4-COUNTY DRUG TASK FORCE DISBANDS

SEGUIN - A drug task force serving Guadalupe, Gonzales, Colorado and
Lavaca counties has been shut down because it lost its state funding.

Guadalupe County Sheriff Arnold Zwicke said he gave up on pursuing the
$400,000 grant after being unable to secure funding for the first six
months of the year.

"We could have kept going, but it's time to move on," Zwicke said. "We
are halfway into our budget year, with no budget. I just felt like we
could not wait for an answer any longer."

Monday, the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court approved paying the
salaries of the two officers and one clerk from the Sheriff's
Department, who had previously been paid with state grant money.

The city of Seguin has picked up the salary of the officer it assigned
to the task force.

The other counties still are pursuing the state grant, Zwicke
said.

The task force had been run by the city of Seguin. But in January, the
city and Guadalupe County officials agreed to transfer control of the
task force to the county.

In May, the Texas Department of Public Safety recommended that the
governor's office deny funding to the task force because of problems
uncovered in an audit.

Among the problems they found was missing evidence from 14 drug
cases.

Zwicke said none of the cases were major and the total amount of drugs
unaccounted for is small.

The county started working in May to get the $400,000 grant
reinstated.

"It's been on again, off again for six months," Zwicke said. "It put
everybody on hold. I don't want to say the task force shut down, but
we had no money for drug buys."

The officers assigned to the task force were paid for the last six
months from an account funded by the sale of assets seized by the task
force. That account has not been exhausted, but Zwicke said he and
other county officials agreed the county will be better off without
the task force.

"Under the task force, we had seven narcotics officers for four
counties," Zwicke said. "Now we have three officers just for Guadalupe
County, and we are hoping to get a fourth by signing an interlocal
agreement with Schertz. We will have more manpower here. I think it is
the best way."

Guadalupe County Commissioner Roger Baenziger said the counties will
continue to work together when appropriate.

"Of course we would rather have it funded by the state, but we can't
stop and do nothing," Baenziger said. "We've got to do it on our own."