SHERIFF: METH LAB BUST PROOF OF NEED FOR SPECIAL TEAM

DELAND -- The 11th methamphetamine lab found this year -- in a
woman's mobile home in Edgewater -- is further proof that a special
response team is needed to destroy the clandestine operations,
Sheriff Ben Johnson said Thursday.

Johnson is getting help from the Volusia County Council, which voted
Thursday to authorize use of $80,000 in confiscated drug funds to
train a six-member team and equip it with tools to destroy labs and
dispose of dangerous chemicals used to make the drug.

Each deputy will get clothing kits that protect skin and lungs from
burning when the chemicals are touched or inhaled. The equipment
meets federal safety standards and includes respirators, regulators,
masks, gas-detection equipment, a decontamination shower and pool and
a trailer to store and transport the equipment.

Training for each deputy will cost $10,000. "They will be learning
how to take and handle these hazardous materials," Johnson said.
"They will know of the dangers of the gasses, how to look for it and
how to deal with it."

On Wednesday, authorities raided Joyce Martin's mobile home in
Driftwood Village at 1709 S. Ridgewood Ave. in Edgewater and found an
operational meth lab, said sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught. An
anonymous tipster alerted authorities to Martin's operations and
police searched her home after a weeklong investigation, Haught said.

Martin, 49, was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of
listed chemicals, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and
possession of drug paraphernalia. She was booked into the Volusia
County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on $3,000 bail.

Martin's lab is the 11th to be discovered and destroyed this year in
Volusia County, which is experiencing an increase in clandestine meth
manufacturing, Haught said. Twenty-five labs were discovered last
year, compared to four in 2004. The majority of the labs are being
found on the east side of the county, Haught said.

In raiding Martin's home, authorities seized ingredients common for
cooking meth, Haught said. Agents from the Volusia Bureau of
Investigations were also called to assist with collecting evidence
and cleaning up the chemicals. In addition to the chemicals and
equipment, marijuana and other drug paraphernalia were found, Haught said.

Johnson said it's getting harder to get Drug Enforcement
Administration personnel to come and dismantle the labs and dispose
of hazardous materials.

"We have to get our own to do it," he said. "And some of the most
expensive equipment can be used more than one time. They last a long time."