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Your view: Secure our schools now

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Penn State linebackers enter a time of transition during spring ball

<p>Imagine this:</p><p>You are a father visiting the home of your son, only to be greeted with the unmistakable smell of marijuana smoke as the kid walks down the steps.</p><p>You have spent your entire life not only trying to instill morals and values into your family, but crusading against drug use because delivering that message is in your family&#8217;s blood.</p><p>Then you find your kid hosting a drug party.</p><p>What do you do?</p><p>Probably what Harry Hamilton insists he did.</p><p>The former Penn State and NFL star defensive back says he simply grabbed his boy &#8212; who is not in Hamilton&#8217;s custody and does not live with him &#8212; and tried to pull him out the doorway, away from the danger he suspected was present inside the home. From his viewpoint, a struggle ensued that involved the former fearsome safety &#8212; who delivered bone-rattling hits across NFL fields through the 1980s &#8212; tackling his boy.</p><p>A lot of upstanding parents probably would have done worse.</p><p>Police say Hamilton did.</p><p>They charged the 55-year-old former Nanticoke Area standout with felony counts of burglary and criminal trespassing, along with simple assault and two counts of harassment.</p><p>That will all play out in a Centre County courtroom this week.</p><p>What won&#8217;t come into play there is how the drug culture in the United States seems to create havoc for everyone in its path.</p><p>&#8220;I had only gone there because I was doing a good welfare check,&#8221; Hamilton said, &#8220;not with the intention of finding something like this.&#8221;</p><p>From President Richard Nixon declaring a war on drugs in 1971 to President Donald Trump picking up that mantra, America has been fighting this battle for a long time.</p><p>It&#8217;s a fight we just can&#8217;t seem to win.</p><p>And it doesn&#8217;t avoid celebrities, not even in the NFL.</p><p>Andy Reid watched helplessly as his two sons were arrested on drug-related charges &#8212; on the same day &#8212; while he was coaching the Philadelphia Eagles. One was incarcerated in Luzerne County; one ultimately lost his life to the drug demon.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s like fighting a bear,&#8221; Reid said about his battle to save his sons from addiction at the time of their arrests. &#8220;It just keeps coming.&#8221;</p><p>Harry Hamilton doesn&#8217;t plan to stop trying.</p><p>The son of the late and legendary Wyoming Valley activist Stan Hamilton talked about how he used to help his father do drug rehabilitation work as a teenager and believes he can rely on that experience to assist his own son.</p><p>&#8220;That was my first job, helping my father,&#8221; Hamilton said.</p><p>After almost 40 years, he believes that job isn&#8217;t done.</p><p>Hamilton is not sure how involved his son is with marijuana, but he wants to get it out of his life. He believes it is a gateway drug that opens the door to much heavier opioid use.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know enough about his situation,&#8221; Hamilton said of the son he believes is dabbling in drugs. &#8220;What I do know is, I can&#8217;t play favorites, give all my attention to one son and watch another go down a (wrong) path.&#8221;</p><p>Hamilton was referring to a second son that he does have custody over.</p><p>Prosecutors have already brought up in preliminary proceedings the $5 million lawsuit Hamilton filed against the NFL a few years ago over the CTE syndrome he says he is suffering from after multiple concussions while playing for the New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.</p><p>&#8220;To put me in that light? My issues are mainly memory loss and focus issues, not anger management issues,&#8221; Hamilton said.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

The drug war: An opponent we just can’t seem to beat