MAI51207-A-A M@1 -Composite Proof 12/7/03 0:16 0:00

9 Afghanchildren diein airstrike

_________________________________________________________________________________________

➤ See AFGHANISTAN, A12

By JOHN H. CUSHMAN JR. New York Times

An air attack by the U.S.-led military against a sus-pected terrorist in Afghanistanapparently killed nine childrenSaturday as well as theintended target, U.S. CentralCommand in Tampa said.

In a statement issued fromthe headquarters of theAmerican-led military forcesnear Kabul, the military saidground forces searching thearea after the attack found thebodies of the children as wellas the remains of the suspect,who was said to have beeninvolved in the killings of twocontractors working onAfghanistan’s main highway,connecting the capital withthe cities of Kandahar andHerat.

“Coalition forces regret theloss of any innocent life,” thes ta tement sa id. Troopsremaining in the area, it wenton, would “make every effortto assist the families of theinnocent casualties and deter-mine the cause of the civiliandeaths.”

Maj. Christopher West, anArmy spokesman at BagramAir Base, identified the

aircraft involved as an A-10attack jet, a type that flies lowand fires guns and rockets insupport of infantry. West saidhe could not say whether theplane had been flown byAmericans or by others in themultinational alliance.

The statement said a com-mission was being set up toinvestigate the deaths.

American and allied forcesin Afghanistan “follow strin-gent rules of engagement tospecifically avoid this type ofincident while continuing totarget terrorists,” the state-ment said.

The aircraft opened fire onthe suspect in what wasdescribed as an “isolated ruralsite” south of the town ofGhazni, according to thes t a t e m e n t . T h e a t t a c koccurred at about 10:30 a.m.Saturday. Ghazni is about 80miles southeast of Kabul onthe road to Kandahar, theformer stronghold of the Tali-ban movement that governedAfghanistan before the UnitedStates and Afghan oppositionforces overthrew it two yearsago.

The military said Saturday’s

FMAI51207OA1

5 Star

1A

1A R R

R R*SUZ07OA001CY**SUZ07OA001CY* *SUZ07OA001MA**SUZ07OA001MA* *SUZ07OA001YE**SUZ07OA001YE* *SUZ07OA001KB**SUZ07OA001KB*

BlueRedYellowBlack

BlueRedYellowBlack

A MOTHER ON METH

LosingJacque

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

➤ Please see RUINED LIVES, A14

By CAMERON McWHIRTER cmcwhirter@ajc.com

Methamphetamine abuse is increasing dramatically in Georgia. The drug’s spread has been fueled by local dealers who have mastered

simple, if dangerous, ways to make the drug with common ingredientssuch as cold medicine.

Today’s report details one family’s struggle with meth abuse thattouched three generations. Last week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitutionreported the drug’s impact on children of users. Next Sunday, the @issuesection will examine what legislatures, police and social service agenciesin other states have done to cope with the problem.

Second in a series: WHEN METH HITS HOME

CHUCK BLEVINS / Staff photo illustrationJacque Hooser kept extensive notes about her drug use in a day planner.

ean Corbisiero saw her daugh-ter through the window of ablue truck ahead in traffic. Shehad not seen Jacque in weeks,but Jean recognized the flowingbrown hair that she always had

envied. “Follow them,” Jean urged her

niece, who was driving an SUV downU.S. 278 past the strip malls and storesof north Covington.

The truck ahead tried to lose themand pulled into the parking lot of ashabby motel. Jean jumped out of theSUV and ran toward the truck. Herdaughter darted into a motel room andslammed the door. Jean ran up to twomen standing at the truck.

“I’m going to kill you!” Jeanshouted at her daughter’s friends.“You’re giving her drugs!”

She cursed and waved her armsfuriously. The men just stood there,waiting for her to leave.

Jean rode away seething. She knewher daughter was smoking metham-phetamine in that motel room. Shehad lost another battle for herdaughter.

Jean knew the drug firsthand —how it distorted, confused andexhausted. She knew how metham-phetamine kept users awake for daysand stopped them from eating. Sheknew how it could put distancebetween a mother and a child.

That night, Jacque called Jean. Jeanpleaded with her daughter to comehome. She begged her to give up meth-amphetamine for Jacobe, Jacque’s 2-year-old son.

“Oh, Jacque, you just don’t know,it’s bad, so bad,” Jean said.

“You’ve got to let me run my life,”Jacque responded. “I have to make myown mistakes.”

Soon Jacque was gone again, outthere somewhere, doing drugs. Thatwas the worst of it: the months whenJean would spend sleepless nightswaiting. She would drive around forhours in her Mustang — sometimeswith Jacque’s toddler in the car —through trailer parks and past motels.She would call drug dealers and users,asking for her daughter.

Jean saw into her daughter’s lifethrough stolen glances at Jacque’sjournals, letters and a day planner

J

JOHN SPINK / StaffRetired Lt. Gen. Louis W. Trumanwas an aide to Gen. Walter Shortwhen Pearl Harbor was attacked.

By JEFFRY SCOTT / jlscott@ajc.com

Louis W. Truman had a rare vantage point on themorning the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, on Dec.7, 1941, and plunged America into World War II.

Truman, then a captain in the U.S. Army, had agolf date with the commanders of the Army andNavy forces in Hawaii who later would be chargedwith “dereliction of duty” for ignoring warnings that

Japan was about to attack.The tee time was 9 a.m. The first Japanese fighter

struck at 7:55. By the end of the most devastatingday in American military history — 62 years agotoday — 2,402 had been killed and 1,178 injured, thePacific Fleet crippled.

Truman’s commanding officer, Gen. Walter Short,and the commanding officer of the Pacific Fleet,Adm. Husband E. Kimmel — his golfing partners —would be forced to retire from the military twomonths later._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

➤ Please see PEARL HARBOR, A10

IN METRO, E1

➤ The journalof Dan Kennerlyhelps keep his-tory of the “skitroops” of WorldWar II alive.

Pearl Harbor vet defends brassBuckhead man was key aide,says leaders had done as told

RMAIN1207OA1

Eighth in aseries ofprofiles ofDemocratsrunning forpresident.

Wesley Clark,B2

ELECT ION 2004

Joe Trippi stunned thepolitical world with aWeb-based campaign forHoward Dean that hasdrawn millions in contri-butions and thousandsof volunteers. B10

Dean’s Internet wiz

FOR HOME DELIVERY,CALL 404-522-4141or 1-800-933-9771

ARTS, L1

DEC. 7, 2003 / ONLINE AT AJC.COMMostly sunny. 54°/34°, D18WEATHER$2.00

★★★★

EXPANDEDINDEX , A2

VOL. 55, NO. 341 492 PAGES, 25 SECTIONS

Copyright 2003The Atlanta

Journal-Constitution

On ajcstore.com: Unique gift ideas for that hard-to-shop-for person In ajcjobs: 1,359 ads in print

GREENAL

Vintage

Soul musicking stepsup tothe mike

Home Depot, Lowe’sbattle face to face

BUSINESS, Q1

HOME

BRANT SANDERLIN / Staff

OUT OF REACH

No. 3 LSU dashes the dreams of the Georgia Bulldogson Saturday night with a 34-13 victory that clinchedthe SEC championship. LSU has a slim hope for ashot at the national title after No. 1 Oklahoma’slopsided loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 title game.The jumbled bowl picture will clear up today after thefinal BCS rankings are determined.

