone behind closed doors. She i started listening in. .' "I carried a number around in my purse of the drug cop for Spanish Fork that was back in 2000 and probably talked to him on the phone every day." . She would hear her son leave, then she would call the police. She knew he was doing drugs, but she could never catch him in the act. He was arrested for the first time, for underage drinking, in May 2000. Frustration mounted. She wanted to get him help, and rehabilitation didnt work because her son didn't want help, She kept the issue bottled up, confined to the money attempting to heal the 85 percent of substance abusers in the Utah County Jail, and their families. Inside Enter PANIC a , ' For two years, Mechelle Leifson was alone in her fight to stop the drugs. Then an acquaintance, Cindy in October 2002 saying she wantKing, sent an ed to start a support group for parents of addicts. From that, PANIC was born, Parents now People Against Narcotics In the Community. The group is for people feeling fear when drugs creep into their family. In Utah County, those who work with drugs every day say that it is a common problem. "The amounts of drugs that we seize continually go up, the amount of cases that Seized drugs in we do continuUtah County in 2005 ally go up," said Utah County Major Crimes ? DRUG TYPE j AMOUNT Task Force Lt. Mike Forshee. 4214 g "I'm bound only Cocain . x ' "' " family. ; ; ; "You dont want anybody to think that your fam-- 1 ily isn't perfect," Mechelle Leifson said. "I just didnt know what to do. You don't know where to turn." The Leifsons are just one family who struggle with drug addiction in Utah County, a place where heroin .i h Mth . :' ' Hwoln . " rates are rising, requiring the and attention of peace officers, health officials, counsel-ors and those in the judicial system. Read: that's tax 2" Marijuana t signs of drug abuse 3274 g I70fcs. : : " j Councilwoman Heidi Rodeback suddenly halted the conversation. The third suggestion, displayed on a large screen, was from a patron demanding that a countywide library be created as soon as possible, similar to that of Salt Lake County. By coincidence, Utah County Commissioner Gary Anderson happened to be sitting in the audience. "I want you to see No. 3," Rodeback said to Anderson, with a small laugh. See Million dollars SeePagos AC,A7 UFE & A5 T? B1 OUR TOWNS for state drug programs LIBRARY, INSIDE CO) of officers I have. If I doubled the amount of officers I had, I'd double the amount of siezures I could do." HERALD The announcement seemed to stun many in the room. During a presentation in American Fork recently, City Council members were being shown suggestions gathered in a survey of library patrons when Sons with addictions . j, 744umts ; Physical and behavioral by the amount 6789 g A5 North county library system in the works In Utah County ; IRAQ, a STYll C10 BUSINESS SPORTS D1 EDITORIALS M HISTORY B2 Mostly sunny' HIGH LOW B6, B7 OBITUARIES 70 39 . Source: Utah County Mqfor Crimes See DRUGS, A7 WEATHER i D9 SCOREBOARD D10 , VOLUME 84 ISSUE 230 Uol JJII 1 4t ., J vv W 4 V 4 . sj- jSJt, U |