LETTERS FROM HOME: A CRACK IN THE FACADE OF THE WAY THINGS ARE

March 14, 1996

Dear John, Karin, Christien and Inga,

Remember the conversations we used to have about the kids in Garberville? The ones whose families were marijuana growers and were growing up outside the law. The stoned kids who threw rocks at a deputy sheriff's car during a Fourth of July celebration and literally ran the lawman out of town. The ones who walked out of school one day and offered the principal a list of demands that included a marijuana period.

A recent incident at a local middle school brought those discussions to mind. A girl who was offered a substance represented as marijuana in the hallway went to the principal and reported the boy, just as she'd been told to by the authority figures in her life. In response, she was ostracized and threatened by some of the other students to the point where she dropped out of school. She's become a hero to others, most of whom I suspect are parents.

I wonder how this scenario would play there at South Fork High, where stoned is almost the normal state of being and so many of the parents' livelihoods depend on growing marijuana.

Marijuana is so important to your culture that the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce wants to establish a hemp museum there.

Here, police bring drug-sniffing dogs into the schools for random searches.

By the way, this marijuana turned out to be dill weed. It says something about our culture when 13-year-old kids think drugs are so cool they pretend to have them. But the peer pressure isn't to do drugs. It's to be cool.

The issue isn't drugs. It's living up to principles. This girl had a strong reaction when the idea of doing drugs was presented to her. Imagine the peer pressure not to tell, not to say anything to anybody. The teachings of her parents and schools must have made a strong impression on her.

That's why I worry about those kids of yours at South Fork. At home they're learning, by example at least, how to be outlaws. They are learning not only to question authority but to give it no respect.

How many of them will turn out to be Robin Hoods?

Kids who grow up with any sense of irony can see that the absolutes adults talk about, Right and Wrong, aren't absolute at all. The closest one, Thou shalt not kill, is bloody with exceptions. People kill willy-nilly and much of it -- wars, capital punishment, self-defense -- is extremely legal.

The kids at South Fork would laugh at the idea of dill weed when the hills are alive with sensimilla, but they wouldn't be amused at the idea of one student turning in another.

In Southern Humboldt County, that's the small crack in the facade that could lead to parents being prosecuted and their land being confiscated. At South Fork, our little girl would be in much more danger.

Here, the girl has gotten lots of support and has returned to school. The administration is taking flak for not being able to protect her. But there's only God's protection in doing what you think is right.

The only protection is that when cracks appear in the facade of the way things are, you know something underneath is changing.

Love, Sam

~Sam Blackwell is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.