The Salem that existed 25 or 30 years ago was a much quieter and calmer place still with the good old boy political hacks their network of crooked lawyers and crooked small town politicos. Yet we also still had problems with drugs back at that point but more small time drug usage such as marijuana instead of heroin needles on West Market Street at the bridge over Brock Creek. In 1980s Salem and even well into the main problem in Salem was the drug issues caused by marijuana and maybe some fool dropping LSD or some other foreign substance.
Today Salem, has a much larger problem than those times, in that the town is being overrun with meth users and the ever present problem of heroin addiction because of the opioid crisis which is gripping the nation. Yet for years, Salem City officials as well as the county prosecutors and good old boy police department, both city and county, turned their heads away from the problem while someone in high places allowed this problem to fester.
This didn't just happen because some small time drug dealer from Salem decided to get into the action and started importing meth from Mexico or starting up a pill mill locally and then making drugs. Its been well known by people locally for years that there were people in connection with the drug industry including ties with a couple of prominent people who just happened to get busted in Florida.
As usual though, nothing was ever done about their Washington County, Indiana operations and smuggling that was brought back to Salem. Of which was known all the way up in Indianapolis at the Indiana State House by some legislators but it was brushed aside as most things in small towns are especially if you have the money and the connections. If you're the poor criminal schmuck from Washington County that doesn't have the money or the criminal defense because you didn't have the money to pay to the syndicate to keep you out of jail, then tough luck you're going to the slammer.
Washington County has a major drug problem but its not just the everyday citizen that this problem exists under but rather its the culture that exists where there's nothing to do and there is no accountability in public office and public places. More than a few people in public positions more than likely are habitual drug users including all walks of life including at least one former school official that had a drug problem. Many people know this and of course like most things in a small town it was pushed under the rug.
How can you hold people in the community accountable when you have public officials and people in the community in higher places who are doing the very same thing they are condemning. Same goes for having a crooked pastor or preacher that is saying one thing but then acting as a hypocrite in another way. The same standard to hold for public officials, judges, school administrators, law enforcement, and all of those in the community at large. Drug and alcohol abuse is bad for you and it not only affects yourself but also your family and all those around you. Just my two cents on that issue.
That being said, why is it that Washington County officials, judges, cops, and prosecution spent years hiding the fact that the county has a major issue with abuse of illicit substances including all forms of drugs as well as prescription drugs. Yet nothing was done about it for years until it became a full blown epidemic with needles in our public places, in parks, along roadsides, at Lake Salinda and various apartment complex areas and even in local restaurants.
Was it because there was too much money changing hands between powerful people that no one wanted to step on any toes? Were people being paid off to look the other or know that if they did crack down on the drug trade they would have lost their jobs or been sent packing out of the community? Was it because of inter-family relations and because so many people involved were related and no one would say a thing about it? Interesting questions that need to be posed and answered and people held accountable. Not the usual attempt of brushing it under the rug or trying to frame someone with planted evidence.
As if they'll tell you that doesn't happen in Washington County, Indiana where someone was once buried in concrete while their murderers walked free.
Or where if you're a young black male shot to death alongside a local roadway nothing more is heard about it in the local birdcage liners or local media. Wonder why all that gets covered up and hushed up? Because someone is trying to cover something up or maybe the person shot was the wrong color? As if Washington County doesn't have some element of a racial animosity issue that isn't discussed openly.
Strangely enough, things aren't always what they seem especially when there has been such a concerted attempt over the years at hiding dirty little secrets you're not supposed to know.
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