METH GETTING TO BE A PART OF THE COUNTRYSIDE

Christian County Has A Program For Cleaning Up The Mess That's Left

TAYLORVILLE - Sometime last spring, a rural Pana farmer looked out his
front door and saw the sun glistening off a dark-colored garbage sack on
the roadside not far from the house.

Hours later, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents were sifting through items
in the bag and a cardboard box found along with it, collecting evidence for
prosecution.

"It's not unusual for people to drop stuff off in the country. I didn't
realize I was getting into this whole problem," the farmer - who asked not
to be identified - said last week. "I never thought that as a farmer I'd be
dealing with this. I knew it was around, but didn't know they dumped along
a roadside.

"When I saw it, even as a dumb farmer, I knew this stuff wasn't normal."

Local authorities determined from that experience that they'd better learn
about this drug and learn about it quickly. As a result, Christian County
now has a unique clean-up program.

Welcome to the world of methamphetamine, a drug that has crept into
Christian County - and other rural areas much like it - and seems to be
taking hold.

Unlike heroin, cocaine and other hard-core drugs that are smuggled in from
other countries, strike it big in urban areas and then spider their way out
into rural America, meth is as indigenous to rural central Illinois as corn
and soybeans.

"This is a home-grown operation," said Sheriff Jim Vazzi of Montgomery
County, who saw 32-meth related incidents, discoveries of eight meth labs
and 100 or more anhydrous ammonia thefts or theft attempts last year.

"People get a recipe, go to Wal-Mart and get the ingredients," he said.
"One cook teaches 10 others, so it magnifies. If you can get the
ingredients together and then watch someone make it once, you can become
your own supplier."

Christian County may be the most glaring example of meth's infiltration. In
2000, authorities seized 12 working labs and had 16 meth-related encounters
- - typically where leftovers of a meth lab were discovered in a remote area.
In 1999, six labs were seized, and officials knew of only one meth-related
encounter.

Since Jan. 1 of this year, seven labs have been seized, and there have been
anywhere from seven to 11 meth-related incidents, depending on whom you ask.

"The problem seems to be expanding, and more and more people are becoming
aware of what (meth cookers) are doing and what they should be looking
for," said Sheriff Bob Kindermann.

Joe Stepping, head of the Christian County Solid Waste Management
Department, thinks more people now know what to look for, and that's part
of the reason reports are so quickly on the rise. More media coverage also
has helped educate people. And more people are using meth.

But he vividly remembers his first encounter with meth - he was the person
who responded when the Pana farmer called.

"It was the first one I responded to," he said. "I was totally unprepared
for it. I was unprepared to tell the individual what he had to do with it,
who to contact to get rid of it. I decided we'd have to come up with a plan
to handle this stuff, and that brought us to where we are today."

Until about a year ago, Stepping's normal day would consist of reporting to
work in jeans and boots and going out to the country to inspect fly-dumped
garbage bags to see if there was a clue inside to the bags' origins. Or he
might have to pick up abandoned couches and appliances.

Now, under a program he developed, Stepping, another solid waste employee
and two sheriff's deputies can be called upon at any minute to don yellow
toxic-protective suits, gloves and respirators and dispose of meth-related
trash found in fields, wooded areas and roadsides.

They store the items in large, sealed bins and put them in a heavily
secured concrete bunker on the fenced-in highway department lot. The meth
remains are periodically picked up by companies that contract with the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Most of the time, drug task forces or the DEA will not haul away
meth-related garbage because of the cost involved, said Dennis McMurray,
IEPA spokesman - unless, of course, a working meth lab is involved, which
leads to a criminal investigation.

"Christian County is the only county I know of that does this," he said.

Luckily for the Pana farmer, the meth fly-dumpers had included a pizza box
with a name and address with their garbage. That allowed the DEA to start
an investigation. If it had been up to the farmer to dispose of the
materials, the cost could have amounted to anywhere from $1,800 to $3,500,
Stepping said.

Christian County has about $15,000 tied up in protective equipment and
training. It costs about $150 per site to clear the waste.

"I had no idea I'd be doing this kind of stuff," Stepping said. "No one
told me we had to do this. This was something I ran into, and I just said
I'd never respond to another site the same way again."