TWO COUNTY RESIDENTS ARRESTED ON HEROIN CHARGES

CCSD Still Seeking New Information On Stabbing, Body

An Elizabethton couple were arrested on drug charges Monday afternoon by
members of the 1st Judicial District Drug Task Force and Carter County
Sheriff's Department.

According to a DTF agent, Gary Carden, 37, and Pamela Small, 41, 105 Renfro
Road, were arrested after agents executed a search warrant at the residence
and found approximately 5 grams of heroin, a quarter-ounce of marijuana, an
assortment of pills, including steroids, and drug paraphernalia used in the
packaging and processing of heroin. A large amount of cash also was seized.
The pills have been sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
laboratory in Knoxville for analysis, according to the agent.

Carden and Small were charged with possession of Schedule I for resale,
possession of Schedule III, possession of Schedule VI and possession of
drug paraphernalia.

Carter County Sheriff John Henson said Carden and Small both have been
arrested previously on drug-related charges.

"Maybe this time, with this amount of drugs, this dealer (Carden) will be
put out of commission and be put where he belongs. He has slipped through
the cracks several times before."

Carden and Small originally were set a $69,000 bond but that was reduced
and Carden was released from jail Tuesday on $10,000 corporate bond ($1,000
to a bail bondsman). Small is still in Carter County Jail with her bond set
at $10,000 corporate.

"Maybe this time will be the time they will be put out of business," Henson
said.

The sheriff said people sometimes think that when they report drug
trafficking, that nothing's being done about it.

"But it's a slow process. It takes time -- a lot of time. You've got to get
in there and you've got to get your wheels moving before you can move in
and take one out," Sheriff Henson said. "I appreciate the DTF for a job
well done and my department that assisted with what I would call a major
drug dealer. As I have said in the past, drugs are No. 1 on our list. Any
time that we can get a drug dealer off the street, I am very pleased to do
that. The DTF has always been excellent to work with and help this
department and to help the county and the city. They play a major role in
(stopping) drug trafficking here and I'm proud to be a part of them."

According to the sheriff, his department also is working on an Internet Web
site which will display information he hopes will lead to solving two other
county-connected crimes.

The sheriff's department still is looking for Charles Austin Jr., 25, 811
Rittertown Road, Hampton, who allegedly beat his pregnant wife, Kara, with
an ax handle, stabbed her, slashed her throat and mouth, then fled the
scene in her vehicle before abandoning it in the middle of Butler Bridge
around the end of August. Henson said he has not had any new leads in the
last few days as to Austin's whereabouts. "Hopefully something will come in
and it will be concrete." The sheriff said that at last report, both Mrs.
Austin and the baby were doing fine. "They were lucky -- very lucky," he said.

The sheriff said he also has been working on leads which may lead to
identification of a woman whose frozen body was found atop Roan Mountain,
just across the Tennessee-North Carolina line. The woman, who is believed
to have been in her 80s, was found in late August by a couple who were out
taking pictures.

Mitchell, N.C., authorities, as well as Carter County, have been following
each lead as it comes in, so far, without luck. The woman, who was dressed
in a blue-flowered nightgown, was found wrapped in a sheet and bed blanket.

"I am at this time trying to get it in the computer and if you pull up
anything about Carter County on the computer it will show Austin and her on
there," Henson said.

According to the sheriff, there has been a countywide reduction in crime
since the Sept. 11 terrorist actions at the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.

"It seems like everything has just come to a standstill ever since then.
It's been real quiet -- not a lot of fights, not a lot of drinking, not a
lot of vandalism, not a lot of anything going on. It's just like shutting a
faucet off. I hate that had to happen to do it, but it's good that it's
quiet," he said.

One reason for the lull, he believes, is because "Nobody knows just exactly
what's going to take place and everybody's concerned -- which, they have a
right to be, and they need to be.

In my opinion, it's far from being over. But we'll cross that bridge when
we get there. When it happens, we'll be standing there, waiting to step
in," he said.