Three arrested in Unicoi for allegedly providing alcohol to 12

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ERWIN A 12-year-old girl was hospitalized this week with alcohol poisoning after she was supplied with liquor by a 61-yearold man, Unicoi County Sheriff Kent Harris said.

Three people were arrested Tuesday, and the sheriff s department has a warrant on a fourth person.

We re not going to tolerate people providing children with alcohol, Harris said. Alcohol poisoning can kill.

Harris said the girl and a 14-year-old boy went to the residence of Ray E. Cooper, 26, and Ronda Crum, 42, both of 131 Jefferson St., on Sunday because the boy wanted to know whether Crum had talked to his mother. The group in the mobile home, which included William J. Edwards, 61, 129 Jefferson, invited them to watch a movie with them.

While the youths were there, the girl said she was thirsty, so Edwards gave her a drink that contained vodka and later Jack Daniels, Harris said. He said the girl was told the alcohol would not harm her.

But when she stood up, she fell and hit her head on a table, so the group took her to sit down in a back room, the sheriff said. He said the boy got scared and went to tell the girl s family.

The girl was reported missing to the sheriff s department, and the family helped officers find the girl. Harris said the girl first was taken to Unicoi County Memorial Hospital before she was transfered to Johnson City Medical Center because of the poisoning and a high blood alcohol content. She was released from the hospital Tuesday.

Edwards was charged with aggravated child abuse and neglect, purchasing alcohol for a child and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Cooper and Crum were charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and Crum also was charged with avoiding service of process.

Crum and Cooper were released Tuesday on $3,000 and $2,000 bonds, respectively. Edwards remained Wednesday in the county jail on a $60,000 bond that included a prior charge.

Harris said the sheriff s department is looking into other cases where people have provided children with alcohol. Anyone with information about these types of cases should call the sheriff s department at 743-1850, he said.

It's the norm in this area. The parents around here think it's perfectly fine to feed their kids drugs and alcohol. A parent that doesn't appreciate such things being given to their children is considered a nutter and not taken seriously... by anyone. Maybe the authorities will now wake up and do something about it.

What in the world is going on in Erwin? First the mother that went to NC to get a sex offender to sleep with her daughters and now getting a little girl drunk? Geeez is that Erwin WV they are talking about in this story?

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From www.timesnews.net:
Since group purchasing is increasing in popularity as a method of controlling drug costs, community and hospital pharmacy managers may need to evaluate.
Hospital group purchasing nearlya decade ago, it now appears that there is something amissin the medical supply market. Given the questions.

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