6 PAGES OF COVERAGE IN SPORTS, SECTION C

TheAtlantaJournal-ConstitutionS U N D A Y

MAIN1207-A-A M@14 -Composite Proof 12/6/03 0:03 0:00

RMAIN1207OA14FMAIN1207OA14

3 Star

14A

14A R R

R R*SUZ07OA014CY**SUZ07OA014CY* *SUZ07OA014MA**SUZ07OA014MA* *SUZ07OA014YE**SUZ07OA014YE* *SUZ07OA014KB**SUZ07OA014KB*

BlueRedYellowBlack

BlueRedYellowBlack

A14 Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003 / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 3

This article, drawn from six months of reporting by Cameron McWhirter, isbased on dozens of interviews, the writings of Jacqueline Hooser and others,court documents and medical records. All events described in this article weredrawn from statements made by at least one participant to the particularevent or from court and police records. Rick Crotts designed this special reportand Sharon Bailey copy-edited it.

The science behind it Methamphetamine, known as a

“psychostimulant,” excites the brainand central nervous system. Likeamphetamine and cocaine,methamphetamine sparks excessiveproduction of the chemicaldopamine, which sends pleasuremessages to the brain.

Dopamine usually transmitspleasure when someone isexhilarated — when finishing a race,for example, or when eating afavorite food.

Methamphetamine dramaticallyintensifies and prolongs feelings ofpleasure activated by dopamine.

What it does The drug-induced overproduction

of dopamine in the body has multipleside effects: Users’ hearts beatfaster, their blood pressure rises, andtheir appetite is diminished. Theyexperience prolonged periods ofsleeplessness. The lack of sleepcauses irritability and hallucinations.

How is it made? The key ingredient in

methamphetamine is the stimulantephedrine or a derivative drug calledpseudoephedrine. Through fairlysimple chemical processes, drugdealers distill over-the-counterallergy, asthma and cold medicationsto obtain pure ephedrine orpseudoephedrine. They add otheringredients, most of which can beobtained at a local pharmacy orhardware store. Many of theingredients and materials used topurify the methamphetamine are

explosive or toxic. Two methods of“cooking” methamphetamine are themost popular now. One involvesusing red phosphorus and oneinvolves anhydrous ammonia, acommercial fertilizer.

Methamphetamine comes inliquid, powder or crystal form. Theliquid can be mixed with drinks andswallowed, or shot into thebloodstream intravenously. Crystals,the most potent form of the drug,can be melted into liquid to beingested or smoked.

When the drug is produced insmall local labs, the strength andpurity of crystal methamphetaminevary widely.

Various recipes formethamphetamine are tradedamong users. Other recipes areposted on the Internet and evenappear in a book sold commercially.

Why so popular? Methamphetamine provides a high

that lasts much longer thancocaine-induced highs, so usersconsider it a less expensive high.According to the National Institute onDrug Abuse, smokingmethamphetamine can provide ahigh that can last more than 12hours. Smoking cocaine produces ahigh that lasts about 30 minutes.Prices for methamphetamine vary,depending on its form, strength andwhether ingredients were stolen orbought. Crystal meth or “ice” tendsto cost more than other forms ofmethamphetamine.

Georgia Bureau of InvestigationOver-the-counter cold medications are the primary source foringredients needed to make methamphetamine.

➤ Some street names: Meth, crank, poor man’s cocaine, crystal, ice,glass, speed. Taking the drug can be called “tweaking” or “geeking.”➤ What methamphetamine looks like: The drug comes in various forms,such as liquid, white powder, chunky tablets, crystals or brightly colored pills.➤ Ways of taking methamphetamine: Injecting, snorting, smoking,swallowing.➤ Where the drug is made: Large clandestine labs produce much of themethamphetamine available in the United States. But a growing number ofsmaller labs, often run by an individual or a handful of people, are starting tocompete for business in Georgia and elsewhere. These smaller labs oftenproduce a more potent form of the drug.➤ Short-term effects: Increased alertness and euphoria, rapid heart rate,increased blood pressure and body temperature. Can cause agitation,tremors, memory loss, hallucinations and psychotic episodes. ➤ Possible effects of chronic use: Violent behavior, anxiety, depression,confusion, insomnia, auditory and visual hallucinations, mood disturbances,delusions and paranoia. ➤ Meth and addiction: Dr. Frank Vocci of the National Institute on DrugAbuse said methamphetamine is not physically addictive by traditionalmedical standards, but can be strongly psychologically addictive. Doctors donot treat withdrawal cravings of a methamphetamine abuser. Recent studieshave shown, however, that prolonged abuse of the drug can chemically alterparts of the brain, making a person more prone to future abuse. ➤ The problem in Georgia: The number of methamphetamine-relatedadmissions to publicly funded hospitals went from 263 in 1999 to 953 in2001 — an increase of more than 260 percent. In the federal fiscal year2000, one-quarter of all drug-related federal sentences in Georgia weremethamphetamine-related. Nationally, methamphetamine-related casesmake up 15 percent of total drug-related sentences.— Sources: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Drug Intelligence Center

A methamphetamine primer

SPECIAL REPORT

If you suspect that a family member or friend may be abusingmethamphetamine or another drug, you can call Helpline Georgia at1-800-338-6745. The hotline offers support, advice and referrals to drugtreatment programs. Calls are confidential.

You also can contact the Georgia Department of Human Resources’Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases.Its offices provide help and referrals.

The division’s metro offices (serving Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Clayton,Rockdale and Newton counties) are located at:

Citizens Trust Building75 Piedmont Ave., 11th floorAtlanta, GA 30303-2507 Phone: (404) 463-6367

4329 Memorial Drive, Suite KDecatur, GA 30032Phone: (404) 298 4990

The division’s Web site is:www2.state.ga.us/departments/dhr/mhmrsa/

TO GET HELP

➤ Part I of the series,“When Meth Hits Home”ON A JC.COM

➤ Continued from A1 _____________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

➤ Continued on next page

Ruined lives: Meth abusetakes bitter toll across Georgia

A M O T H E R O N M E T H

Courtesy of Jean CorbisieroJacque Hooser (left) and her mother, Jean Corbisiero, share a moment in anundated family photograph taken when Jacque was about 13. A sensitive girl, she“didn’t like to see other people in pain,” her mother said.

StaffIn her day planner, Jacque Hooser describes smoking meth.

labeled “my life line.” Jacque wrote in girlish

looping script about “get-ting geeked” — gettinghigh. Her writings were ajumble, a confused catalogof the disaster her life hadbecome. They revealed thedelusions, selfishness andprofound sadness of amethamphetamine abuser.

Her full name was Jac-queline Barbara Hooser.Family and friends calledher Jacque or Jacq (pro-nounced “Jackie” or“Jack”). But when Jacquewas high, she often signedher slang name: Dopey.

She wrote that gettinghigh was about escapingregret and shame. Shewanted to get her life ontrack — to start over. Buther only escape was moremeth. It didn’t makesense, but with her heartbeating so fast, the elec-tric feeling up the spine,the jaw tightening, themouth dry like cotton,who could make sense?

She wrote in one jour-nal entry: too many holesin the brain.

This story is about a young motherrunning from the responsibility ofmotherhood. It is about her ownmother, trying frantically to save herdaughter but not knowing how. Andit is about how Jacque’s unravelingled to the deaths of innocent strang-ers — another mother and anotherchild.

This story also is about a potent,cheap drug known by many names:crank, crys, crystal, ice or meth. It issweeping Georgia and the South,cutting across age groups, races andclasses. It already has ravaged theWest and Midwest. The drug hasbeen around for years, but in the pasttwo years has become a cottageindustry in Georgia.

Previous drug epidemics — suchas cocaine and heroin — requiredsophisticated smuggling operationsto distribute a steady supply to cus-tomers. Methamphetamine is spread-ing much faster, because it is so easyto make the drug and get into thebusiness. Local methamphetamineproduction requires no network orupfront expense, just a recipe andsimple ingredients from a pharmacyor hardware store. Some materialsare stolen from farms or farm supplystores. Some methamphetamineusers don’t even buy from dealers;they just cook their own drugs.

