VIGILANCE IS BEST WAY TO COUNTERACT METH LABS

Neighbors Should Keep Watch For And Report Signs Of Meth In Houses

Salvaging just one abandoned meth house takes extraordinary effort and
expense. Just ask the Salem Association of Realtors, which bought such a
house in Keizer and has begun renovating it as a community-service project:

Buy property for $75,000 at a foreclosure auction, without an inspection,
because the remains of a methamphetamine lab left it too toxic to enter --
check.

Hire professional cleaners for $10,000 to decontaminate the place -- check.

Round up dozens of volunteers to repair the house and yard, using donated
supplies and services where possible -- check.

When the project is finished in about a month, that will be, let's see, one
down. And dozens -- hundreds? -- more to go in the Mid-Valley.

How on Earth can our communities keep up with this? What do families and
landlords do the day after meth makers are busted if no friendly civic
group steps up to help?

They absorb the hit from their own pockets. Maybe they get help from somewhere.

Or they walk away, leaving a derelict house. And one decent neighborhood,
where people have poured their hearts and their savings into their homes,
takes a turn for the worse.

That could have happened in the case of the Keizer house, at 5198 Eighth
Ave. NE. But neighbors started mowing the lawn and removing trash to keep
it looking lived-in -- and as unlike a drug house as possible.

That kind of initiative shows why local police agencies focus on neighbors
as a key part of the fight against meth. They train people to notice the
signs of a drug lab -- among them, lots of strangers coming and going at
odd hours and paranoid, secretive residents.

There has been a lot of publicity lately about making it harder to get cold
medications, such as Sudafed, which go into making meth. However, meth
requires a long list of other very specific ingredients and pieces of
equipment, nearly all available at a big-box store. Shopping carts or trash
piled high with them should set off warning lights for alert Oregonians.

Preventing meth labs from getting started would be better than shutting
them down, of course. Police urge landlords to introduce themselves to
neighbors and ask to be notified of any suspicious activity. Landlords
should get prospective tenants' permission to check their criminal history
and to make surprise visits. These legal steps might scare off would-be
meth-makers.

Meth doesn't just poison bodies; it turns houses, sheds and motel rooms
into toxic-waste dumps. Kudos to the Salem Association of Realtors for
working to turn one around.

Which civic or business group will be next? There are plenty more meth
houses out there for the choosing.