Pubdate: Sun, 02 Sep 2001 Source: Anniston Star (AL) Copyright: 2001 Consolidated Publishing Contact: http://www.annistonstar.com/index.htm Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/923 Author: Matthew Creamer CLEBURNE COUNTY SEES RECORD MONTH FOR DRUG ARRESTS HEFLIN -- Largely because of stepped-up activity by the Calhoun County Drug Task Force, a Cleburne County grand jury last month returned more than 100 indictments - by far a record for this sparsely populated rural county. The task force was responsible for the arrest of almost half of those formally charged by the grand jury. With two of the team's seven investigators now devoted to the area, the task force has adopted a more aggressive investigative philosophy, said Jason Murray, a member of the task force. "We've always worked Cleburne County, but we didn't have the manpower to concentrate there," Murray said. "We would respond to leads that came up there, but as far as being proactive, there just wasn't the manpower." More arrests, in addition to bringing to light the strong presence of drugs in the area, could lead to subtle but telling changes in the way suspects are prosecuted in the county. "We may have to add more trial weeks or spend more time each week trying cases," said Circuit Judge Joel Laird, who is handling Cleburne criminal cases this year. There are now four grand jury sessions and four criminal trial weeks each year. While Laird is confident the judicial system's resources, including its current pool of lawyers willing to represent indigent clients, is sufficient, District Attorney Joe Hubbard said he is trying to obtain an increase in state funding to hire another prosecutor to assist in handling the swelling criminal docket. The August grand jury yielded 136 indictments, 65 of which were Drug Task Force cases. A glance at the performance of past grand juries puts into perspective how dramatic a jump this is. Including the recent one, Cleburne County grand juries this year have averaged 56 indictments per session. In 2000, they averaged 31 a session. In 1999, they averaged 34 a session. And in 1998, they averaged 46 a session, but that figure was inflated by one atypically large session - in October of that year, a grand jury indicted 91. The increase is even more impressive if you go back a decade. For the whole of 1991, including four sessions, grand juries indicted only 76. As if the numbers weren't enough, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that demonstrates how busy the criminal courts have become. Hubbard said he remembers his days as an assistant district attorney when the case load was a lot lighter. "In 1978, you would go to Cleburne County and you'd have 10 cases on the grand jury docket," he said. "You'd get it done by lunch on the first day." Presiding over arraignments on Thursday, Judge Laird was struck by how much longer than usual the process took. "Normally, (the arraignment docket) takes less than an hour," he said. "This time it took almost three hours." Despite the new challenges presented by Cleburne as well as by cases from Calhoun County, both Hubbard and Laird are confident that with the necessary changes the system will be able to make do. Said the judge, "We can accommodate it. We have to. We don't have a choice." Drugs In A Rural County Raids by the task force snared dealers and users of marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine as well as a smattering of those who trade in pills, including OxyContin. The rural setting, Murray said, affords drug offenders privacy needed to raise marijuana crops and assemble meth labs. Marijuana is the most commonly seized drug in the county, followed by methamphetamine and cocaine. Murray said that meth is a fast growing drug with 32 labs being found in the two-county jurisdiction since October. Meth is a highly addictive stimulant that can be made from over-the- counter ingredients in makeshift labs. Labs often are found in remote areas because the strong odors produced in the manufacture of the drug are a giveaway. Just as the hills and forests provide drug traffickers with a blanket of concealment, the secluded way of life in the county's backwoods poses problems for investigators. "People are, for lack of a better word, more clannish," Murray said. "When you get out into the rural areas, they don't talk as freely with you. There aren't as many leads." Murray stressed that these nooks are not endemic to Cleburne but exist in the more isolated sections of Calhoun County as well. Moreover, Hubbard, the district attorney, said there is interaction between dealers and buyers on either side of the county line. "There's a lot of bleed over going both ways," Hubbard says. "Both are on I-20 and get drugs from Atlanta and Birmingham. Both counties are in the same boat." But what Cleburne has that Calhoun doesn't is vast swathes of the Talladega National Forest, a perfect cover for marijuana growers. "It's the ideal place to grow it," Murray said. "The weather's great, and you've got easy access to the interstate." It's a matter for speculation whether the gradual increase over the decades and the recent spike in the past few months indicates greater criminal activity or simply better policing by authorities. Officials, however, believe the drugs have been out there for a long time and now the resources to track them down are available. Heflin police Chief Billy Lambert said he's noticed a recent upswing in the amount of drug activity. "There's more drugs out there, especially in the past three years," he said. "We've made more cases." The task force's Murray echoed this. "I think citizens in Cleburne County are surprised by how much dope is out there," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager