FENTON RESTRICTS MEDICINES WITH METH INGREDIENTS

City Joins Fight Against Illegal Drug Laboratories

As the problem of illegal methamphetamine laboratories has moved from
outstate Missouri toward the St. Louis area, so are restrictions on the
sale of products containing ephedrine, which are increasingly ending up as
components in the illegal production of methamphetamine.

Fenton has restricted the sale of legal products containing ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine to a controlled area and away from merchandise displays.
The products, often cold remedies, are frequently the targets of shoplifters.

State law already restricts sales to three packages at a time; forcing the
products away from publicly accessible shelves is considered another form
of control.

Recently, Florissant, Arnold, St. Charles and St. Peters have enacted
similar laws.

The Fenton Board of Aldermen approved the bill at a meeting last week.

St. Louis County police officers who patrol Fenton under contract have
noted three criminal incidents within Fenton in the last 30 days,
suggesting the existence of one or more illegal methamphetamine operation.

Many Fenton merchants are eager for the law, says Alderman Tim Trego, 3rd
Ward, sponsor of the bill.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a trade group for
nonprescription medicine, complained to the board by letter that the bill's
$1,000 maximum penalty was twice as high as allowed by Missouri law.

But the information cited by the association's representative is out of
date, and a maximum $1,000 fine is permitted in St. Louis County, Trego says.

Another bill about to be adopted allows Fenton to prosecute third-degree,
or common, assault in the municipal court.

The adoption was urged by the county, which has a similar ordinance to
allow prosecution in the county's municipal courts.

Ordinances of this type allow local prosecutions while officials avoid
having to try to use the crowded state court system.

Subdivision denied

The board turned down a proposal for a subdivision of 14 houses on the
19-acre Maurice Fabick property at 595 New Smizer Mill Road. The denial was
recommended by the Planning and Zoning Commission because the entrance to
the site would be too narrow to meet municipal standards.

The development would be named The Estates at Fenton Park.

An attorney for the potential developer suggested that the board's denial,
based on the inadequacy of the width of the entrance into the site, would
not prevail in a court challenge.

He noted that the property had one house as well as considerable natural
land and had had a legally established easement connecting to New Smizer
Mill for many decades.