The number of Georgia metham-

phetamine labs has increased dra-matically in recent years. In the fed-eral fiscal year 1999, local policereported 29 lab seizures to the Geor-gia Bureau of Investigation. In 2002,395 were reported.

Law enforcement experts predictmethamphetamine production anduse will continue to grow exponen-tially here and in nearby states suchas North Carolina, Tennessee andAlabama. In 1996, the Drug Enforce-ment Administration reported thatits officers seized 75 million units ofmeth across the country. In 2002, thenumber had climbed to 118 million— an increase of about 58 percent.

Teenagers and adults are cookingmeth in homes, motel rooms andeven cars. They use recipes cribbedfrom friends or downloaded off theInternet. The active ingredient comesfrom over-the-counter cold medicine.

These clandestine labs — small,sloppy and dangerous — are over-whelming authorities, endangeringfamilies and ruining lives. FromAtlanta’s club scene to wealthy sub-urban subdivisions to rural trailer

parks, methamphetamine is wreakinghavoc, and not only on the lives ofusers. People who have nothing to dowith the drug are endangered whenmeth users commit crimes to supporttheir habit, drive dangerously underthe influence, or manufacture thedrug under unsafe conditions.

Though the characters and settingof this story may seem alien to some,methamphetamine use already isreaching every corner of Georgia.

And experts predict the problem isgoing to get much worse.

Take a deep breath,

Breathe in my friends.

Inhale slow death,

the dope’s in your heads.

— From “The Smoker” by Jacque Hooser

Jean Corbisiero met and fell inlove with Chris Hooser while shewas traveling with her father, adivorced truck driver, through Wis-consin. She was 16 and pregnantwhen she married Hooser. The cou-ple settled in New Jersey, where Jeanhad grown up.

Their baby was born Sept. 28,1981. Jean named the girl Jacqueline,for the baby’s paternal grandmother.Before Jacque was 2, Jean and Hoo-ser divorced. For a while, Jean andJacque bounced from place to place.

Seeking stability, Jean moved herdaughter to California to be near twoof Jean’s sisters.

Drugs were everywhere, and Jeanindulged. “Back in the day, I tried itall,” Jean said. One of her favoritedrugs was methamphetamine, longpopular in California. She drank theliquid form with coffee. Jean said shenever did the drug in front of Jacque,but she would go out all night. Thedrug kept her awake for days — achief side effect. She found herselfcleaning her house at all hours, mop-ping the kitchen floor at 4 a.m.

She suspected Jacque knew abouther drug use. “Kids always know,”she said.

One morning in 1989, after com-ing off a methamphetamine binge,she saw her 8-year-old daughtersleeping across the room. She wasmoved by the innocence of herdaughter’s face. Jean realized shecouldn’t do drugs and be a goodmother.

“I liked it,” Jean said. “And thatscared me . . . and I just knew Ididn’t want this anymore.”

She never used the drug again.In 1990, Jean decided to join some

relatives who had moved to ruralGeorgia. Jacque was 9. It seemedsafe. “I figured there wouldn’t be anydrugs around,” Jean said.

Jean rented a small trailer nearPorterdale, about 40 miles east ofAtlanta. It was set in a stand of pineson a quiet cul-de-sac of trailers andhouses. Children would play in thewoods, or spend hours jumping on aneighbor’s trampoline.

Jean rented from the parents of ayounger man she had started dating.Chris Beffa was 18. Jean was 26.Beffa soon moved in, assuming therole of Jacque’s father.

Jacque was a sweet, sensitive child.Porterdale Elementary awardedJacque a certificate of merit “forfriendliness.”

For St. Valentine’s Day 1992, theschool gave children red “anti-drug”contracts. Parents were supposed toread them, sign them and send themback to school.

On her paper, Jacque wrote, “tomom and Chris, love you. Thank youfor the life you blessed me with.Thank you for the love you give me.Thank you for the food you feed me.Thank you for helping me keep drugfree all theese [sic] years.”

Jean worried constantly about herdaughter’s safety. She was anxiousthat Jacque might be abducted orinjured in a car accident. Jean wouldfollow her daughter to the school busstop to make sure she got aboardsafely. Embarrassed, Jacque wouldyell at her, so Jean started hidingbehind trees to peek at her daughter.

“I’ve always had this automaticpanic if I couldn’t find her, didn’t seeher right away,” Jean said.

Why do I bother

trying anymore?

Why does this

always happen

to me?

— From “Why?”by Jacque Hooser

Jean worked late hours. Beffadidn’t, so he took care of Jacque inthe evenings. One day in May 1996,he bragged to a co-worker that hewas having sex with the girl. The co-worker told his wife. The man andhis wife told Jean. Jean called thepolice.

At first Jacque, 14, denied Beffahad touched her. Then she sworethat they were in love. Jacque toldJean about a pornography collectionBeffa kept in the trunk of his car.That afternoon, when Beffa camehome, Jean attacked him, screamingand throwing punches. He left.

Newton County prosecutorsaccused Beffa of having sex withJacque 20 to 30 times. Two othergirls also accused Beffa of molestingthem. One was Jacque’s friend,whom Beffa persuaded to have three-way sex with Beffa and Jacque inJean’s trailer, according to courtrecords.

In 1997, Beffa pleaded guilty tothree counts of child molestation.Beffa, now in prison, declined to beinterviewed for this article.

Jean blamed herself for not seeingsigns. “I was the mother who alwayswatched this [expletive] on TV andsaid, ‘How could you not know thisis going on in your own house?’ ”

#MAIN1207-A-A M@15 -Composite Proof 12/06/2003 0:00 0:00

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

➤ Continued on next page

Newton County Sheriff’s DepartmentShown in an inmate photograph, ChadwickLittle, nicknamed “Chewy,” said he provideddrugs to Jacque Hooser. “She was trying meth,cocaine, tripping, before I came along. But ifshe hadn’t met me, she wouldn’t be doing asmuch,” he said. Not arrested on methamphet-amine charges, he is serving time for forgery.

➤ From preceding page ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A M O T H E R O N M E T H

Courtesy of Jean CorbisieroJacque Hooser, 16, holds her newborn son, Jacobe, in Newton General Hospital in July 1998. Her mother, JeanCorbisiero, was with her when she gave birth.

Courtesy of Jean CorbisieroHer drug problem yet to surface, Jacque Hooser hugs her son, Jacobe,about 1 year old at the time.

Jean said. “Now that I look back onit, she had all the signs. Grades drop-ping, talking in her sleep, pullingaway from me a little bit. I asked herif something was wrong, but she toldme no.”

Jacque’s father, Chris Hooser, hadseen his daughter rarely since he andJean had divorced 13 years earlier.But when he learned that Jacque hadbeen molested, Hooser drove 16hours straight from Wisconsin. Hetook Jacque back to his home inFranksville, outside Milwaukee.Jacque joined his family, a wife andtwo daughters.

“I was going to get her away fromall that — I was quite upset withJean. How could this be going on andyou not know?” Hooser said.

They got more bad news. Jacquewas pregnant with Beffa’s child. At14, she had an abortion. “It was ulti-mately her decision,” Hooser said.

They took Jacque to counseling,but she stopped after a few sessions.

She was fine, she told them.

Don’t waste your time

Searching for why,

Just get over it &

Give it another try.

— From “Why?”by Jacque Hooser

For the next year and a half,Jacque lived with her father and hisfamily. She was not fine. She had ter-rible grades. She lied. She sneakedout. She was grounded. Then shesneaked out when she was grounded.

Hooser suspected drugs. Theytried more counseling, as a family,but dropped it. “If we have to dragher to a counselor, how much goodwill it do?” he asked his wife.

