SALINA — In the past week, the Salina Police Department and Salina Fire Department have responded to nine reports of drug overdoses, which is highly unusual for the city.

According to information from the Salina Police Department, the investigations suggest that all of the incidents are related to methamphetamine, possibly mixed with another substance. The police noted that they have reason to believe that two recent deaths may be connected to the use of illegal drugs and at least five other incidents have resulted in the persons being taken to the emergency room.

The use of illegal narcotics regularly produces negative consequences. The Salina Police Department and Salina Fire Department believe the aforementioned incidents represent a heightened public health risk to some members of the community and request the public’s assistance in responding to this risk.

Due to the spike in overdoses, the Salina Police Department and Salina Fire Department are alerting people to the danger and asking community members to take the following steps:

• Call 911 immediately if they or someone they know is experiencing an overdose
• Share this information with anyone they know who uses illegal narcotics, specifically methamphetamine
• Seek help for addiction through a chemical dependency treatment center

If you have any information about the sale, possession, or use of these dangerous drugs please call the Salina Police Department at 785-826-7210 or in an emergency 911. You can also anonymously provide information through the Salina-Saline County Crime Stoppers program at 785-825-TIPS, text SATIPS to CRIMES (274637), or visit www.pd.salina.org and follow the Crimestoppers link to submit a web tip.

RILEY COUNTY —Authorities are attempting to locate Jesse Sexton, 33, of Manhattan, according to the Riley County Police Department.

Authorities are attempting to perform a welfare check on Sexton after a request from family who are concerned for his safety.

If you know of Mr. Sexton’s whereabouts, contact RCPD at (785) 537-2112 or Crime Stoppers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Thursday that it will carry out executions of federal death row inmates for the first time since 2003.

Five inmates who have been sentenced to death are scheduled to be executed starting in December.

In 2014, following a botched state execution in Oklahoma, then-President Barack Obama directed the department to conduct a broad review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs. It remains unclear today what came of that review and whether it will change the way the federal government carries out executions.

That review has been completed and the executions can continue, the department said.

Upon the Attorney General’s direction, Acting Director Hurwitz adopted the Addendum to the Federal Execution Protocol and, in accordance with 28 C.F.R. Part 26, scheduled executions for the following individuals:

• Wesley Ira Purkey violently raped and murdered a 16-year-old girl from Kansas City and then dismembered, burned, and dumped the young girl’s body in a septic pond. He also was convicted in state court for using a claw hammer to bludgeon to death an 80-year-old woman who suffered from polio and walked with a cane.  On Nov. 5, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri found Purkey guilty of kidnapping a child resulting in the child’s death, and he was sentenced to death. Purkey’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 13, 2019.

• Daniel Lewis Lee, a member of a white supremacist group, murdered a family of three, including an eight-year-old girl. After robbing and shooting the victims with a stun gun, Lee covered their heads with plastic bags, sealed the bags with duct tape, weighed down each victim with rocks, and threw the family of three into the Illinois bayou.  On May 4, 1999, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas found Lee guilty of numerous offenses, including three counts of murder in aid of racketeering, and he was sentenced to death.  Lee’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 9, 2019.
• Lezmond Mitchell stabbed to death a 63-year-old grandmother and forced her nine-year-old granddaughter to sit beside her lifeless body for a 30 to 40-mile drive. Mitchell then slit the girl’s throat twice, crushed her head with 20-pound rocks, and severed and buried both victims’ heads and hands.  On May 8, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona found Mitchell guilty of numerous offenses, including first degree murder, felony murder, and carjacking resulting in murder, and he was sentenced to death.  Mitchell’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 11, 2019.
• Alfred Bourgeois physically and emotionally tortured, sexually molested, and then beat to death his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. On March 16, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found Bourgeois guilty of multiple offenses, including murder, and he was sentenced to death.  Bourgeois’ execution is scheduled to occur on Jan. 13, 2020.
• Dustin Lee Honken shot and killed five people—two men who planned to testify against him and a single, working mother and her ten-year-old and six-year-old daughters. On Oct. 14, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa found Honken guilty of numerous offenses, including five counts of murder during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise, and he was sentenced to death.  Honken’s execution is scheduled to occur on Jan. 15, 2020.

Each of these inmates has exhausted their appellate and post-conviction remedies, and currently no legal impediments prevent their executions, which will take place at U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute, Indiana.  Additional executions will be scheduled at a later date.

Executions on the federal level have been rare. The government has put to death only three defendants since restoring the federal death penalty in 1988, the most recent of which occurred in 2003, when Louis Jones was executed for the 1995 kidnapping, rape and murder of a young female soldier.

“Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President,” Attorney General William Barr said in a news release. “The Justice Department upholds the rule of law_and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”

Capital punishment has emerged as a flashpoint in the Democratic presidential primary, with former Vice President Joe Biden this week shifting to call for the elimination of the federal death penalty after years of supporting it. Biden’s criminal justice plan also would encourage states to follow the federal government in ending the death penalty, 25 years after he helped pass a tough crime bill that expanded capital punishment for more potential offenses.

The lone Democratic White House hopeful who has publicly supported preserving capital punishment in certain circumstances is Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who has said he would leave it open as an option for major crimes such as terrorism.

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BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on requested drug charges in Barton County.

This week, officers executed a search warrant at 5807 Aspen in Great Bend, according to Great Bend Police. Officers found methamphetamine, marijuana, prescription pills and drug paraphernalia inside of the residence.

They arrested 30-year-old  Frank Relmar Jr. on requested charges of Distribution of methamphetamine within 1000 feet of a school, Possession of methamphetamine, Possession of marijuana, Possession of prescription pills, Possession of drug paraphernalia and theft of services and booked into the Barton County Detention Center. He is being held on a bond of $300,000, according to the sheriff’s department.