OFFICERS CRANK UP ANTI-METH BATTLE

Law enforcement officials are continuing to struggle against the
growing epidemic of methamphetamine in Southeast Tennessee.

According to federal Drug Enforcement Administration statistics, about
140 methamphetamine labs have been seized in the 17-county region in
the past six months -- close to one a day.

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said Wednesday DEA records indicate the
rural mountainous region of East Tennessee is second only to
California for illegal production of methamphetamine.

"This is a plague," Rep. Wamp said. "It is the fastest growing drug
problem in America. And in certain parts of the country, like East
Tennessee, it has overtaken cocaine."

Over the past two years, Rep. Wamp has helped secure $1.9 million in
federal funding for the local war on meth. This year he hopes to
obtain another $1 million.

The funding goes to the Southeast Tennessee Methamphetamine Drug Task
Force.

Marion County Detective Gene Hargis worked more than 17 hours Tuesday
after the Sheriff's Department seized a meth lab in New Hope. It was
one of six labs the department has seized in the past six days in
Marion and Grundy counties.

"If it wasn't for that money, it would be hard for us to work these
cases the way we do," Detective Hargis said.

Meth is a powerful stimulant known as "poor man's cocaine," crank or
speed. Authorities say "cookers" can turn a $100 investment in
materials into about $1,000 worth of the illegal drug in a matter of
four or five hours.

There is no shortage of meth in the Chattanooga region.

A representative with a local hazardous materials company contracted
to clean up meth labs said his company has seen 190 since last
September. Company officials, who requested that they and their
company remain anonymous for security reasons, operate in a 150-mile
radius around Chattanooga. It is one of five such companies locally.

They were called out Tuesday to meth lab in Marion
County.

"I wish they would give this up and go back to smoking pot," said New
Hope Police Chief John Griffith. "It's pure poison."

Meth labs, which combine common household materials into toxic
mixtures to produce the drug, can be found in houses, mobile homes,
apartments and even moving vehicles, Chief Griffith said.

Tuesday night's bust was in a modest mobile home off dead-end Pine
Grove Road. Inside the home, police found bottles of hydrogen
peroxide, drain cleaner, a canister of lantern fuel, and several other
components used to make meth.

Tuesday night's lab seizure was the result of a six-month
investigation by the Sheriff's Department and local police. Larry
Kirk, 39, of New Hope, and Grady Breedwell, 36, and Vicky Lynn
Templeton, 26, both of Flat Rock, Ala., were arrested and face federal
charges, said Marion County Chief Detective Brent Myers.

Detective Hargis said it was the largest of the labs seized in the
past week, but is "average" in size compared to typical labs.

Detective Hargis said about 30 grams of finished meth, and as much as
60 more grams of unfinished product, were seized in Tuesday's arrest.
He said the drugs have a street value of more than $7,200.

Chief Griffith said the increasingly popular drug is both dangerous
and extremely addictive. "I've known people who have been on it," he
said. "They lose so much weight and lose their teeth. There's about a
five-year life expectancy with this stuff."

Rep. Wamp said meth "wreaks havoc on lives in Southeast
Tennessee."

"We're even having meth problems show up in rural schools in Southeast
Tennessee," he said. "Principals talk to me about it -- about the kids
they have in their schools from meth families."

Rep. Wamp, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said local
prosecutors and law enforcement officials must submit proposals to him
by April 27 to receive federal funds.

He likened methamphetamine in Tennessee to the region's old moonshine
problem.

"It's easy to hide, easy to make and cheap," he said.