Wisconsin Week; 145

[beeping] . . . . . [beeping] . Tonight's production of Wisconsin Week is made possible in part by ANR Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of the Coastal Corporation, providing reliable natural gas service to Wisconsin's homes, businesses, and industries for nearly 40 years. [music]

[music]. [music] Welcome, I'm Joe Smith in Milwaukee. And I'm Dave Iverson in Madison. This was the week the much heralded War on Drugs began. Tonight we'll look at the drug problem in Wisconsin and what can be done about it. We'll hear from the policymakers in Madison, the policemen on the street, and the professionals in the drug treatment field. First of all, our regular summary of what else happened this week around our state. Joe? Thank you, Dave. Six Brown County teenagers died in a car crash in the town of Holland last weekend. Authorities discovered all six had alcohol in their systems at the time of the accident. The sheriff says the car left the road and plunged 60 feet into a creek. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 17 years old. Bovine growth hormone got a leg up this week at the Capitol and at the University.

Thursday, the UW Board of Regents voted to approve a contract with Monsanto Company to test BGH. Wednesday, the Assembly Ag Committee voted against banning the milk-boosting hormone. And the Pack is back with the signing of Tony Mandarich this week. Tuesday, the six-foot-five, 315-pound Michigan State number one draft pick became the highest paid lineman in NFL history. Mandarich signed a four-year, $4.4 million contract with the Green Bay Packers. Thursday night, a Soviet couple and their daughter arrived in Milwaukee after a ten-year struggle to get to the United States. They are Soviet Jewish refusniks continually denied permission to immigrate from Moscow. The Valerie Gallop [sp?] family is among some 200 Soviet Jews expected to resettle in Milwaukee. As part of the push against drugs, Governor Thompson Wednesday declared North Division High School in Milwaukee a drug-free zone, the declaration highlighting a new state law hiking penalties for schoolyard drug dealers.

The event came on the heels of President Bush's speech Tuesday night calling for an $8 billion War on Drugs, with most of the funds going toward law enforcement. Wisconsin's share of the artillery in its battle would equal nearly $4 million; again, the bulk for enforcement. The governor also wants to expand prisons with the money to house convicts he hopes the new measures will produce. With a statewide view of the renewed War on Drugs, here's Dave. So now, the War on Drugs comes to Wisconsin. The question, of course, is what will that $3.9 million really, what will that really accomplish? Joining me to assess that, Donna Bestor, sometimes known as the state's drug czar, a title she hates. Officially, the coordinator for the Alliance for a Drug-Free Wisconsin. And in Milwaukee, Don Dalton, who is the proverbial man in the trenches, a drug and alcohol abuse coordinator for the Burlington area schools. Mr. Dalton, let me ask you this first. The President earlier this week said that this was something that was sapping the strength of the nation. And he talked about it in those kinds of urgent terms. Do you share that assessment?

- Well, I really do. I really believe it's sapping the strength of education. It's affecting our teenagers across the country in the role of education. And we really definitely need his support and much more support than that if we're ever going to make a difference with teenage America. - You saw those signs at North Division High School on our news summary a moment ago, the governor declaring North Division High School drug-free zone. Is that significant or is it just so much show business? - Well, I hope it's not show business. I kind of feel that those types of things are the types of things that we need to create some awareness within our communities. And attention brought to the problems that we're having with people selling drugs on the streets, in our schools. Donna Bestor, you're the one who has to keep a statewide perspective on all of this. Is the drug problem in Wisconsin all that serious? - There's no question that it is serious. And it ranges not only from the crack in the inner cities, which is now spreading to a more rural areas, to alcohol abuse in what we would consider probably areas that do not have a problem. I think the Brown County incident points that out very vividly.

- Yeah, we began the program with that. And you know, there's so much attention about cocaine right now, but I suppose we have to remember that in our state, alcohol has got to be considered the number one problem. - There's no question that Wisconsin does have a big problem, not only with illegal drugs, but the drug of choice is alcohol. - Are you worried that we're going to forget about that, with all this attention on cocaine and all of this war rhetoric and everything else? Are you worried that we're really going to not focus on what the most pressing problem in our state happens to be? - I think at first, many people are drawn into this because of the fear of crack. But when they sit down and really look at their communities' problems and if they have a plan in mind, very often they will find that the drug in the community is alcohol. Don Dalton, what are you seeing in Burlington? It's not exactly the big city, inner city kind of problem. - No, it sure isn't. And I think some of the things that we've done in Burlington in the last four years is really kind of neat. The fact is that Burlington, Wisconsin has just as big a problem as downtown Milwaukee or Madison, Wisconsin or Brown Deer or whatever community you go in.

