Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jan 2005
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2005 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Addie Powers
Note: Addie Powers of Corbin is a retired Elliot County schoolteacher who 
writes children's literature.

KENTUCKY VOICES

I don't suppose a scientific study has been done yet to determine if 
today's meth makers are descendants of yesterday's moonshiners.

Once Harvard, Yale or Princeton is mindful of this deficit, the race will 
be on. Results might go something like this: children of itinerant 
moonshiners found responsible for 90 percent of meth labs across the country.

Belief is in the mind of the reader.

Studies and surveys aside, our lovely triangle of the state apparently has 
its share of these modern-day lawbreakers. Hardly a week goes by that an 
incident isn't reported, sometimes with the heartening news that a 
confidential informant helped police make arrests.

And moonshining is not extinct. We read a recent story of a still in Laurel 
County thoughtfully placed out of danger to populated areas. 
Prohibitionists may roll over in their graves, but moonshining seems a 
quaint and benign occupation compared to methamphetamine hydrochloride 
manufacturing.

A moonshine still was usually hidden in the woods with branches placed over 
a hastily constructed frame. The moonshiner hoped for few visitors. 
Occasionally, he scared away curious children who stumbled upon him by 
following smoke on a frosty morning while retrieving the family milk cow.

Animals sometimes met the real danger. Free-range hogs loved mash and 
gobbled it up. On occasion, though, the reverse happened to sows and boars 
alike when they grew tipsy and fell into the barrel. The indiscriminate 
moonshiner would go ahead and run the batch, thus giving real substance to 
the saying that poor-quality moonshine must've had a dead hog in it.

The personalities of these offenders differed significantly, with the lone 
point of convergence that each needed money. Moonshiners were a gentle sort 
who cared about people, merry souls in particular. They were more apt to 
kill one another than anyone else -- which was a good thing, depending on 
your point of view. Sheriffs often prevented murders by their silence when 
one moonshiner revealed the whereabouts of another's still.

On the other hand, the meth manufacturer doesn't care if lives are taken in 
the process of illegal gain. It has been said that the fine art of 
moonshining was lost when moonshiners became greedy, no longer caring about 
the quality of their product.

The meth "labrador" has no gentle nature. He couldn't care less about art. 
His ravenous goal from day one has been material gain with no concern for 
human beings killed in the process.

Moonshine, though transported along Thunder Road, for all its colorful 
reputation, was not famous for exploding and killing people in their 
automobiles. But meth in crowded apartment buildings and percolating in 
automobiles on streets already bubbling with risk presents another, 
imminently more perilous situation.

Meth has affected our lives in ways moonshine never dreamed. My friend 
Nadine and I take turns driving to go shopping. Nadine is notorious for 
tailing the driver ahead of her too closely. Recently, I observed that she 
had stopped doing this.

"I'm glad you're not tailing him, but this is a bit ridiculous," I said, 
when she had fallen back the length of an 18 wheeler.

"It's the only sensible thing to do," she said. "He might have a meth lab 
in his trunk."

The chances are increasing daily. We now have fresh credence for our 
driver-training manual's instruction about leaving space between your 
vehicle and the one ahead of you. As for congested lanes of city traffic, 
there is no window of safety.

Whatever their background, whether descendants of moonshiners, the Hitler's 
troops or none of the above, meth makers do not exist in a vacuum. They 
have at least one family member or friend with enough suspicion to make an 
anonymous call. That's being a responsible citizen.
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MAP posted-by: Beth