Auntie Charo's Soapbox

The story is quoted entirely from yesterday's issue of the Marianas Variety's online issue by Gina By Gina Tabonares Variety News Staff. It's a story about a 39 year old woman who you might have known during an earlier time in her life. Perhaps you belonged to the same church or PTA organization. Maybe you exchanged plants or favorite recipes or cures for childhood ailments that your children had. She was your friend, always there to offer a helping hand when you were in need. The woman you're reading about has the same name as your friend but you're almost positive it can't be that friend you were once close to. Nothing so drastic could have happened to that woman that could have caused her to be on the streets, let alone be high on an illegal drug.
Then there's Hans Junior. He was your classmate in elementary school. He was a bright boy. He loved school and loved sports. He had a wonderful sense of humor and eager to help whenever he was needed. He wasn't sure about going away to some far away college but he promised that he would go to UOG or GCC and learn a skill. He was going to make his family proud of him. Surely that wasn't Hans that got the minor girl pregnant. Surely he was bright enough to know better than to be with a minor, let alone have unprotected sex with one. He wouldn't be that stupid. No, that couldn't be Hans!
The same thoughts go for his friend Melvin Santos, surely that friend couldn't have done what is on that script. Too unreal. Not his friend. Too unreal!
This is the script, this is the story:
"A 39-year old woman, apparently high on illegal drugs, created a scene last Wednesday after she decided to direct traffic along Marine Drive in Dededo.
For a moment, commuters thought that Mila Temario Llana was dancing on the street after she was seen coming out from a nearby game room.
Suddenly, Llana stood in the middle of the road and began directing traffic. Police Officer C.S. Dawson said that the Dededo Police Precinct received a call from a resident informing them that a woman was in the middle of the road creating confusion among motorists.
Upon arrival, the policeman found Llana, who appeared exhausted, with dry and chapped lips.
The woman voluntarily turned over her purse, but insisted that the pipe inside it was not hers. The police officer found an “ice” pipe with residue of methamphetamine, as well as one sealed straw containing a white substance, later identified by the use of a field test kit as methamphetamine.Llana was arrested and was charged with possession of a schedule II controlled substance as a third-degree felony. This developed as two male were arrested for allegedly molesting two minors in a separate incident. First to be indicted was Hans Junior Aguon, 25, who allegedly impregnated his minor girlfriend.
Aguon was charged with one count of third degree criminal sexual conduct while Melvin Santos Choe Ymballa, 21, was charged with one count of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct for touching his victim’s private parts."
The people are arrested and the story is true, the crimes are alleged to have happened and may some day be tried in a court. There are many more stories just like this one, with names that you know or are friends with or are related to. This beautiful island is blemished with people who use drugs. It's possible that the people in this script are second generation drug users, or who learned to use drugs from family or friends. We live on an island where we've just arrested a cop(allegedly) selling drugs while in uniform. It's a cancer that's eating at the fragile fabric of this community......we have to do more than hiding the Actifed and Sudafed from the producers of ICE if we're going to stop the problem....perhaps if the senators spent more time thinking how to fix the drug problems than figuring out how to fix the fat/obese school children problems, we'd have less scripts such as the ICE lady directing traffic stories appearing in newspapers......truly, there are some priorities, sometimes one just has to look for them!