And I believe that's one of the things that we have to overcome. People in Burlington four years ago and some today still don't believe that there's a problem in Burlington. - Tell me exactly what you're doing. The state is kind of looking to you and your program as a kind of model as I understand it. What are the results? What's the success story in Burlington? - Well, I think the big result is the fact that schools can't take the problem on alone. Parents can't take the problem on alone. And as a result, what we've done in Burlington some four years ago is form a task force of community, parents and of school people trying to solve the problem for students. - Now you want to take that statewide, Donna Bestor, and sort of get at it in that kind of coordinated fashion, correct? - Exactly. The 21st of September we will unveil what the Alliance for a Drug-Free Wisconsin is going to mean to local area communities. Mr. Dalton's Burlington model is one of the finest in the Midwest. And as he said, schools and parents can't do it alone and neither can law enforcement. So they have a total community involvement that empowers citizens that are really worried about this, sitting home thinking, what can I possibly do?

- What interests me is that both of you are talking about a community approach, a neighborhood approach, coordination between social services, schools and so forth. And yet the President's emphasis seems to be on getting tough penalizing both users and suppliers, more emphasis. That's where the money's going, law enforcement. Does that put you at odds with what the President is trying to do? Not at all, because all of those together is what's going to make a difference. If we all have the same focus, we'll probably not get the job done. But if we use some of our efforts in the prevention, some in treatment, some in law enforcement, if we have a well-rounded approach, I think that's what's going to make a big difference. - Are you seeing progress, Don Dalton? Go ahead. - Donna, I believe, I believe education. We can't forget education. And when we talk of education, we can't talk just educating students. - Exactly. - I believe we really have to educate the people that got the problem here, and that's our adults. And we have to come up with the solution. - And what do you want to tell them tonight?

- What do we want to tell them? We want to let them know that there is a problem out there, and that we're here to work together to solve that problem. That we no longer want the finger pointed at the police. We don't want to point it at the school. We don't want to blame any one person. But together, we think we can solve teenage America's problems. It's going to take us a few years through education, but the number one people that have to make a difference are going to be our parents and our adults in our communities. - It means a changing of attitudes, and not just looking at, as Mr. Dalton said, at our children. It has to be, we have to look at our own self as role models. So it's a comprehensive approach that is going to make a difference in the long run. - Donna Bestor and Don Dalton in Milwaukee, thanks very much for joining us. A major component of this new war on drugs is law enforcement, with more on that, Joe. More money for enforcement is one of the cornerstones of the Bush strategy. And police departments across the state would probably agree they could use more people and more equipment. Joining me to talk about this aspect of the fight against drugs, Milwaukee Police Lieutenant Edward Stenzel and Chief of Police in Beloit, Christopher Ebert. Welcome both of you. Let me start with you first of all, Lieutenant.

How effective is law enforcement in reducing the drug problem? - Well, right now, I think we're taking some very effective steps. However, with drugs on the rise, we're going to have to attempt to keep up with it the best way we can. - Are you pleased with President Bush's plan to nearly double the amount of money that will be coming into the state to help fight the problem? - Yes, I am, and I'm hoping that we can get some more money in the future so we can get added equipment and possibly additional personnel for our department. - Chief Ebert, you don't necessarily agree that enforcement is the number one priority. - No, I don't. I think it's something that we have to continue and strengthen, and I'm happy to see President Bush addressing that. I think it's a stopgap measure. It may buy us a little time, but we're going to have to really look at this problem for more of a 30-year planning perspective in that we have a whole generation of people that are very involved in drug addiction and it's going to take us the time that our children are now going up and coming into adult age to educate them to really deal with the problem. - So, education is number one in your priority? - Education and then treatment and enforcement third.

