LOCAL AUTHORITIES SEE SIGNS OF DRUG'S GROWTH

While methamphetamine manufacturing has skyrocketed in much of West
Virginia, Cabell County authorities said they have been spared the worst.

Sheriff's Department Sgt. Robert Copley, an officer with the agency's Drug
Task Force, said local law enforcement officers, however, can not afford to
become complacent.

"I don't see it slowing down," he said of local meth production. "There's
been an increase this year from last. … We've encountered
sophisticated security devices and digital monitors -- things like that."

According to recent information from the Cabell County Sheriff's Drug Task
Force, 13 people have been indicted in circuit court or have had cases
submitted for indictment during the past year. Additionally, more than 10
more people have pending federal charges against them.

In the past year, Cabell County law enforcement officers have disrupted
about 10 meth labs and located two meth waste dumps. With the exception of
one downtown Huntington case, all of the cases occurred in rural Cabell County.

"It's starting to get prevalent in the eastern part of Cabell County,"
Copley said. "Some of it is because of law enforcement pressure in Wood,
Kanawha and Putnam counties."

Cabell Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jim Scheidler said meth production is almost
exclusively a rural phenomenon that's limited to white people.

"You will always see it with Caucasians," he said. "I have never seen an
African-American arrested for meth."

Scheidler added that local meth commonly is manufactured through the "P-Red
Dye Method," characterized by a high-iodine content, and that local meth
users tend to smoke the drug.

Copley said meth was relatively unknown throughout West Virginia until
about three years ago when meth production began spiking in Wood County
(where Parkersburg is located).

"It moves (in the United States) from west to east and is pretty much
moving across the nation," he said.

During a news conference last October, Cabell County Prosecutor Chris
Chiles announced that meth production was being felt locally.

"We have had some of the first arrests in Cabell County for people
operating meth labs," he said. "(Indictments) were returned against three
individuals for alleged criminal activities, which took place out in the
county in the Milton area."

Copley advised people to be aware of meth production warning signs such as
strong fumes, as well as 24-hour periods of activity -- followed by a day
or two of silence.