GA. METH RAIDS NET 10 LABS, 22 ARRESTS

New Procedure Finds 11 Children

A massive drug sweep Friday in northwest Georgia netted 10 methamphetamine
labs and 22 arrests. But even more troubling, officials said, is that 11
children were found in four of the homes amid a toxic environment of
hazardous ingredients used to cook the drug.

The sweep highlighted a new system that has Division of Family and Children
Services caseworkers ready as law enforcement officials make arrests and
find children present.

"We're looking at meth as a bioterrorism agent itself," said Dena Smith,
spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Resources, which oversees DFACS.

Those arrested in Walker and Chattooga counties face charges ranging from
possession of methamphetamine to criminal attempt to manufacture
methamphetamine, as well as felony charges of child endangerment for making
the drug around children, Chattooga Sheriff Ralph Kellett said. The latter
is a new law that went into effect July 1.

"This is probably the biggest concentrated sweep we've had," Kellett said.
Six labs were in his county, four in Walker. Kellett said 33 labs had been
discovered in the county so far this year.

In Friday's sweep, agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation worked
with deputies from the two counties as well as personnel of several other
agencies.

GBI Special Agent Phil Price said agents visited 57 locations where
officials received tips of meth labs. Nine sites were residences and one
was a portable toilet company in Rock Spring, the GBI said.

Price said hazardous material teams were sent to the homes where meth was
found to remove the ingredients.

"We're very cautious with these labs; [the fumes] will kill you without you
even knowing it," he said. "When methamphetamine is cooked, all sorts of
things come out in the air and the meth is deposited everywhere.

"That's dangerous. It can settle where food is prepared. Your peanut
butter-and-jelly sandwich may have a dose of meth because of the residue."

Kellett said, "We're starting to see more locations where children are present.

"You have highly combustible chemicals and they don't seem to have any
concern that these kids are their in these toxic environments," he said.
"These babies don't have any breathing apparatus or protective suits on."

Five DFACS workers were called to sites when children were found. The
children are brought to hospitals, where they are given blood and urine
tests for drugs, said Cathy Bitterman, the DFACS liaison to GBI.

"In many cases, the kids test positive for meth," she said.

Methamphetamine abuse is hitting Georgia hard. Last year, police raided 701
meth labs in the state, up from 29 just four years earlier, according to
the GBI.