A Perfectly Logical Idea

Grant County Journal
A Perfectly Logical Idea
June 6, 2011
Written by Janet Warren

When Logan Nelson empties out the prescription drug drop box, it’s all part of his daily duties as the evidence officer of the Ephrata Police Department. It seems perfectly logical that Ephrata would have a place where people can dispose of their unused prescription drugs, or nonprescription drugs for that matter. I once put two large bottles of expired aspirin in the box. On a day long ago, and in a city far, far away, I would have dumped them down the toilet. Isn’t that what we all did with the expired prescription drugs when we got around to cleaning out the medicine cabinet? That’s a big no-no with today’s environmental concerns. Although I wasn’t able to reach the director of public works for the scientific reason why we shouldn’t flush our drugs, my understanding is that it has something to do with the drugs interfering with the enzymes in the sewage process.
On the website takebackyourdrugs.org, listed are several reasons besides environmental why you should dispose of your unwanted medications. For example:
• Drug overdoses in Washington have surpassed car crashes as the leading cause of accidental death.
• Almost 12% of Washington state teens (one of the highest rates in the nation) use prescription pain medicines to get high.
• Medicine cabinets are the new drug dealer. More than three out of five teens say prescription pain relievers are easy to get from parent's or grandparent's medicine cabinets.
Which brings me back to my comment. If we can’t dump our drugs down the toilet, doesn’t it seem perfectly logical there would be a drop box where we can take them? That’s what Kathy Schultheis thought when she suggested it to her daughter, Heidi Schultheis. Heidi serves on the city council and told her mother about a suggestion form available to the citizens of Ephrata at the police department. Kathy immediately filled out the form and turned it in.
Police Chief, Mike Warren, thought Kathy’s idea was brilliant. Immediately, Chief Warren began the process of implementing Kathy’s perfectly logical idea. Anyone who has ever worked for the government can guess how long the idea took to come to fruition. No matter what agency, be it city, state, or federal, there are piles of paperwork and rolls of red tape to cut through. Luckily for Ephrata, Jefferson Ketch, an administrator for the Health District helped Mike cut through the Drug Enforcement Agency red tape and approval for the drop box was obtained within a couple of months. Next, the drop box had to be implemented into the conversion of a garage into corporal’s office space at the police department. That part took longer because of budget cuts. Logan and Mike designed the box where drugs can be dropped in, but not taken out from the outside. Bill Cox, a carpenter with the City, built the box and finally, about a year after Kathy submitted her form, Ephrata had a place to drop unwanted prescription medications.
As the evidence officer, Logan empties the locked box and disposes of the drugs in Spokane on a quarterly basis. Logan said the box has been “quite a popular service.” Sometimes people have too many drugs to put in the drop box and bring boxes of drugs into the police department, where they are accepted during office hours. Even though this seems like such a logical service to provide, Ephrata is the only 24-hour drop box in eastern Washington. It is listed on takebackyourmeds.org, and Logan has had people from other counties call to find out information about the drop box. Police Departments in other cities have contacted Chief Warren and are following his lead in getting prescription drug boxes in their cities. Who knew Ephrata was such a trendsetter? And it all started with a form that Kathy Schultheis filled out.
In recognition of Kathy’s community service, Chief Warren presented her with a Chief’s Coin at a city council meeting. What’s a Chief’s Coin, you ask? Aha, here’s the rest of the story.
The first coin, eventually earning the name of a challenge coin, is attributed to a pilot in World War I who wanted to celebrate the bond of brotherhood developed among his crew. Special forces in the armed services began making their own challenge coins and the tradition eventually moved into other areas of service, such as fire fighters and law enforcement. These coins are used to reward special acts of service. A tradition that reportedly started during the Vietnam war required coin recipients to carry their coins with them at all times. If at any time a challenge was made, and the person was not carrying his coin, he was required to buy a round of drinks.
The Washington State Patrol, where Mike put in 25 years of service, began issuing coins which they called “Chief’s Coins” (because they were given out by the Chief of the State Patrol) in 2001. From 2001 to 2009 when Mike retired, he earned five Chief’s Coins. He can tell you the story behind each one; getting one of these is a big deal.
Wal-Mart awarded the Ephrata Police Department $2,000 last year and Mike decided to start the Chief’s Coin tradition here using that money. He and Loretta Mayer, his administrative assistant who regularly makes Mike look good, designed the coin with the Ephrata police shield on one side and the county court house on the other. Loretta is a recipient of one of only five Coins that have been given out so far, so she and Kathy Schultheis are in elite company. I must warn Kathy and Loretta, however, that the “coin challenge” isn’t part of the Ephrata tradition, so if anybody approaches you and asks to see your coins, do not be alarmed. No round of drinks is necessary. Donuts…perhaps.