- That seems a little strange coming from a chief of police. - Well, I think we've shown that prisons and the threat of enforcement don't really stop people from being involved with drugs. It's a much more complex issue than that. And we're going to have to deal with more of the root causes and primarily that's attitudes, values, and things that you instill in people from childhood. And we've missed that. - Lieutenant Stenzel, can you agree with that? Would you rather see more money going for education and treatment and then the last priority being enforcement? - Well, I have to agree with Chief Ebert. I think education is very important because I think it's almost equal, because our biggest asset in this country is our children and with the drug problem now we're going to lose that in the future if we don't do something from early on. - Everybody in this state is going to be vying for that almost $4 million that will be coming in the state to fight the problem. Who should decide who gets it? - Well, I think it should be in a need-to-be basis. Any community that shows that it has a problem and needs this money to combat drugs should get a portion of it.

- Do you agree with that? - I think there has to be a change though in the way it's been done. The last time around it was basically equally distributed among all the applicants with some basis of population. This time I'm hoping that the state is going to look more at the communities that have more serious drug problems and that is quantifiable to some extent. Beloit, for example, as a small community yet being on Interstate 90 we're a corridor community both in terms of the general economy as well as drug marketing and to give us a small portion; for example, in the last allotment we received enough money for one secretary for our unit. And that's not going to help the problem. To double that is really going to have some effect but nothing that will be dramatic. - How effective is President Bush's strategy going to be? Is it going to work? - Well, time will tell. That's really hard to see at this time.

- Are you optimistic? - Well... - You don't sound it. Well, I've been in this business for a while and I think that any step that's placed towards a drug enforcement and any money that's given is going to be put to good use but time will tell to see exactly how. - Have we been putting even the money that we have to good use, or has it been misdirected at all? - Well, we haven't seen much money now from the federal aspect of money given from the government. Everything right now is from the state and local level so we will just have to see what happens with this money that's given us now. - Chief Ebert, if you had your way and you could design the war against drugs, what's the number one priority you would undertake? - Definitely education, then treatment, finally enforcement, more money, long-term approach, as I say over 30 years. I think the president's program is a good first phase to try to hold the situation where it is or stem the growing tide. But we need to move on to a longer range plan. - But the keeping long term, I thank you both for being with us. Appreciate it.

- Thank you. - Next, a look at the field of drug treatment, what works and what doesn't. Joining me to talk about that now, Dr. Thomas Bosewicz of the DePaul Rehabilitation Center in Milwaukee, the state's largest drug treatment facility. Dr. Bosewicz, we're hearing kind of a curious theme in this program, which is that the President's putting the emphasis on law enforcement and we're hearing everyone say that really shouldn't be the top priority. Your thoughts? - Well, I think that treatment is a very important aspect and we cannot neglect it. But we really have to develop a multifaceted approach to this drug problem. We have a tendency to ask each of the participating groups to deal with the problem. We've asked the legislators to create drug laws and yet we've found that we can't legislate this problem away. We've asked the medical community to deal with this problem and the medical community's capacity is just being overwhelmed.

- We've even sort of compartmentalized on this program, you know, we're talking about the overall plan, then law enforcement and now you with treatment. What you're saying is that all needs to be blended together. - It all needs to be blended together, yes. We have to energize the entire community and we have to make certain that we're providing the services that are needed when they're needed. - Give us a sense of what you see to really give our audience a vision of the kinds of problems that you see. What do you see at DePaul? - Well, we see a wide range of problems that involve not only the use of drugs but also a lot of the social problems that are associated with that use. We have seen in the last three years an increase in the frequency of a cocaine diagnosis occurring almost at a 453% increase. We have seen problems where there are child abuse, there is infant neglect, a whole range of problems that are occurring. - And are there more people than you can serve?

- There are a vast number of people that are seeking treatment. One real problem that is occurring is that they have no insurance, they have no means by which their services can be supported. And when that happens, we end up further frustrating these individuals and exacerbating their problems. - Do you have a sense after all the years that you've worked on this field that this is a war, since we're using that rhetoric so commonly, that is winnable? - Yes, I think it's winnable, but it's going to mean that we need a concerted effort and it's going to mean that it's going to be a sustained effort. This is not a war that's going to be won in the next month or the next two months. It's going to mean a concerted effort from every part of the community trying to fight it. All right, Thomas Bosewicz, we'll stay with us, we'll be getting back to you in just a little bit. Joe. - Thank you, Dave. The scourge of drug abuse touches many more than those who shoot or snort their narcotics. It is, not many professionals agree, a victimless crime.