Father and daughter fought con-stantly, usually about Jacque’s grades.

“So much of it was about school;there was lying and a lot of dishones-ty,” Hooser said. “There were timeswhen I may have overreacted. I knowI overreacted.”

Hooser was glad when Jacquestarted dating a boy from a respect-able family. “I thought he would be agood influence on her,” Hooser said.

One day Hooser got a call from aschool counselor. Jacque had told thewoman she thought she was preg-nant. A pregnancy test was negative,but for Hooser the scare was one ofthe last straws.

“My other daughters, they adoredJacque,” he said. “I didn’t want themto see her as a role model.”

By early 1998, the battles hadtaken their toll. He put Jacque on anairplane back to Georgia.

“Sadly, I had reached my wits’end,” he said. “I had a family. I hadtwo small daughters. I had a wife.They needed normalcy. I kind ofwashed my hands of it at the time.”

We all usually learn

the hard way.

— Jacque Hooser in a letterto a friend, 2002

When 16-year-old Jacque returnedto Jean’s trailer near Porterdale, sheseemed preoccupied. One morning,Jean noticed that her daughter’sbackside was fuller than normal. Jeanordered Jacque to lift up her shirt.Her belly was round.

“Oh, my God, you’re pregnant,”said Jean. Jacque started crying.

A doctor confirmed the pregnancy.“We’ll make the best of it,” Jean

told her daughter. “This is not theend of our lives.”

On July 25, 1998, 16-year-oldJacque gave birth to Jacobe Hooser.The baby — nicknamed Jake — wasnamed for a relative who had died ina car accident. “Oh, this is my littlebaby!” Jacque said over and over.

The new single mother received nohelp from her former boyfriend, whowas still in Wisconsin.

She tried to get her life together.She dropped out of school, but shelooked into GED programs. She got ajob at Pizza Hut. Her mother droveher to work because Jacque didn’thave a license. Jean worked there aswell, part time.

The first two years of Jacobe’s life,Jacque was relatively happy. Jean saidJacque seemed too involved in raisingJacobe to get involved in illegal drugs.

A videotape from the time showedJacque at a karaoke bar for a Christ-mas party. At the microphone, Jacquestood with friends for a rendition ofthe UB40 song “Red, Red Wine.”Jacque sang off-key and missed lyrics,then backed away from the micro-phone, laughing and hamming it up.The young mother was dressed like ahigh school girl.

But Jacque was struggling. AshleyHolcombe, now 19, was one of herbest friends. Holcombe said thatwhen Jacque was away from her childand mother, she experimented withdrugs. “She tried them all,” Hol-combe said.

Holcombe said Jacque grewdepressed and struggled with thepressures of being a young singlemother. Jacque would sit around inher pajamas all day.

“She felt everybody was leaving

her, going off and doing their ownthing,” Holcombe said. She found itdifficult to get through to Jacque.Jacque made no effort to seek profes-sional help. She had found a way tofeel better.

Everyone called him “Chewy,” andhe dealt meth.

Take it all in,

Set yourself free.

Let it all out, no

pass that hit to me.

— From “The Smoker”by Jacque Hooser

Some people say they met whenhe walked into Pizza Hut. Others saythey met at a party. Chadwick“Chewy” Little, then 20, “hookedup” with Jacque, then 19, sometimein early 2001. They had known eachother in junior high but had not spo-ken for years. Since then, Chewy haddropped out of school. He said hehad been dealing drugs since he was14.

He had been with many women.Though he was scrawny at 6-foot-3and only about 150 pounds, his spikybrown hair and tattoos conveyed theimage of a bad boy.

Chewy began manufacturingmethamphetamine in 2001 after“paying dearly” for a recipe, he said.He would spend days holed up inhotels and motels around the Coving-ton area or in houses in nearby Mon-roe or Conyers.

Chewy said Jacque started stayingwith him because she was fightingwith her mother. “When we startedhanging out, she had no place to go,”Chewy said. “That girl cried to meevery night because her mom hadkicked her out.”

Jean tells a different story: One Fri-day in the spring of 2001, Jacqueskipped work. For the first time, shestayed out all night without permis-sion. Jean frantically called Jacque’sfriends, looking for her daughter.One friend told her to call Chewy. Heanswered his cellphone while drivingwith Jacque by his side. Jean criedand shouted, “She isn’t physically ormentally capable to handle this.”

Chewy laughed. “She’s OK,” he said. “Didn’t you

have fun when you were a kid?”

Listen to the man

Sell you his dream

inhale once more,

Believe everything.

— From “The Smoker”by Jacque Hooser

“It was easy money, man,” Chewysaid. Chewy used to buy an ounce of

methamphetamine for about $800.Later, he learned he could cook apound of similar product for about$140.

The potential for profit was stag-gering “if you don’t blow up theworld or a city block,” Chewy said.

But Chewy admits he ran a poordrug business. He was a user. Theeffects of the drug — the prolongedsleeplessness, the days without eat-ing — clouded his judgment.

“When you get geeked up, yourbrain is going a lot faster than therest of you,” he said. “You end updoing things you wouldn’t do.”

Chewy figures he smoked about$300 worth of meth every day formuch of 2001.

Chewy allowed many people toslide on paying for drugs. Often, hebartered. People would trade stolengoods: tools, stereo equipment, jewel-ry. “I probably had $10,000 worth ofelectronics in my bathroom,” he said.

Chewy would spend days tinker-ing with the equipment. He wouldtake it apart, then try to put it backtogether. But he would never get thesound systems back in workingorder, he said. On methamphet-amine, “you start a million projects,but you don’t finish anything,” hesaid.

Jacque sank into Chewy’s world.Her first meth binge came on thatlong weekend with Chewy. Theyspent sleepless days and nights driv-ing aimlessly. The dull, numbing

circuit had one goal: smoking meth.When Jacque came home days lat-

er, Jean yelled, screamed and cried.“I’m so afraid for you,” Jean said.“Leave me alone,” Jacque snapped

back. She would spend a few days at

home with Jean and Jacobe, then takeoff again with Chewy. Days — some-times weeks — later, she would showup at home, looking awful.

Jacque’s life had become a cycle ofshouting, running away, and return-ing wasted.

Photographs show the decline. Aslate as 2000, Jacque looked healthy:fleshy but not fat, smooth skin, longbrown hair, a wide smile. By the mid-dle of 2001, she looked wan andhollow-eyed. Her smiles for the cam-era seemed forced.

Chewy described Jacque as clingyand desperate. “She was really emo-tional when she got on it,” he said.“What was in her head came spillingout when she was up in a minute onthat crank. She was supposed to bean adult, but I don’t think she was.”

Chewy found a new girlfriend andbroke up with Jacque by midsummer2001. Yet he kept Jacque around, likehis other women. He supplied themwith drugs, sometimes food andclothes, and often a place to stay.

He can’t remember whether heand Jacque had sex again after hebroke up with her. But he rememberswaking after crashing from days ofgeeking to find Jacque cuddled underthe sheets next to him.

Months after they stopped dating,Jacque wrote about Chewy “showinglove” for her. In her day planner shewrote in large letters: “JacquelineBarbara Hooser Loves ChadwickHuey Chewy! Always. That’s mydawg!”

Jacque kept notebooks to try toorganize her thoughts. She wrotelove notes to Chewy. She wrote downthe numbers where she could findmethamphetamine. She had a bluenotebook where she kept an erraticjournal and wrote poems. She alsohad a fabric-covered day planner in ablue-gray camouflage pattern.

She would write about her drugsand her sadness, usingmulticolored pens. Shewrote vaguely aboutboys.

