Father, son caught with morphine

A father and son caught cruising around using morphine together were given probation this week.

The defendants, Carl Dwight Blankenship, 51, and Carl Dwight Blankenship Jr., 25, both entered guilty pleas Tuesday before Judge Bart Stanley who was filling in during General Sessions Court. Regular sessions action, both criminal and traffic, was canceled this week for the most part as is tradition during fair week.

Both men were given 11-month, 29-day probationary sentences and must pay $750 plus costs and perform 16 hours public service work.

Their sentences come after they were nabbed recently by Highway Patrolman Donnie Clark who stopped the men for not wearing seatbelts. During the stop, Clark said he noticed the son, who was the driver, acting very nervous during the stop. It was at that point Clark obtained permission to search the vehicle.

He found a burned spoon, a lighter and syringe inside the vehicle. A subsequent search of the father and son netted syringes in their pockets, suggesting the men intended to shoot up the drugs.

During questioning, the son admitted he had bought the morphine for his father, presumably from his prescription, in exchange for a cut of the drugs. It is suspected the pills were being converted over to a liquid form whereby they could be shot into the blood stream using needles.

In other sessions action Tuesday.