BILL WOULD HEIGHTEN METH MAKING PENALTY

SPRINGFIELD, IL-- A new bill would increase the penalties for
methamphetamine producers whose toxic and volatile labs injure
emergency workers, a Quad-City region legislator said Thursday.

Rep. Donald Moffitt, R-Gilson, said he has a personal reason for
sponsoring the bill. A few weeks ago, the Knoxville Community Fire
District responded to a house fire in rural Gilson, he said.

"The firefighters were en route. Someone called with a tip and said
tell the firefighters not to go in that house. There could be some
funny things happen," he said. "My friends, my neighbors, my
constituents and my son were en route to that fire, and had they gone
in and treated it like a normal situation -- a house is burning out
in the country -- they could have been exposed to some very bad
things."

Methamphetamine labs contain ingredients such as red phosphorous,
which can explode when mixed with water, and anhydrous ammonia, which
can harm the lungs.

The legislation provides for an extended prison sentence if a
firefighter, police officer or other emergency worker is injured
while coping with a methamphetamine lab. Moffitt said the provision
would effectively allow a judge to double the prison sentence under
laws prohibiting methamphetamine.

"If emergency personnel are hurt or killed, it's going to be on the
head and shoulders of the person committing the crime," Rep. Mike
Bost, R-Murphysboro, said.

Legislators, firefighters and law enforcement officers who attended a
news conference in the Illinois Capitol could not say how many
emergency workers in the state had been hurt fighting fires or
cleaning up meth labs.

But they did cite statistics showing a sharp increase in
methamphetamine labs discovered in the state. In 1997, the Illinois
State Police reported 24 labs were discovered. Through Dec. 20, 2000,
the state police reported 336 labs had been found.