
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990                   TAG: 9005110427
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Short

EFFECT OF POT SMOKERS ON CHILDREN WORRIES JUDGE

A Franklin County couple who admitted they have been hooked on marijuana for 20 years were sentenced Thursday to 30 days in jail.

Franklin General District Judge William Alexander II said he would suspend the sentence if the couple could stay off drugs for two years.

Gerald and Janice St. Vincent of the Hardy area pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession charges. Sheriff's deputies found about a half-pound of marijuana at the couple's trailer off Virginia 676 during a March 31 raid.

Gerald St. Vincent testified Thursday that even though he and his wife smoked "eight to 10" marijuana cigarettes each day, their two teen-age children do not use drugs.

"I educated them about it," St. Vincent said. "They can see the effects first-hand."

Calling St. Vincent's statement "about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," Alexander said he would ask the state Department of Social Services to investigate whether the children should be taken out of the home.

by CNB