Jacque’s days degen-erated into a blurry loop:smoking the crystalform of meth, drivingaround, waiting fordrugs, and smokingmore. In her day plannershe made a list of thingsshe needed but couldn’tafford: socks, deodorant,pens, toothbrush. Sheadded, “We got thatcrystal, though!”

Jacque described inher journal how she andher friends would smokemethamphetamine.

They would tear off astrip of aluminum foil,then mold it into a crudetray. They called it“sheeting it up.” Theywould drop small crys-talline rocks into thetray, hold a flame under-neath and watch therocks melt into a clearliquid. Smoky gyres

would snake up toward the hollowed-out plastic pen that they held to theirlips. They would move the pen to fol-low the smoke. They would suck thethin smoke into their lungs.

“Chasing the dragon” is what theycalled it. Then they would lie backand let the chemicals work.

Girls in the group called them-selves the “dope whores.” Whilegeeked up, they sometimes would usea deck of cards to try to tell fortunes.But getting geeked up had nothing todo with the future. They often had no

idea what day it was. It didn’t matterif it was day or night.

Coming down could mean sleepingfor days, then waking with a raven-ous appetite. Chewy’s new girlfriend,Shelley Boynton, became friendswith Jacque. Boynton would let herstay over at her house.

After coming down from a binge,Jacque and Boynton would sit in thekitchen for hours, eating peanut but-ter by the spoonful to fatten up.

“She’d hang out for a few days, gether meat back on, then she’d get rightback on the dope,” Boynton said.

Enjoy the thrill

of being geeked-up,

cause one day you’ll realize,

you’ve all been set up!

— From ”The Smoker” by Jacque Hooser

When Jacque did come home, sheand Jacobe would bond immediately,playing and talking as if she hadnever left.

But Jacque looked horrible. Shewould collapse in her room, sleepingfor long stretches. Jacobe would crawlinto bed next to his mother. Jeanwould sneak in to look at her daugh-ter and grandson. Jean would think,“This is how it is supposed to be allthe time.” Jean would feel glad that,at least for the moment, Jacque washome. When Jacque awoke, Jeanoften would force her to shower andeat something.

Often Jean and Jacque would fightabout the drugs. Jean would yell. Jeanwould cry. Sometimes Jacque wouldcry, too.

Jean would snoop and find herdaughter’s notebook. She read bits ofher daughter’s writing. She neverdared to say anything. That mightdrive her daughter away for good. Atleast she had these few days, shewould tell herself. “If I said some-thing about the journal, oh, God, thatwould have been it,” she said.

Jean had so many things she couldnot say to Jacque.

“I couldn’t touch her but she wasright there,” Jean said. Jean neverknew how long the visits would last.

Eventually, though, Jacque wouldleave. Sometimes her friends wouldlet her use their cars, even though shenever obtained a driver’s license.

Jean would find herself alone, car-ing for Jacobe while holding downtwo jobs, one as a nurse’s aide andone at Pizza Hut. She found herselfchanging diapers, toilet training,reading bedtime stories — all whileher daughter was out getting high.

Jean spent days panicked, drivingpast motels mentioned in her daugh-ter’s day planner and through trailerparks, asking sulky teenagers abouther daughter.

Sometimes Jacque would call Jean.“What the hell are you doing?”

Jean would shout. “What about thekid?”

Power to the Dope Whores!

Dope whores for life, Always.

— Undated entryby Jacque Hooser in her journal

From the summer of 2001 into thefall, Jacque’s world degenerated intoscrounging for drugs and money.Chewy, her main meth supplier, losttrack of his drug business. He justwanted to get high, like everyone elsein the group.

“Selling dope is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week-long job,” he said. “Peo-ple on meth are up all the time. Ithought that I was a machine. . . . Aslong as there was money coming atme, I was awake.”

Chewy swore he once was up for28 days straight and started seeingthings that were not there.

“It’s no lie, I’ve actually seen polarbears in the middle of I-20,” he said.“I made my buddy driving stop thecar so I could chase them off.”

Shelley Boynton said she couldsmoke for only a few days straight;then her body couldn’t take it any-more. She knew she would be com-ing down because she would have aparticular hallucination. It wouldstart raining no matter where shewas, inside, outside, night, day. Theimaginary rain would fall for hours.

Steven Poss, a friend of Chewy’swho took drugs with Jacque and oth-ers, said Jacque would smoke meth-amphetamine “as long as she couldand as much as she could until it wasgone. That’s what everybody did.”When it was gone, they would getmore.

Jacque and her girlfriends began tosteal to pay for meth. They tookmoney and other things from Jean.

Chewy said Jacque and her friendswould find men, flirt and lead themon. Then they would rip them off.They even had a slang phrase for it:hitting a lick. Chewy had to calmdown one angry drug dealer whomthey had shaken down. Other menthreatened to hurt them, or worse.

They stole from friends. One dayJacque and some of the other girlsvisited her old friend Ashley Hol-combe. Later, Holcombe discovered$500 missing from her bedroom.

RMAIN1207OA15FMAIN1207OA15

3 Star

15A

15A R R

R R*SUZ07OA015CY**SUZ07OA015CY* *SUZ07OA015MA**SUZ07OA015MA* *SUZ07OA015YE**SUZ07OA015YE* *SUZ07OA015KB**SUZ07OA015KB*

BlueRedYellowBlack

BlueRedYellowBlack

K

A153 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003

#MAIN1207-A-A M@16 -Composite Proof 12/6/03 0:00 0:00

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

➤ Continued on next page

➤ From preceding page ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A M O T H E R O N M E T H

Courtesy of Jean CorbisieroHome from a methamphetamine binge, Jacque Hooser naps with her son, Jacobe, 3 at the time of thisphotograph. Despite her absences, she and Jacobe were close, according to her mother, Jean Corbisiero.

Courtesy of Jean CorbisieroShortly before Jacque Hooser’s death in February 2002, her mother tookthis photograph of the two of them. It was the last made of them together.Despite their smiles, “neither of us were happy,” Jean Corbisiero said.

Georgia Department of Public SafetyThe crash that killed Jacque Hooser also wrecked this Oldsmobile driven byDarlene Pope, killing Pope and her granddaughter, Valentina Nguyen, 2.

Photos courtesy of Brandi GentryDarlene Pope cuddles her granddaughter,Valentina Nguyen (also at right), in a familyphotograph.

“She kept calling saying she didn’tdo it, but she had a part in it,” Hol-combe said. “If she could do that tome and not care, why the [expletive]should I care? After that, I reallydidn’t talk to her.”

Jacque’s journal shows how lostshe felt, especially when she wascoming down from a high.

“I am so useless right now,” shewrote in her notebook. “I have noidea what I am talking about, & myfingers hurt really bad. This is thepart I hate, having the geek me blues& being stuck in one place this trail-er, looking like who [expletive] doneit. Okay, so I done it & I don’t give a[expletive]. I have no mental left &I’m losing the physical braine [sic]factors.”

Either eat to [sic] much

or don’t eat for days!

Imagine that!

— Day planner entryby Jacque Hooser, dated Dec. 7, 2001, 5:22 a.m.

During the fall of 2001, Jacque andsome of her “dope whore” friendsstarted to spend time with drug deal-ers and users in Rockdale County.She had started to drift away fromher buddies in Chewy’s crowd.

She spent weeks in Sunrise, a run-down section of the sprawling Lake-view Estates trailer park, north ofConyers. The area is a warren ofwinding roads and clusters of mobilehomes in various states of dilapida-tion. She spent much of her timewith a man named Ignacio “Nacho”Bermudez, who had access to asteady supply of methamphetamine.

On Dec. 6, 2001, Bermudez wrotein Spanish in Jacque’s day planner:“Mamasita, I always will have you inmy mind as one of my best friends.”

“Jacque & Nacho, Best Buds. MyDawg,” Jacque wrote later in hernotebook.

