LONGER I-26 COULD MEAN MORE DRUGS

Six bales of marijuana in Madison County have the Sheriff's Department
questioning how much more is on the way.

Deputies made the county's biggest drug seizure ever when deputies found
175 pounds of pot during a June 1 traffic stop on N.C. 208.

The bust rang like a wakeup call for Sheriff John Ledford, aware of the
danger that such drug traffic could become routine when a 10-mile stretch
of Interstate 26 opens in Madison County in August.

"We'll have disadvantages long before we get the advantages" of a major
interstate, Ledford said.

Police fear the road will become a drug-pumping artery running between
South Carolina and Johnson City, Tenn. The interstate opened in Tennessee
in 1995 and will connect to the new I-26 at Sams Gap in Madison County,
where authorities are bracing for the worst.

North Carolina's interstate highways provide major shipping routes for
cocaine coming from states such as California, Texas and Arizona and going
to Eastern states, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. In the
past month in Western North Carolina, officers in routine traffic stops
have found guns, money and marijuana by the pound.

The stops raise the risk of danger for police and the potential for drug
runners to bring crime into the county, Ledford said.

To stop the flow, police need specially trained traffic officers and extra
patrol cars - things Ledford's department is scrambling to get before the
opening of I-26, which will more than double the amount of four-lane
highway running through the county. Right now, there are about 8 miles of
four-lane highway on U.S. 19/23 and U.S. 25/70. The tools of interception

In a June 11 stop in Henderson County, sheriff's deputies found quantities
of cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana, along with three guns and cash.

Lt. Steve Carter said there is no limit on the kinds of drugs he sees and
places those drugs are going. Interstate 26 cuts through Henderson and Polk
counties before snaking through South Carolina and intersecting Interstate
95, a major north-south interstate.

The tools of drug interdiction, or interception, include patrol vehicles
and drug-sniffing dogs, but mostly officers trained to spot possible drug
couriers, said 1st Sgt. Dallas Pate with the state Highway Patrol. Pate
oversees troopers in Madison, Yancey, Avery and Mitchell counties, none of
which have experience dealing with heavy drug traffic.

Pate has requested four more troopers to cover Madison County when the
interstate opens. Right now there are six, but none of them work the roads
overnight.

The Madison County Sheriff's Department has one full-time drug officer.

"Everything we do here now, we're in the startup phase," Ledford said.
Deputies started training about six weeks ago to prepare for the drug
traffic-and other traffic offenses-on I-26. In the next month, they will
study maps of the new stretch of interstate looking for good places to
execute traffic stops, then they'll go to the unopened road and practice.

Ledford applied for a grant to get two more vehicles for drug interdiction,
and he will soon submit another application for money to pay more traffic
officers, he said. Drug dollars for police

The department also will be able to get more money when it begins seizing
more drugs. North Carolina's unauthorized substance tax requires people to
pay taxes on illegal drugs they possess. The department that seizes the
drugs gets 75 percent of the tax money for those drugs.

"Drugs and their proceeds ultimately come back to the department after
court," said Carter of the Henderson County Sheriff's Department, which
garnered almost $34,000 last year from unauthorized substance taxes,
according to the N.C. Department of Revenue. The Madison County Sheriff's
Department got about $5,420 in the same year.

Ledford said the Department of Revenue still owes Madison County tens of
thousands of dollars, money he could use to keep the worst I-26 predictions
from coming true.

"Everybody's predicting that it's probably going to be the new I-95," Pate
said. He was referring to the interstate that runs between Miami and New
York, the East Coast's key wholesale-drug distribution centers, according
to the DEA.

Despite the predictions, Pate hoped for the best for the new I-26, which
cuts through the mountains, offering breathtaking views.

"I want people to be aware this is a beautiful road," he said. "It's put
here for us to enjoy."