Pubdate: Mon, 20 Aug 2001
Source: Evansville Courier & Press (IN)
Copyright: 2001 The Evansville Courier
Contact:  http://www.courierpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/138
Author: John Martin
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH STILL BIG RURAL PROBLEM

Hot labs. Remnants of labs. Anhydrous ammonia thefts. Bulk purchases of 
supplies.

Methamphetamine isn't new and trendy any more. Some might even view it as 
yesterday's news.

But area police say it's still being produced and used in big numbers 
across the region, and in rural areas of Western Kentucky, it hasn't let up 
at all.

"If it's curtailed any, it's by a very small percentage," Union County, 
Ky., Sheriff Ronnie Girten said. "We arrested two this week for tampering 
with anhydrous ammonia tanks. Last week we found three abandoned labs."

The lone full-time drug investigator with the Daviess County, Ky., 
Sheriff's Department said he's run ragged with meth cases.

"We've arrested so many people that we're backlogged in court," Detective 
Jim Acquisto said. "We aren't able to get out and do proactive investigations.

"I spent all morning in court (Friday,)" Acquisto added.

Rural areas are more friendly for meth makers than cities. Authorities are 
often led to meth labs by their odors, and wide open spaces offer 
manufacturers some cover. Tanks of anhydrous ammonia, a meth component, are 
also easier to find in rural areas.

Acquisto, who investigates drug cases in areas of Daviess County, outside 
Owensboro, said the meth problem there hasn't reached its plateau.

"I think if anything else," Acquisto said, "it's increased."

Small police departments elsewhere are also struggling to locate the 
makers, buyers and users of meth.

"We're still getting quite a bit of it," White County, Ill., Sheriff Jerry 
O'Neal said. "They're hitting our anhydrous tanks quite a bit. It's not 
slacked up any here. We don't even make a dent in it. There's so much of it."

In Gibson County, Ind., the sheriff's department receives at least one tip 
about meth activity per week.

"That's probably what it's been for the last year," according to Sheriff 
George Ballard. He says Gibson County's meth problem seems to have leveled 
off, but activity remains high.

In Evansville, meanwhile, police say meth traffic seems to have declined.

Many recent meth-related arrests by the Evansville Police Department have 
been of rural Tri-State residents buying pseudoephedrine tablets, lithium 
batteries, starting fluid or coffee filters from local stores.

Evansville and Vanderburgh County authorities have asked local retailers to 
call them when customers buy a combination of those supplies or buy one of 
them in bulk.

"Knock on wood, we're seeing a decline, and I think the community effort is 
the key," said Sgt. Mike Lauderdale, an Evansville Police Department drug 
investigator.

In 1999, Evansville police found 49 meth labs. The number fell to 30 last 
year. So far this year, police have seized 18 labs in the city.

Some new Indiana laws have also played a role in curbing city meth traffic, 
Lauderdale said. Police can charge a person with dealing meth if they 
possess more than three grams, or if the person is caught within 1,000 feet 
of a school, park or public housing complex.

But Lauderdale said he's aware the decline in Evansville meth activity 
doesn't extend beyond the city's borders. "Where we see a little bit of a 
decline, (rural areas) have seen a little bit of an increase."
- ---
MAP posted-by: GD