But Jacque would return to thehouse where Chewy, Boynton andthe others lived at 218 Gum CreekRoad near Oxford, a home over-grown with weeds in rural NewtonCounty.

Sporadically, Jacque began toreach out for help. She called acousin in Montana and abruptlyasked whether she and Jacobe couldcome to live with him. He said sure.She told him she would call again,but never did.

Then, in late November 2001,Chris Hooser walked into his kitchento find his wife on the telephone withhis estranged daughter. Hooser hadsent Jacque a birthday card in Sep-tember. He had not spoken to Jacquesince he had sent her back to Geor-gia in 1998. He had never met hisgrandson.

Hooser grabbed the receiver.When he heard her voice, he wantedher to return. “You’re coming up assoon as you can,” he told her. “I missyou. I love you. It’s all water underthe bridge.”

Jacque made plans to bring Jacobefor Christmas.

“I am glad to get to go w/ my fam-ily for a while, maybe for good!” shewrote in her day planner.

I’m still awake! Bored as hell!

Come on Chewy! I need geek!

— Notebook entryby Jacque Hooser,dated Dec. 16, 2001, 12:20 p.m.

After making plans to go to Wis-consin, Jacque went on anotherbinge.

On Sunday, Dec. 9, 2001, at 11:15p.m., she wrote in her notebook:“Don’t try to understand or evencomprehend some of the [expletive]in here. This is from our world, every[expletive]-up day & night! Love,Dopey.” Then she added a postscript:“I don’t think my mind is comingback this time!”

In her day planner, she used onepage to write down her “geek dates,”days when she got high. The dateswere accompanied by columns listingfood she had eaten each day. For thelast month of 2001, Jacque recordedsmoking methamphetamine on Dec.1, Dec. 2, Dec. 3, Dec. 4, Dec. 6,Dec. 7, Dec. 8, Dec. 9, Dec. 14, Dec.15, Dec. 16, Dec. 17 and Dec. 24.

During all those days, sherecorded eating a “Big fudge” for onebreakfast and half a sandwich for onedinner.

Her notes during this period,replete with curse words and adoptedrap lingo, detail drugs, fights andwaiting for more drugs.

On Dec. 7, Jacque had her firstand only brush with the law. About 9p.m., Jacque, Boynton and anotherwoman were arrested at a Wal-Martin Conyers and charged with shop-lifting. The women were given acourt date of Feb. 27, 2002.

Photographs of Jacque at the timeshow her gaunt and sallow-cheeked.On Dec. 24 she wrote in her dayplanner, “For some reason I alwayslook healthier when I do geek!”

She stayed at various houses inthe Conyers area. She stayed at

Chewy’s place on Gum Creek. Herday planner listed no visits to hermother’s house or her son for thefirst three weeks of the month.

Jacque spent Christmas Day at hermother’s home depressed and com-ing down from a binge. She noted itin her day planner: “Horrible day!Christmas! Wigged the [expletive]out all alone.”

Jean had asked Jacque to come toa Christmas party at the home of oneof Jean’s sisters. Jacque said shewould come by later, but she nevershowed up. Jean came home andfound Jacque crying and alone.

“Mom, I’m so glad you broughtme some food,” Jacque said.

They both cried. “That day always makes me sad,”

Jean said. “I hate that day.” The next day Jacque and Jacobe

flew to Wisconsin.

If I could only turn time back

to where it started

fallin [sic] apart,

I wouldn’t have all these

problems, things would

go my way!

— From “My World . . .”by Jacque Hooser and a friend,written in Jacque’s journal,Dec. 16, 2001, 8:30 a.m.

Chris Hooser remembers thinkingat the airport, “Oh, my God, shelooks so pale, so thin.”

Even so, the second reunion withhis daughter was “a grand reconcilia-tion.” Jacque spent time with her halfsisters. She visited her grandmotherJacqueline. They talked about thefuture and what Jacque needed to doto pull herself together.

“She was running with some badpeople. She was using. She waspretty candid about it,” Hooser said.“But she knew Jacobe needed to bethe first priority in her life.”

Drugs had to go. She needed will-power, Hooser told her. He told herto write down her goals, to prioritize.She was going to build a new life.She would move to Wisconsin by thefollowing summer. She would goback to school or get her GED. Shewas going to grow up, Hooser said.

On Friday, Jan. 4, 2002, she wrotea letter to a friend in Chewy’s crowd.

“I am coming home in about aweek, but things have changed a lot,”she wrote. “Having this time w/Jacobe has been great & I will neverlet him go again. I never should havebeen w/o him in the first place.”

On that same day in her note-book, she apologized for not writingin the past few days. “I know its [sic]been a minute & it’s gonna be longercause I’m not geeked the [expletive]up anymore!” She drew a heart sym-bol and signed her name: “Jacque.”

Beneath, she drew a smiley faceand wrote, “Maybe Dopey will beback soon!”

Put the fire to the foil

& suck smoke through

the straw until lungs

are completely full

— Note by Jacque Hooser in day planner

Jacque and Jacobe flew back toGeorgia on Jan. 13. The next day shecopied a one-stanza poem.

From this day forward You will never walk alone. My heart will be your shelter, And my arms will be your home.She added below: “I love you

Jacobe! My Heart & Soul! I willnever be without you again.”

On other pages, she listed jobsadvertised in the newspaper, rangingfrom working as a receptionist tostuffing envelopes.

She wrote down her five “FinalGoals”:

1) Car in my name. 2) Start GED program (get in

school) 3) get apartment 4) drive back to Wisconsin 5) Save the hell out of money. Jacque and Jean got along well.

They talked about getting day carefor Jacobe so Jacque could get a jobat a Blimpie’s sandwich shop.

She marked Jacobe’s upcomingschool dates in her day planner.

“When she first got back, thingswere good,” Jean said. “But then shestarted slipping.”

Jacque came around the crowd atGum Creek and talked about givingup drugs. She spoke in a room full ofpeople smoking meth. “I guess shegot sucked back in,” Shelley Boyn-ton said. “I guess she was kind ofweak when it came to the dope.”

Jacque and Jean started fightingagain.

There was one respite. They spentone nice day together in early Febru-ary. Jacque seemed serene and themother and daughter talked abouthow they felt about each other.

“Anything I did to hurt you, I’msorry,” Jean said. “I really need youto know that I love you.”

“Mom, I know you love me,”Jacque responded. “You’re crazy, butI know you love me.”

“What am I going to tell your sonif something happens to you?” Jeanasked. Jacque cried.

The fighting resumed and reacheda crescendo late on the night of Fri-day , Feb. 15 , 2002. Jacqueannounced to Jean that she wasgoing out with friends. Jean saidJacque had to stay home to care forJacobe. Arguing gave way to shout-ing. Mother and daughter traded ven-omous insults.

“What are you going to become?”Jean shouted.

“You don’t love me!” Jacquescreamed back. “You love Jake morethan you love me!”

Jacque made for the door; Jeanstepped in her way. Jacque hit hermother, and they began to tussle.

Jean was hysterical. She thought,“This little maniac is not my kid.”

“It was just panic because I knewwhat she was going to do,” Jean said.“Finally, I had to call the law onher.” When Newton County sheriff’sdeputies arrived after 10:30 p.m.,Jean would not press charges. Shetold police she would leave Jacqueand stay with a friend for the night.Jean knew Jacque would never takeoff if it meant leaving Jacobe homealone.

The next day, Jean and Jacquespoke on the telephone. They fought,with Jacque screaming that shewanted to go out that night. Jeanhung up. Her strategy was simple:Keep Jacque home with Jacobe.

