METH TASK FORCE TO TESTIFY AT HEARING

Group Supports Bill Requiring Minimum Bail For Dealers

A year ago, a group of Mid-Valley law enforcement were given a mission
- -- go after mid-level meth dealers.

On Thursday, the policy board that prescribed the mission -- the Guido
Caldarazzo Methamphetamine Task Force, revisited the year as a
collaboration between businesses, civic groups, law enforcement and
lawmakers.

"This community has stepped forward like none other," said Salem
Police Chief Jerry Moore.

Today, members of the task force and others will testify at a hearing
of the Oregon Senate in support of a bill that would require courts to
impose a minimum of $500,000 bail for meth dealers.

Increasing bail amounts in Marion County was one of the first
collaborative acts by the task force, a process that took about six
weeks, said board member and Salem business owner Dick Withnell.

At Thursday's meeting, Marion County District Attorney Walt Beglau
outlined the successes of the strike force, which consists of a deputy
district attorney and narcotics investigators from Mid-Valley law
enforcement agencies.

The team has made 28 meth-related arrests and seized 2.74 pounds of
meth since February 2007, Beglau said. Nineteen of those offenders
have been prosecuted, he said.

The team has investigated 30 cases and served 32 search
warrants.

Six drug trafficking operations have either been dismantled or
disrupted by the strike force, Beglau said.

The task force said the success of taking pseudoephedrine off the
shelves helped reduce local meth labs, but sustained demand for the
drug has kept a steady supply in the area from Mexican and Canadian
drug providers, Beglau said.

Now, the methamphetamine strike force is going after the couriers --
interdiction will be a key focus of the narcotics team, Beglau said.

Sam Skillern, a board member who represents the faith community, said
the community needs to employ more strategies to target the meth problem.

"We wiped out these meth labs, but we're not done yet," Skillern said.