Pubdate: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR) Copyright: 2000 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. Contact: 121 East Capitol Avenue, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201 Website: http://www.ardemgaz.com/ Forum: http://www.ardemgaz.com/info/voices.html Author: JOHN MAGSAM FUNDING FREEZE DISAPPOINTING, SHERIFF CONTENDS BENTONVILLE -- Benton County Sheriff Andy Lee said Monday that his office has not abandoned the 19th Judicial District Drug Task Force, and anti-drug funding frozen by the state's drug council should be released to the Rogers Police Department. Lee called drug council Director Bill Hardin's decision to withhold federal and local money from the Rogers-based task force damaging to drug enforcement efforts in Benton County. More than $85,000 from a federal grant and $28,000 in local matching funds will be held until the drug council makes its final determination about the task force's status. "I'm disappointed with the state's decision, and I disagree wholeheartedly," said Lee. Task forces are required to be multi-jurisdictional, involving more than one agency in regional efforts to combat illicit drugs. During the past few months investigators from the Bentonville and Siloam Springs police departments and the Benton County sheriff's office have ended their participation in the 19th Judicial District task force. The task force now is made up of three officers from the Rogers Police Department. Lee said his deputy was "withdrawn" from the task force in October to assist in the investigation of a double homicide in Pea Ridge. Since that time, the office has also started investigating a second homicide in Benton County and is assisting with a third homicide investigation in Washington County. The sheriff said temporarily withdrawing task force members to meet staffing needs is a common practice. He said he would have explained his office's commitment to the task force if Hardin or a member of his office had contacted him before freezing the funds. "The drug czar of Arkansas dropped the ball," Lee said. Hardin's office was closed Monday for the Washington's Birthday holiday. A message left at his home was not returned. U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., said Monday that freezing the funds for the 19th Judicial District task force will not endanger attempts to designate Arkansas as part of a high-intensity drug-trafficking area. The designation targets the area for special federal, state and local funding to fight drugs. "With the increase of methamphetamine laboratory seizures, with the growth of the problem here, our case is overwhelming," said Hutchinson, who represents Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District. Hutchinson will preside over a congressional subcommittee field hearing set for 2 p.m. Friday at the Jones Center in Springdale. The hearing will be the first of two congressional hearings by the House Crime Subcommittee to investigate the spread of methamphetamine trafficking, production and addiction in the United States. It is open to the public. The other hearing will be on Capitol Hill, leading up to a vote by the House Judiciary Committee on a meth anti-proliferation bill. - --- MAP posted-by: Greg