About a half-hour later, Jacquecalled again. This time, she wassweet. She did not want to fight.Come home, she said, and they

would take Jacobe shopping. “We’ll make a day of it, Mom, you,

me and the baby,” Jacque said. Jean’s friend told her not to go, but

Jean went. Within minutes of entering the

trailer, “we got into it,” Jean said. Jacque had planned her getaway.

Her friends appeared in the drive-way. Jean screamed at Jacque as herdaughter walked to the car. Jean triedto hold Jacque back. Jean grabbedJacobe, holding the toddler up.Twelve years earlier, the sight of herown child had turned Jean frommethamphetamine. Now Jean hopedthe sight of Jacobe would saveJacque.

“You can’t leave him, he’s yourbaby!” Jean screamed. “Take thebaby with you!”

“I can’t!” Jacque shouted back.“Just let me go, Mom, just let mego!”

The two wrestled. At one pointthey stopped, up against a car,mother and daughter breathingheavily but not saying anything. Jeansaw something in Jacque’s eyes —not anger, but something else.

They started tussling again. Allwere crying and screaming: Jean,Jacque and Jacobe. Jacque brokeaway and got in the car with herfriends. Jean, trembling with Jacobecradled in her arms, watched the cardisappear.

In a final act of desperation, Jeandecided to show up at Jacque’s Feb.27 shoplifting hearing and ask thejudge to have Jacque put into a drugrehabilitation program, although thecharges were unrelated to drug use.

Three days before the hearing,Jean went to the home of one of hersisters to see what they could doabout Jacque.

Jean was standing outside her sis-ter’s house when a Georgia StatePatrol car pulled up.

An officer got out and asked hername. Jean’s heart sank.

“You’re here to tell me my kid’sgone, aren’t you?” Jean said.

Thru’ all the pain and sorrow

Heaven is coming

some tomorrow.

Just past the curve in the road,

We will lay down

this heavy load . . . .

— From “Going Home” by Jacque Hooser

In the early hours of Feb. 24,2002, at 218 Gum Creek, some regu-lars were hanging out, awake andfidgeting as usual.

Jacque told people she was goingto pick up Mandy Davis, a friendlisted in Jacque’s notebooks. Jacqueborrowed a car. In the 1993 ChevyCavalier, Jacque drove north on GumCreek Road, past cows, tall pines,farmland and Little Gum Creek.

Jacque had seen the stop sign atGa. 138 countless times.

But this day, at 6:52 a.m., thegreen Cavalier shot right through it.

It slammed into the passenger sideof a 2001 Ford Explorer driven byDavid Gordon Jr. of Lithonia.

The impact sent the eastboundExplorer into westbound traffic. Itplowed into an Oldsmobile Delta 88

RMAIN1207OA16FMAIN1207OA16

3 Star

16A

16A R R

R R*SUZ07OA016CY**SUZ07OA016CY* *SUZ07OA016MA**SUZ07OA016MA* *SUZ07OA016YE**SUZ07OA016YE* *SUZ07OA016KB**SUZ07OA016KB*

BlueRedYellowBlack

BlueRedYellowBlack

K

A16 Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003 / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 3

MAIN1207-A-A M@17 -Composite Proof 12/6/03 0:04 0:00

RMAIN1207OA17FMAIN1207OA17

3 Star

17A

17A R R

R R*SUZ07OA017CY**SUZ07OA017CY* *SUZ07OA017MA**SUZ07OA017MA* *SUZ07OA017YE**SUZ07OA017YE* *SUZ07OA017KB**SUZ07OA017KB*

BlueRedYellowBlack

BlueRedYellowBlack

A173 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003

By CAMERON McWHIRTER cmcwhirter@ajc.com

When Georgia Bureau of Inves-tigation agents talk about meth-amphetamine, they get downrightwistful about crack cocaine.

“Crack was the worst thing any-one had ever seen,” said PhilPrice, special agent in charge ofthe GBI’s drug enforcement inNorth Georgia. “On a scale of 1 to10, cocaine is a 2, crack was a 5,but meth is probably a 9 or 10. . . .Law enforcement is in crisismode.”

Methamphetamine is not newto Georgia. In the 1970s, it wasshipped into Georgia by largeMexican-run cartels from thewestern United States. By the1980s, secret labs in North Geor-gia also were turning out a versionof the drug.

But now local drugmakers havefigured out ways to make it quick-ly, cheaply and without muchequipment or expertise.

Its popularity among drug usershas exploded across Georgia.From Gainesville to Savannah toAlbany, the number of metham-phetamine “mini-labs” seized bypolice has dramatically increasedin recent years.

“It will get a lot worse before itgets any better,” said John Cagle,GBI’s special agent in charge inGainesville and an expert onmethamphetamine production. “Idon’t think anyone is under theillusion that law enforcement isgoing to solve this problem.”

The first illegal methamphet-amine laboratories in Georgiawere large chemical operations,run by trained chemists who usedprofessional-grade equipment,Cagle said. The process took aboutthree days.

In recent years, however, drugdealers have learned a simpler wayof making methamphetamine thattakes as little as three hours. Peo-ple figured out ways to get thedrug from over-the-counter coldand diet medicine. Other suppliesused in the process can be boughtfrom hardware stores or stolen.

“The guys doing it today aren’tMr. Wizard,” Price said. “Every-body who makes it now is underthe influence of meth when theyare cooking it. That’s dangerous.”

Labs have been found in hotelrooms, homes and even cars.

For safety reasons, each timepolice find a methamphetaminelab, no matter what its size, theymust call in special cleanup crews,as wel l as the loca l f i redepartment.

The cost has been a huge finan-cial drain on the federal DrugEnforcement Administration,which pays for the cleanup.Cleanup operations also exposelaw enforcement officers to toxicand potentially explosive material.

“Logistically it’s been a night-mare,” said W. Michael Furgason,senior special agent in charge ofthe DEA’s Atlanta Field Division.

Law enforcement agencies aremonitoring the sale of some mate-rials used to make methamphet-amine. Several large chain storesare working with federal officialsto restrict sales of large amountsof cold medicine and other sup-plies. The farm supply industryhas begun to work with lawenforcement to monitor materialstaken from its stores.

On May 15, Gov. Sonny Perduesigned a law that imposes felonycharges for possession of largeamounts of the ingredients used inthe manufacture of methamphet-amine, including cold medicine.Other laws against methamphet-amine manufacture, sale and pos-session also were toughened.

“Methamphetamine abuse hasgone unchecked for too long,” Per-due said.

Similar federal legislationpassed in 1996 has done little torestrict the spread of the drug.

“I’ve never seen anything comeon as quickly as meth,” said New-ton County Sheriff Joe Nichols. “Ihope it doesn’t get any worsebecause it’s just about all we canhandle right now.”

Police:WorsethancrackMeth’s growing popularityforces law enforcementofficials into a ‘crisis mode.’

➤ From preceding page _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A M O T H E R O N M E T H

➤ Chadwick “Chewy” Little is serving atwo-year sentence at Baldwin InmateBoot Camp for first-degree forgery. Hewas sentenced this April after beingheld in the Newton County Jail since2002. While at the jail, he attemptedto break out with other inmates, butwas caught in the act. After his twoyears are up, he will serve eight years’probation. He also was fined $1,000and ordered to pay restitution of morethan $2,000 for passing bad checks.

➤ Shelley Boynton pleaded guilty tofirst-degree forgery and receivingstolen property, and is serving fiveyears’ probation. She also was fined$500.

➤ Chris Beffa is serving a 20-yearsentence at Rivers State Prison forchild molestation. He declined to beinterviewed.

➤ Ignacio “Nacho” Bermudez isserving a 10-year sentence at DodgeState Prison for various drugpossession convictions. He declined tobe interviewed.

