PONTOTOC'S SHERIFF MAY QUIT DRUG UNIT

PONTOTOC (AP) - Pontotoc County Sheriff Leo Mask is considering dropping
out of a regional drug fighting unit.

Mask said the move would allow him to take Pontotoc County's drug problems
into his own hands.

The North Mississippi Narcotics Unit is an 11-agency organization that
pools each agency's resources, in theory providing members with more
manpower, equipment and funding. When members of the unit make a
drug-related property or cash seizure, the items are turned over to the
unit and the funds derived are used to purchase equipment and assist each
agency with their drug force.

"If people are selling drugs in our county and we arrest them, the people
of Pontotoc County should benefit from it," Mask said. "We shouldn't have
to turn everything over and just get a portion of it. We were elected to
take care of the people in Pontotoc County and that's all I'm trying to do.

"I've got an open mind to it, but they are going to have to show me how
we'll be better off with them than without them," Mask said.