HORRIBLE EVENT CAN SERVE WARNING

With so much speculation as to the motive for the murder of Stephen
Harrington, it is very easy to make the assumption that this is the
result of a few bad eggs here on the Appalachian campus. However, the
sad truth is that if this truly was a drug-related death and nothing
changes with regards to Appalachian students' usage of narcotics, we
can clearly expect more murders in the future. Boone is a growing
town, quickly becoming more urbanized and gaining all the problems
that come with it. Add to this the fact that students here at
Appalachian tend to use narcotics, and you start seeing drug dealers.
And the drug war has forced dealers to settle conflicts through
extralegal means such as murder and assault, since going to a court
and reporting a customer stealing from them would just be silly. If
demand continues to be there, the likely result will be competition.
Competition in the drug trade will lead to more violent crimes. It's
that simple. This was a horrible event, but it can serve as a strong warning.

Sean Long