Babies are born addicted to cocaine, then neglected by mothers whose singular driving force is getting more. Whole families are disrupted physically, emotionally, and financially because of drugs. One man faced with the depressing reality that drug abuse is tearing away at the social fabric, Milwaukee County Health and Human Services Director Howard Fuller. We welcome you, Howard. You work with this every day. You are frustrated by it. Do you see any end and do you agree with what the President is trying to do? - Well, I don't see any end anytime soon. Whether or not what the President is trying to do is going to work or not, I don't know. I mean, I have my own views about that, but at this point... - Tell me. - Well, I just worry that in our effort to show how tough we are and we're going to do this and do that, that the resources are going to be put in that direction and not in the treatment, the prevention, and the education. The other thing that worries me is that Bennett, you know, on public radio, made a comment that he thought that the war kind of terminology was fine. Like he even supported the War on Poverty.

The problem was, in his opinion, poverty won. Now, if poverty won that war, given the connection that I think, at least in the central city, between poverty and this war, then what does that mean? And so, from my standpoint, until we start addressing the fundamental problems that exist in our society, this war is not winnable. - And by that, you mean, getting to the root cause of the problem? - Right. What I'm saying is that, on the one hand, what we have to do is to treat those people who are willing to be treated. We've got to try to keep the next generation of our young people from getting on it. At the same time, we've got to understand that as long as there is hopelessness in communities, as long as there are not jobs, young people are going to be the entrepreneurs that they are, selling crack. If we don't have real solid alternatives to that, they're going to continue. So at some point along the line, we've got to go back and try to win that war on poverty as a part of winning this war on drugs. - And how do you tell someone when they are able to make a couple of hundred dollars by selling drugs or more that this isn't a good thing when the alternative for them is nothing, no hope at all?

- Well, I mean, I take the position that you have to be straightforward with kids and say, "Hey, if you want to do this, you're going to make a lot of money. You better make it and you better spend it quick because you're probably going to be dead fairly soon." And you've got to start talking straight because of what's happening. - Because treatment and social services are naturally linked, Dr. Bosewicz remains with us for the remainder of this discussion. Dr. Bosewicz, the federal strategy here is to get a better-coordinated effort between treatment facilities and social services. Is that happening? - Yes, I think it is happening. We are seeing more and more a coordination occurring between the various levels of care and the various levels of government participating in that. - Should there be treatment on demand? - I think that if we don't provide treatment when the individual is motivated to finally stop this drug abuse or the addiction that the individual has, we are going to further frustrate the community and the whole effort.

- You're with a private treatment center. Dr. Fuller is with the public. How are the two of you going to work together to try to make some difference? - Well, one of the things that we're doing in Milwaukee is an effort called Fighting Back. What that is is an effort to get a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to do a two-year planning process. And then a five-year actual, "this is what we're doing." - This is more money in addition to what... - Right, this is from a private foundation. We were doing this before the President announced that they were getting ready to declare a war. The important thing is about it is the initiative for it did not come from the government, but it came from the kind of private entities that Dr. Basowicz represents. But what we've all now done is to come together, both public and private, and are working in unison to deal with this problem. - Dr. Basowicz, are you more negative than positive about this federal strategy? - No, I don't think I'm simply negative. I think that we have to be cautious, if we're so enthusiastic that we believe the war is going to be won in a matter of weeks.

We'll lose the energy that it has to be, just absolutely has to be sustained in this community. Dr. Basowicz, I thank you, Dr. Howard Fuller, thank you. - Thanks for sure. [music] Finally, some last thoughts now on the media's role in the War on Drugs. Joining me for that conversation, Frank Denton, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal here in Madison. And from Milwaukee, Lynn Sprangers of WTMJ. Frank, this is a story that you've covered many times before, and now you're going to be, of course, covering it again; take us behind the scenes in your daily editorial meetings.

What are you now going to try to do, or are you going to try to do something different in the coverage of this ongoing story? - Well, we've covered it a lot already, of course, because we've recognized it was a problem, as have most newspapers, before the President tells us it's a problem. But we did talk today, in fact, one of our editors came in and said, you know, maybe we ought to take this approach to it. And maybe we ought to start putting drug arrests or charges in the paper more often. - One of the things that is talked about a lot now is to publicize that kind of thing, you know, take away people's driver's licenses, put it in the paper. What do you think of that approach? - Well, I think it has some value, but I also think it's kind of superficial. I think there are a lot of other things we ought to be doing as well. - Such as? - Such as investigating the problem and seeing exactly what it is in our area and looking at it from various angles and then providing editorial leadership on it. And I think one thing that shouldn't be overlooked are some of the horror stories that we put in the paper that some people tend to think are sensational, and "why don't you leave those ugly things out" and we've had a couple of those recently. But when you have one of those, such as the death of Len Bias, which in my mind has something to do with the decline of cocaine use among middle-class and upper-class people.

