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.
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