METH STILL BIG RURAL PROBLEM

Hot labs. Remnants of labs. Anhydrous ammonia thefts. Bulk purchases of
supplies.

Methamphetamine isn't new and trendy any more. Some might even view it as
yesterday's news.

But area police say it's still being produced and used in big numbers
across the region, and in rural areas of Western Kentucky, it hasn't let up
at all.

"If it's curtailed any, it's by a very small percentage," Union County,
Ky., Sheriff Ronnie Girten said. "We arrested two this week for tampering
with anhydrous ammonia tanks. Last week we found three abandoned labs."

The lone full-time drug investigator with the Daviess County, Ky.,
Sheriff's Department said he's run ragged with meth cases.

"We've arrested so many people that we're backlogged in court," Detective
Jim Acquisto said. "We aren't able to get out and do proactive investigations.

"I spent all morning in court (Friday,)" Acquisto added.

Rural areas are more friendly for meth makers than cities. Authorities are
often led to meth labs by their odors, and wide open spaces offer
manufacturers some cover. Tanks of anhydrous ammonia, a meth component, are
also easier to find in rural areas.

Acquisto, who investigates drug cases in areas of Daviess County, outside
Owensboro, said the meth problem there hasn't reached its plateau.

"I think if anything else," Acquisto said, "it's increased."

Small police departments elsewhere are also struggling to locate the
makers, buyers and users of meth.

"We're still getting quite a bit of it," White County, Ill., Sheriff Jerry
O'Neal said. "They're hitting our anhydrous tanks quite a bit. It's not
slacked up any here. We don't even make a dent in it. There's so much of it."

In Gibson County, Ind., the sheriff's department receives at least one tip
about meth activity per week.

"That's probably what it's been for the last year," according to Sheriff
George Ballard. He says Gibson County's meth problem seems to have leveled
off, but activity remains high.

In Evansville, meanwhile, police say meth traffic seems to have declined.

Many recent meth-related arrests by the Evansville Police Department have
been of rural Tri-State residents buying pseudoephedrine tablets, lithium
batteries, starting fluid or coffee filters from local stores.

Evansville and Vanderburgh County authorities have asked local retailers to
call them when customers buy a combination of those supplies or buy one of
them in bulk.

"Knock on wood, we're seeing a decline, and I think the community effort is
the key," said Sgt. Mike Lauderdale, an Evansville Police Department drug
investigator.

In 1999, Evansville police found 49 meth labs. The number fell to 30 last
year. So far this year, police have seized 18 labs in the city.

Some new Indiana laws have also played a role in curbing city meth traffic,
Lauderdale said. Police can charge a person with dealing meth if they
possess more than three grams, or if the person is caught within 1,000 feet
of a school, park or public housing complex.

But Lauderdale said he's aware the decline in Evansville meth activity
doesn't extend beyond the city's borders. "Where we see a little bit of a
decline, (rural areas) have seen a little bit of an increase."