-Basketball player Len Bias a couple of years ago. - That it can have a real effect on people when they read one of these horror stories in the newspaper. - Lynn Sprangers, television in particular has a long history of just dealing with this kind of story, particularly during the ratings months. You know, the old sweep series in November, February, and May. Obviously, we all try to deal with it beyond that. But have you been talking at WTMJ about what else ought to be done in terms of the coverage of this story? - I think we have. I think just as you heard, as newspapers are examining this entire issue, we're trying to look beyond it. To be perfectly honest with you, television is probably nothing more than reflection of our American society, which is reactionary also. We have a big problem. It's going to take us years to undo this problem. I think because we're here in Milwaukee where this problem is certainly most persistent here in the state of Wisconsin, we face it every day, Dave. We're always getting the stories about the drug houses, the drug sweeps, the drug problems. It permeates our news. And maybe we have to make people tired of hearing that.

- That's almost a problem... it's almost a problem in itself, isn't it? I mean, in that -- as with AIDS, as with abortion -- we all have this tendency in our business, in the media business to think, "Oh, gah, not another one of these stories." It's true, Dave. And you know what I think is important, and I've tried to emphasize this with my staff, is let's make sure we try to present these stories as people. These are people who we lose. This is not just the 80th homicide. Let's get behind that story a little bit if we can, instead of just reporting statistics every day. - Journalists take kind of a jaundiced view of what's sometimes called advocacy journalism, which is sort of climbing on the bandwagon and taking something on as a crusade, as opposed to being just sort of the dispassionate objective observers. I would like both your thoughts on that. Is this so important to cause that there ought to be more of a taking of stands? - Well, we have a lot of causes, and there are a lot of problems around, this is not the only one. We're wrestling this week in Madison with an AIDS campaign that we think is very important. We do think it's important to take a stand, and we do it on the editorial page, and our news columns, we take stands by putting facts out there and letting people make up their own minds. -Lynn, in television, same kind of basic approach, or will you be really taking this on in a concerted kind of campaign-like way, I guess?

- Well, I think you heard, as you just heard, there certainly is room for that in the editorial on a television or radio station, but unfortunately, as journalists, we do have to step back from it. We do have to also be critical if we feel there are things the President, the White House, our government is doing that perhaps isn't right. And but I think what's important is the President has started something here. Undoubtedly, he's received some kind of a message, and he's sending it back to the people. It may be symbolic, but it is a message, and I think it's being heard. - All right, I guess the old cliche applies. We'll be hearing and reading more about this in the weeks ahead. Lynn Sprangers at WTMJ in Milwaukee and Frank Denton in Madison, thank you. Back with the comment in just a moment. [music] The dictionary defines war as "a state of opened, armed, and often prolonged conflict." If we're serious, the highly-trumpeted War on Drugs will be exactly that. But too often, only our rhetoric is warlike. The reality is a pale imitation, as Howard Fuller just commented, remember the War on Poverty?

Americans now consider drug abuse to be the number one problem facing our nation, so maybe it's time to put our money and muscle where our mouths are. Maybe it's time to ante up. There may even be a simple way to make it happen. You know, those little check-off boxes on your tax form, the kind that allow you to support public financing of political campaigns, or perhaps to help save an endangered species. Well, if that's good public policy, why not create a check-off box to support the war on drugs? After all, can there be a more important endangered species than cocaine babies? If every taxpayer in Wisconsin would simply check-off ten bucks for the fight against drugs, we could raise nearly $25 million. That's six times as much as the President plans to send our way. Wisconsin has the opportunity now to do more than just say no. A check-mark against drugs may not be warlike, but it's an idea our friends at the state capital and maybe even the state media ought to consider supporting. Good night, Joe. Good night, Dave. From all of us at Wisconsin Week, thank you for watching and enjoy your weekend.

Tonight's production of Wisconsin Week is made possible in part by ANR Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of the Coastal Corporation, providing reliable natural gas service to Wisconsin's homes, businesses, and industries for nearly 40 years.