Pubdate: Thu, 25 Aug 2005
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 2005 The Des Moines Register.
Contact:  http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: Tom Alex
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

I-80 CHECKPOINT PROVIDES A SHOW

An Operation By 'Very Respectful' Drug Agents Holds Up Traffic For A While

Truck driver Bill Johnson stayed a little longer than planned at a rest 
stop east of Des Moines on Wednesday.

He was hauling produce from California - a "big salad bar" - across the 
country, and safety rules required a 10-hour layover before he could push 
on along Interstate Highway 80.

Johnson was about to enjoy a peanut butter-and-banana sandwich for 
breakfast when he noticed some motorists across the parking lot whose 
vehicle was being searched.

There were three orange signs a few hundred yards to the west. The first 
told motorists of a drug checkpoint ahead. The second warned that a drug 
dog was in wait. The third: Be prepared to stop.

A squad car idled nearby with lights flashing.

Johnson, already a few minutes behind schedule, stood on the curb and 
watched drug agents go through other drivers' belongings.

The task force members represented more than 20 federal, state and local 
law enforcement agencies. They said they had seized about 80 pounds of 
marijuana by early Wednesday afternoon.

The operation stretched beyond the rest area, they said, but they declined 
to be more specific.

In front of Johnson was a maroon Ford Thunderbird with California license 
plates. Several plainclothes officers carefully pulled things out of the 
trunk. A man in a vest and blue jeans said a drug dog had lunged at the 
vehicle just a few minutes earlier.

The owners of the car seemed unconcerned.

"They wouldn't be taking all that stuff out of there if there weren't drugs 
in there," said a bystander.

The couple in the Thunderbird, Ed Callahan and Cheryl Fox, watched as the 
car's trunk was emptied on the concrete by members of the Mid-Iowa 
Narcotics Enforcement Task Force and the Central Iowa Drug Task Force. 
After a thorough search, everything was returned to the car, as Callahan 
offered a few packing suggestions.

Then they were free to go.

"I think it's a good thing that they do this," said Fox. "But I'm sorry 
that it's necessary."

She and Callahan were headed for Niagara Falls. They said they were in no 
hurry. They compared it to moving through an airport. It's a sign of the times.

"It unfortunate that a few people ruin it for everyone else," Callahan 
said, adding that the drug agents "were very nice, very respectful. They 
told us what they were going to do before they did it."

Moments later, Callahan climbed in behind the wheel, Fox squeezed into the 
passenger seat, and they disappeared into eastbound traffic.

Johnson rubbed his salt-and-pepper beard and changed the subject to the 
high cost of fuel.

Did they check his truck with a drug dog?

"Beats me," he said. "If they did, I was sleeping at the time."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman