American Notes WEST VIRGINIA

As a prosecutor in Charleston, W. Va., Mike Roark sported combat fatigues and a pistol during drug raids and won the nickname "Mad Dog" for his fierce pursuit of local dealers. As the city's popular Republican mayor, Roark, 42, had romped to an easy re-election last April, and was touted as a candidate for Congress or Governor. Last week, however, Roark was back in court, this time as a defendant. As he was about to go to trial, the mayor pleaded guilty to six charges of cocaine possession and resigned his position. He faces as much as six years in prison.

A late-night carouser, Roark had vehemently denied long-standing rumors that he used cocaine. But his protestations began to unravel at the trial of a Charleston businessman in January, when a real estate agent testified that he had sold the drug to the mayor on four occasions.