RICH ADDICKS / StaffNow 5 years old, Jacobe Hooser has been raised by his grandmother,Jean Corbisiero, since his mother’s death. “Jake is paying for this and hewill be for the rest of his life,” she says.

RICH ADDICKS / StaffAfter the crash that killed her daughter and her mother, “I pretty muchclimbed into bed and tried to forget everything,” recalls Brandi Gentry.

CURTIS COMPTON / StaffAlmost two years after Jacque Hooser’s death, friends and family still leavemementos and keepsakes at her grave in Covington.

WHERE ARE THEY?

Royal driven by Darlene Pope, a 42-year-old grandmother from Oxford.

Pope’s grandchild, 2-year-old Val-entina “Tina” Nguyen, was in thefront passenger seat. The impactkilled them both.

The mangled vehicles and bits ofwreckage lay strewn across the road.

Gordon, driving the Explorer, sur-vived with minor injuries.

Jacque was unconscious, pinned inwreckage and bleeding from headinjuries. No one at the accident sceneknew who she was. She had no iden-tification. Initial medical reportslisted her as the woman who ownedthe car. After she was flown by heli-copter to Atlanta Medical Center,doctors listed her as Jane Doe. Later,they changed it to “Jackie Hoover.”

Doctors tried to stabilize Jacquewith blood transfusions, but the dam-age was too extensive. Her head keptbleeding. She did not regain con-sciousness. The 20-year-old womanwas declared dead in the ER at 9:12a.m. The death certificate listed heras “Jackie Hootsher.” In her bloodwere traces of meth.

By the time Jean got to the hospi-tal, Jacque was in the morgue. Jeancouldn’t see Jacque’s face. It was cov-ered in bandages.

But Jean knew immediately it washer daughter when she saw the longbrown hair she always had admired.It was matted with dried blood. Jeanthought, “I wish I could wash herhair, that beautiful hair.”

So huge,

but so hopeless

to conceive.

Heaven is all we

want, but

Hell is all we need.

— From “Life’s End” by Jacque Hooser

Brandi Gentry learned that shehad lost her mother and her daughterin a telephone call from the StatePatrol.

After the accident, Gentry said, “Ipretty much climbed into bed andtried to forget everything.”

Pregnant with her second child,Gentry thought of suicide. “Why didGod take her from me?” she said.“Why did God give her to me at all? Iworked really hard to be a goodmother.”

At Tina’s funeral, Gentry cradledher dead daughter for hours beforethe service. She buried her mother,Darlene Pope, the same day.

The night before Jacque’s funeral,the house at 218 Gum Creek mysteri-ously caught fire and burned to theground. Chewy lost everything. Somein Chewy’s crowd suspected Jeanhad a hand in the fire, but she deniesany involvement.

Jean invited Jacque’s oldest friendsto the funeral. Jean told the funeraldirector in Covington to make sureChewy and his crowd were notallowed in.

The morning of the service, Jeanand her ex-husband, Chris Hooser,came to the funeral home to findsome of Chewy’s friends standingover Jacque’s casket. Chewy was notamong them.

As Jean approached, one woman,Mandy Davis, turned to Jean. “Shewas my best friend,” Davis saidmournfully.

Jean threw several punches atDavis. Hooser pulled her away.Davis and her friends scurried outthe door.

“I didn’t want their dirty littleasses touching her,” Jean said.

The funeral was Feb. 27, the daythat Jacque was supposed to appearin court. Jean remembers that familymembers tried to give her anti-anxiety pills to calm her down.

She refused. “I need to feel this,”she told them.

Lawyer: So during that year

that you say your daughter was

strung out on meth, she would

come back and forth between

your house and this drug house,

as you call it?

Jean Corbisiero: She would be

all over the place.

Lawyer: All right. And on one

occasion . . .

Jean: And please don’t use

strung out. OK?

Lawyer: All right. I’m — you said

she was on drugs. What — how

would you like for me to

characterize it?

Jean: My kid was sick.

— Court deposition, April 3, 2003

Brandi Gentry and Jean Corbisieromet only once, during legal proceed-ings to sort out insurance issues.Both women were nervous, but theyended up crying and hugging. “If I

could take your pain away, honey, Iwould,” Jean told Gentry.

The two mothers have beenplagued by nightmares. Each canrecall only one soothing dream sincetheir daughters died.

In Gentry’s dream, Tina comes toher mother’s bed and lies downbeside her. The two sleep next toeach other in serene silence. Gentryfeels her daughter’s skin. At the endof the dream, Tina gets up and walksaway. At the doorway, she turns andsays quietly, “Bye-bye, Momma.”

“That was the best dream I couldever have, because she was with me,next to me,” Gentry said.

Jean’s one good dream came a fewmonths after the funeral.

Jean is lying on a couch in a roomwith a large window. Jacque lies byher side. Jacque looks healthy, likeshe did before everything wentwrong. Mother and daughter do notspeak. They just smile and look ateach other.

Lifted out of her waking life, Jeanfeels the pain, anger and regret flowaway.

After the funeral, people told Jeanhow sorry they were that Jacque hadbeen killed in an accident. They didnot mention methamphetamine. Jeandoesn’t think of it as an accident.

“Meth is why Jacque died,” shesaid.

Jean tries to fend off regrets, but itis hard.

“Sometimes you have to reallyfight them,” she said. “I get this feel-ing in my chest and I think, ‘If Iscream now, I won’t ever stop.’ . . .Now I wish I had chained her to thebed and taken the consequences.”

If only she had not let Beffa intoher life or kept Jacque in Georgiaafter she was molested.

If only she had noticed Jacque’sdrug experimentation earlier and got-ten her daughter into a drugprogram.

If only she had overcome her fearsand turned Chewy in to police.

“I know I messed up,” Jean said.“I wish I had done things different.”

Her comfort comes in telling thestory — at least the part she knows.It makes her feel better to get it out:Look at what I did and what I didn’tdo.

These days Jean feels sad andtired, though she still is trim andyoung-looking at 39. She fidgets. Shelooks around nervously. Sometimeswhen she smiles, it comes off like awince.

Soon, she is not sure when, Jeanplans to burn Jacque’s notebooks.They remind her of the drug-addledJacque, not the daughter she knewand loved. The day planner still reeksof smoke. Inside a zippered compart-ment is a hollow ink tube from acheap ball point pen, the kind Jacqueused like a straw to suck in metham-phetamine smoke. “I want to get ridof them,” she said. “Then I can startto put all this behind me.”

Days are long eternities,

Nights are empty memories.

Hours drag on endlessly,

They try to steal your love

from me.

— From “Time” by Jacque Hooser

After the crash, Jean moved to atrailer home in Social Circle, about10 miles east of Covington. She findsherself raising a little boy.

Each afternoon, as Jacobeapproaches Granny from the schoolbus down the street, Jean noticeshow his face looks just like a youngJacque. His blond hair is different,but the cheekbones, the shape of theears, the nose, the entire round face— it’s Jacque.

Raising Jacobe is a second chance,a chance to get it right. Her solace isthat she is able to care for a part ofJacque that is still alive.

But it is bittersweet to be raisingher daughter’s son, a daily reminderof failure. And Jean now has some-one to worry about all over again.Jacobe had to go to counselingrecently because he was aggressive inschool. Counselors think he is begin-ning to come to terms with the lossof his mother.

“Jake is paying for this and he willbe for the rest of his life,” Jean said.

After the accident, Jacobe knewsomething had happened to hismother, but for days he did not askJean about her. Jean couldn’t bringherself to tell him. She didn’t takehim to the funeral.

One day, he looked up at Jean andasked, “Where’s my mom?”

“She got a real bad boo-boo,” Jeantold him. “The doctor couldn’t fix itso God came to get her.”

“Is she all better?” he asked.“Yes,” Jean said. “She’s all better.”