Pubdate: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 Source: Florida Today (Melbourne, FL) Copyright: 2007 Florida Today Contact: http://www.flatoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/532 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) DEADLY TRADE Triple Slaying in Melbourne Again Proves Need For Aggressive Anti-Meth Offensive Nice neighborhoods aren't immune to deadly drug violence. Brevard County learned that Wednesday when a triple homicide police say is drug-related shattered the morning calm of Melbourne's Eau Gallie Estates, known for its rustic horse ranches and mini-estates and typically a safe place to live. But beneath the placid surface, the scourge of drug crime had taken root in two houses, one on Turtle Mound Road and one on Lake Washington Road, where over the course of the morning police found three male gunshot victims. The investigation is ongoing, but police believe the men knew each other and that the shootings are connected to the operation of at least one meth lab and two marijuana grow houses. Residents of the area were told to stay in their houses and lock their doors Wednesday morning. Motorists were stopped from getting through roads and three nearby schools were briefly in lockdown to protect students from possible danger. Despite the huge disruption, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office and Melbourne Police Department agents handled the crisis admirably, containing the scene with no further violence by 12:30 p.m., according to Sheriff Jack Parker. We commend them for their expertise in ensuring innocent bystanders weren't harmed. Their actions -- and the three deaths -- lend even more credence to an initiative we've praised the Sheriff's Office for before: A hardcore push against the methamphetamine plague destroying lives and families around the nation, including on the Space Coast, where meth lab busts are becoming all too common. Before Wednesday, sheriff's investigators so far this year had raided 25 illegal labs used to craft meth, making the county No. 1 statewide for having the most meth lab shutdowns in 2007. The cheaply produced drug is brutally addictive, but also puts anyone living near the clandestine labs, filled with dangerous chemicals, flammable solvents and explosive vapors, at high risk. That's what police found yesterday when they were unable to enter some rooms of the Turtle Mound home because of noxious fumes from a meth lab. The push also recently reaped a $450,000 federal grant to pay for meth investigations and prosecution of offenders, a larger grant share than any other Florida county. Wednesday's sudden violence shows those dollars are sorely needed, and that Sheriff Parker and other law enforcement agencies must continue to make busting the homemade labs a priority. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath