Pubdate: Sat, 22 Dec 2001
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Website: http://www.kentuckyconnect.com/heraldleader/
Address: 100 Midland Avenue, Lexington, Ky. 40508
Email:  2001 Lexington Herald-Leader
Fax: 606-255-7236
Author: Lee Mueller, Eastern Kentucky Bureau

ANTI-DRUG GROUP FILLS GAPS IN LEE

Members Monitor Treatment And Prevention Programs

State and local officials were pleased yesterday when 40 members of a Lee 
County anti-drug group showed up in circuit court to witness the 
indictments of 48 alleged drug dealers.

"They're monitoring these individuals in court so they don't just get a 
slap on the wrists," said Larry Carrico, executive director of the Kentucky 
Agency for Substance Abuse Policy, which was created by the Patton 
administration.

It was the first major step for the group -- People Encouraging People, or 
PEP -- which received a $50,000 state grant yesterday to help monitor drug 
prevention and treatment programs in the county.

"We want to encourage police and judges and county prosectors to make these 
charges stick instead of letting them out on probation or reducing their 
bonds," said PEP's director, Anna Marie Dunahoo of Beattyville.

The money, part of a $5 million appropriation by the 2000 General Assembly, 
is administered by the newly created Lee County Agency for Substance Abuse 
Policy Board, said Leslie Hawk, a spokeswoman for the state agency. The Lee 
County agency is one of 14 local boards covering 43 Kentucky counties that 
have received a total of $1.8 million so far, Hawk said.

"They will use the money to help fill in gaps that might exist in 
programs," Hawk said. "It's not Frankfort telling them what they can do. We 
don't live in Lee County. But, obviously they've got a problem with 
OxyContin and prescription drugs."

That is not news to Lee County officials, where a drug roundup on Tuesday 
netted the 48 alleged dealers, many of them on charges relating to 
OxyContin, and where drug problems go back to at least the early 1990s. 
That's when two consecutive sheriffs went to federal prison, along with the 
Beattyville police chief, on drug charges.

In 1991, then-Sheriff Johnny Mann was one of six Eastern Kentucky law 
officers charged with taking a total of $90,000 in payoffs to protect 
cocaine smuggling through the area. Omer Noe, then the police chief of 
Beattyville, was snared in the same FBI sting.

Mann is still serving a 24-year prison sentence. Noe, sentenced to 10 
years, has been released.

In 1994, Doug Brandenburg, who replaced Mann, was charged with being part 
in an international drug-distribution ring. He pleaded guilty to 
obstruction of justice and received a nine-month sentence.

"That's a long way from the type of law enforcement we have here today," 
said Beattyville Mayor Charles Beach III.

Lee Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Hall said he welcomed the efforts by the 
anti-drug group, including its court-watch program.

"I was happy to see people coming out to support the work our police 
officers have done," Hall said. "The only way we're going to make a big 
dent in this is through education and teaching young people not to get into 
this subculture."

Beach agreed. "I think the rest of the story will be how the courts deal 
with these cases," he said.

Reach Lee Mueller at (606) 789-4800 or  ---
MAP posted-by: Jackl