DRUGS A DRAIN ON BUDGET

As Logan County Struggles Financially, Meth Busts Continue

RUSSELLVILLE - At a time when Logan County Fiscal Court has asked Sheriff
Dannie Blick to trim his budget by two deputies, law enforcement in Logan
County has been working overtime busting methamphetamine laboratories.

Deputies arrested seven people last week and three men Tuesday afternoon in
connection with meth labs.

Tuesday's bust brought law enforcement out to a rural farm house on 5669
Corinth Road and a rolling meth lab set up in the trunk of a beat up Buick
parked in the driveway.

"They had the potential to make a large amount of meth," Logan County
Deputy Stephen Stratton said as Capt. Wallace Whittaker donned a gas mask
and began dismantling the laboratory that was within site of Schochoh Crop
Service, an anhydrous ammonia supplier.

Anhydrous ammonia is a legal chemical sold to farmers who use it as
fertilizer. It also is used to make methamphetamine and frequently is
stolen from farm supply companies.

In fact, deputies made the case against the three men because they have
been watching Schochoh round the clock, Stratton said.

In the past three months, the crop service has reported about eight
anhydrous thefts, Stratton said.

"We've probably run off about 10 to 20 (would-be thieves) through the
field," Stratton said.

The crop service on Ky. 663 is located in an isolated portion of Logan
County and surrounded by tall cornfields.

"There's two crop services down here and they're pretty much unprotected,
so (patrol) is an every night thing," Stratton said.

In fact, only one deputy patrols the entire county on the midnight shift
and Blick is preparing to add another deputy to that shift because of the
anhydrous thefts and the subsequent methamphetamine problem.

Manufacturing of meth can be deadly because of the explosive chemicals used
by untrained people who make the drug.

Those arrested Tuesday were: Morgan Stratton, 21, of 2987 Mortimer Station
Road, Adairville, charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of
drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance; Daniel Britt
Jr., 25, of 3601 Chandlers Road, Auburn, charged with possession of
anhydrous ammonia in an improper container with intent to manufacture
methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a
controlled substance and manufacturing methamphetamine; and Brad Wheeler,
31, 5669 Corinth Road, charged with trafficking methamphetamine,
manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance,
possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of anhydrous in an improper
container with intent to manufacture methamphetamine.

Blick has no plans to cut any deputies from his budget.

However, under the department's current budget, Blick will run out of money
to pay his deputies sometime in April, he said.

"I'm just going to keep going," Blick said. "We have mandated
responsibilities. The people need service. There's nothing I can cut back
on unless I get some help."

Blick proposed last week that magistrates become deputized and volunteer
their time to transport prisoners and work in court security. So far, only
one magistrate, Starlin Murphy, has offered to help solve the problem that
fiscal court caused.

"I'll have to try to come up with a solution before" running out of money,
Blick said.

The situation is mirrored in the county's state-of-the-art emergency
operations center where director Sam Bard was told to cut $38,000 from his
salary budget this year. That cut is the equivalent of losing two full-time
dispatchers.

If the center loses two dispatchers, there won't be enough dispatchers
available to answer the police, fire and emergency calls, placing lives in
danger, Bard said.

Consequently, Bard hasn't made any layoffs in his department, either, which
means that the EOC will run out of salary funding April 15, 2002.

"We're not making changes ...," Bard said. "The reason we're not doing it
is because it would put the people of Logan County and the emergency
responders at risk."

Bard and Blick are hopeful fiscal court will see its way to funding their
departments.

Fiscal court meets again Tuesday.