SENTENCING HELPS CREATE A SAFER COMMUNITY

On Friday, the Crawford County Attorney's Office and District Court
sent a message to methamphetamine manufacturers: You break the law,
you go to jail.

William P. Murr was sentenced to eight years in prison for conspiracy
to manufacture methamphetamine, manufacture of methamphetamine,
possession of methamphetamine and possession of felony drug
paraphernalia. The office asked for 12 years, but because of Murr's
age and "need to support his family," the court sentenced him to eight.

We applaud the work of the Crawford County Attorney's office in
prosecuting this case. As County Attorney John Gutierrez told the
court, "manufacturing methamphetamine is a threat to society." By
putting Murr in jail, the county has not only taken one manufacturer
off the street, they have made the area safer around the building
where he was making the drug.

According to the federal Drug Endangered Children Program, the
average lab cooker will cook meth 48 to 72 times a year risking fire
and explosion each time. The typical lab cooker, who cooks meth about
once a week, will likely experience a lab fire at some point within a
36-month period. Even scarier is that there is only a one in five
chance that their neighbors will not know that the fire happened and
at least 20 percent of the lab fires go unreported to local emergency
fire services.

These are startling statistics that prove just how dangerous
methamphetamine is to those innocent bystanders who may not even know
meth is being made so close to their homes.

We congratulate the county attorney's office on this small victory
and thank them from making Crawford County a little safer.