BUDGET CUTS MAY IMPERIL DRUG WAR

Proposed sweeping cuts to federal grants could all but shut down units
geared toward drug suppression in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties,
local law enforcement officials worry.

Government officials are eyeing a 67 percent cut to grants it doles
out from a variety of pots, including Cal-MMET, the Marijuana
Suppression Program and the Drug Enforcement Agency.

This fiscal year, Tuolumne County received at total of $629,000 in
grants for drug enforcement. The cut would slice away $421,430 from
that amount.

Calaveras County receives a total of $525,000 from those
programs.

Now, the Tuolumne County Narcotics Team comprises four county
investigators, one Sonora Police Department Detective and one sergeant
and clerical staff.

"We would have to scale that back tremendously," Sheriff Jim Mele
said.

The team is a specialized group with training that is dedicated to
investigating drugs, he said. If cuts go through, drug enforcement
could shift to more of a patrol responsibility.

Mele has written letters to lawmakers on behalf of the program, hoping
to persuade them to keep the funding in place.

Several of those investigators would likely have to be reassigned to
general investigations, leaving about two positions dedicated to
narcotics enforcement, he said.

The effect would be "devastating" for the program, said Sgt. Scott
Johnson, the TNT unit commander.

"TNT would basically cease to exist," he said.

Last year, the team destroyed more than 107,000 marijuana plants in
Tuolumne County and made 108 narcotics-related arrests, he said.

In the past six weeks, they have busted two methamphetamine labs,
which seem to be resurfacing in the county after a four-year lull, he
said.

A two-member team could have a difficult time managing that kind of
load, he said. It would result in a rise in drugs and decline in arrests.

It could also affect other crime rates, since drugs play a major role
in most crimes, such as burglary or assault, Johnson said.

"There's definitely a public safely concern any time you cut law
enforcement, but especially with narcotics," he said.

The team is already working with a skeleton crew, said Detective
Kelvin Moses, a member of TNT. But they have been able to work with
the numbers they have, and they will adapt if the cuts are made.

The county will still provide the service, just with less manpower, he
said.

"We'll go full steam ahead -- whether there's two of us or four of
us," he said.

Widespread cuts to the grants would basically mean an unfunded
narcotics unit within the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office,
Under-Sheriff Michael Walker said.

The county would have to decide if it wanted to make up the losses out
of its general fund.

"If they would not, we would have to make some serious decisions as to
how we would operate the narcotics unit," he said, adding that the
cuts are still uncertain.

Neighboring counties could have talks about combining their efforts,
he said.

Calaveras County ranks between fourth and eighth per capita in the
state for drug lab seizures. Without that effort, drug labs could
become more widespread, he said.

One of the more serious consequences of the cuts could fall on
children. Some of the funding is geared toward helping children who
suffer from abuse, neglect and chemical exposure as a result of having
parents who abuse drugs.

Walker has also written letters to lawmakers, appealing to them to
keep the funding in place.

There is hope, he said.

"I know that the program is in jeopardy, but I also know that there is
work to restore the programs at the federal level," he said.