SB COUNTY TO JOIN REGIONAL METHAMPHETAMINE TASK FORCE

Hollister - San Benito County is getting a $330,000 state grant to
help combat methamphetamine use.

Sheriff Curtis Hill said the funding will be used to target
manufacturers and high-volume meth dealers. Hill said the county will
share its grant with the city.

"The focus is to suppress clandestine labs in San Benito County and
the City of Hollister," he said.

The program will fund the addition of a new sheriff's office deputy
and Hollister Police Department officer to work in conjunction with
the region's United Narcotics Enforcement Team in its anti-meth
efforts. The grant will also provide two new sport utility vehicles
for the new police officer and deputy to use.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to accept the
grant, which will also help San Benito work with three other Central
Coast counties under the California Multi-Jurisdictional
Methamphetamine Enforcement Team program. San Benito's region also
includes Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Mateo counties.

County Supervisor Don Marcus approved of the program, but said he was
disappointed San Benito is not teamed with the neighboring cities of
Gilroy and Morgan Hill in Santa Clara County. Santa Clara County
authorities decided to team with other Bay Area counties in their
anti-meth efforts, Sheriff Curtis Hill said.

Supervisor Anthony Botelho said he believes methamphetamine is the
greatest problem facing the county. He applauded Hill's efforts to combat meth.

"I'd like to see these people thrown off our streets," Botelho said
during Tuesday morning's board meeting.

Hill said San Benito will share information with its regional
partners to crack down on a problem he believes is at an epidemic level.

"It's to the extent that about 70 percent of my jail in-custodies, if
the crime is not directly related to meth, it's supporting a habit," Hill said.

Hill added that 80 percent of statewide Child Protective Services
cases are related to methamphetamine abuse.

"And we're no different here in San Benito County," he said.

Mary Covell, interim chief of the San Benito County Probation
Department, said she sees the effects of methamphetamine on the
county's probation cases.

"I'd say 70 to 75 percent of our adult cases have a meth portion of
their conviction," Covell said.

Covell added that meth has a strong connection to crime. She said
users will burglarize to support their drug habit.

"When you start digging under the layers you find that there's meth
addiction," Covell said.

Covell said the meth problem can start early. Once students reach the
sixth, seventh and eighth grades, they expand their social circles
and some are offered methamphetamine, she said.

"As young as 12, 13 years old we've had cases come through that are
methamphetamine-related," Covell said.

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services allocated $29
million in anti-meth funds to 40 counties in 2006 - $19 million more
than was available in 2005, state officials said.

The California State Sheriff's Association lobbied for the grants, Hill said.

"The state sheriffs were allowed to sit down and negotiate what each
county would receive," he said.

Some counties, such as San Joaquin County, where meth has been linked
to 141 deaths since 2003, will receive substantially more funding.
San Joaquin will receive $1.2 million, according to the OES.

San Benito is the only recipient to split the funds with a city
police department, Hill said. The police officer funded through the
grant will know the city's jurisdiction better than a sheriff's
office deputy, he said.

"The mission statement of the sheriff's office is to form
partnerships," Hill told the board Tuesday morning.