SCREVEN COUNTY BUST SIGNALS SPREAD OF CRYSTAL METH

When liquid fertilizer starts disappearing, watch out. That's what
Screven County sheriff's deputies have learned to do, and their hunch
paid off Monday, when Cpl. Cedric Rhodes spotted a woman lurking near
a tank of anhydrous ammonia at a local fertilizer company.

Along with a tank of stolen fertilizer, Cpl. Rhodes allegedly found
crystal methamphetamine in Susan Lynn Pennington's truck. He arrested
the 37-year-old woman. Her companion, Willard Dale Pendergraft, 38,
fled into the woods and was eventually caught.

The eastern Tennessee couple is being held at the Screven County jail.
Both have been charged with trafficking methamphetamines, an
increasing problem in Georgia.

The Screven bust might be just the beginning of the
troubles.

Tennessee authorities searched a home in Butler, Tenn., on Monday and
Tuesday and discovered more evidence of drug manufacturing, including
gas masks, ether, acetone, sodium hydroxide, cooling pots and an
over-the-counter cold medicine, enough supplies to make several pounds
of crystal meth, also known as ``poor man's crack,'' ``crank'' and
``speed.'' Mr. Pendergraft faces charges there, too, said Johnson
County (Tenn.) Sheriff Roger Gentry.

Cpl. Rhodes said authorities had been keeping a close eye on local
anhydrous ammonia tanks because of recent thefts. The liquid nitrogen
fertilizer, which is injected directly into the soil before cotton and
corn are planted, is a major component in the drug's manufacture. The
situation in front of Boyd's Fertilizer Company had elements Cpl.
Rhodes had been trained to look for.

He noticed the couple waiting in a car in the middle of the parking
lot near the tanks. He said that while talking to Ms. Pennington, he
saw that her eyes were dilated, one of the symptoms of methamphetamine
use.

``Truck, tank, Tennessee plates, dilated eyes: I just put it all
together,'' Cpl. Rhodes said. Besides dilating users' pupils, the
addictive drug speeds up the heart, raises blood pressure and body
temperature, and can make users hyperactive. It's popular with
long-haul truck drivers, who use it to stay awake.

Tennessee and Georgia have both seen spikes in methamphetamine use and
production, which has spread eastward from California. Because of the
smell associated with producing it, it's usually cooked up in rural
areas, experts say. In 1999, 34 clandestine drug labs were seized in
Georgia, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. More than 100 were
shut down in Tennessee.

``It is a problem growing at epidemic proportions,'' said Charles
Sullenger, a special agent principal in the Savannah regional Drug
Enforcement Office of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Unlike organic drugs such as marijuana, crystal meth is made, not
grown. Anhydrous ammonia is a dangerous chemical that can injure
people who touch it or inhale it, Agent Sullenger said. A byproduct of
the chemical reaction used to make the drug can severely damage the
environment. Agent Sullenger said hazardous waste recovery teams are
needed to remove and store the materials, an expensive process.

It's a lucrative business, Agent Sullenger said. A half ounce of the
drug costs about $150 to make and sells for about $1,400 on the street