FARMS FEEL BURN OF GROWING METH CRISIS

Thieves Rob Midwest Supply Of Liquid Fertilizer To Make Dangerous Drug

VENICE CENTER, N.Y. -- Dale Parmley has lost count of how many times
thieves have crept onto his 1,800-acre grain farm to rob him. You might
think he was mining gold instead of growing corn and soybean.

The bandits are after anhydrous ammonia, a volatile liquid fertilizer that
can be used to produce methamphetamine.

"They've hit my farm as many as three, four times in one week. They just
keep getting more bold," said Parmley, whose farm lies amid the Finger
Lakes in southern Cayuga County, 40 miles southwest of Syracuse.

"They caught one guy at my place. They put him in jail. He got bailed out.
He hit one of my neighbors on the way out of town," Parmley said.

Cayuga County has become part of an illegal pipeline for an unorganized
group of modern-day bootleggers, most of whom run the fertilizer from New
York farms to meth labs in Pennsylvania.

In the past 18 months, more than 200 anhydrous ammonia thefts have been
reported to the Cayuga County Sheriff's Department, said Steve McLoud, the
chief investigator. Since July 2001, deputies have made 32 arrests --
three-quarters of them people from Pennsylvania, he said.

Why New York? Many of the north-central Pennsylvania farms use other types
of fertilizers. The Pennsylvania farms are too small to take on the risk of
storing the ammonia, which comes as a pressurized liquid and requires
storage and application equipment that can cost thousands of dollars.

"What's really disturbing to us, though, is that if we are able to
apprehend that many people, how many others are out there doing the same
things that we're not catching?" McLoud said.

The thefts have plagued the Midwest for years, where the use of meth has
spread "like a prairie wildfire" and become rural America's No. 1 problem,
according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson.

According to a DEA survey, the number of people abusing the drug -- also
known as speed, ice, crystal or crank -- has tripled over five years to 9.4
million in 1999.

In Oklahoma, thieves were so persistent that farmers and fertilizer dealers
fought for and helped pass a new law that carries a maximum 15-year prison
sentence and $25,000 fine for a person caught destroying or attempting to
destroy any liquid transportation tank.

As evidence of the growing concern, governors from 13 Midwestern states met
last week in Sioux City, Iowa, for a summit on how to battle the growing
methamphetamine problem.

The thefts in New York have so far been confined mostly to Cayuga County.

"(But) we have a lot of farmers around the state who grow corn," said Chris
LaRoe, spokesman for the state Farm Bureau.

LaRoe said New York needs tougher laws. Usually, local authorities can
charge thieves only with burglary or petit larceny, misdemeanors that often
draw penalties of less than a year in jail.

Cayuga County Sheriff James Moochler said he has taken extra measures,
including increasing patrols.

The thefts have so overwhelmed local authorities that U.S. Sen. Hillary
Clinton has asked the FBI to get involved in the investigation.

The economics are enticing.

Farmers buy anhydrous ammonia for less than $1 a gallon and typically store
thousands of gallons on their farms for use at the beginning of the
planting season. Supply wagons are invitingly parked overnight in dozens of
dark, remote fields.

"Runners" -- as the thieves are called -- can get up to $250 a gallon.
Using coolers, propane tanks and even empty soda syrup canisters, they haul
away several gallons at a time.

With one gallon, a meth cook can make a few ounces of the drug, worth about
$2,000. The average homeowner would probably find most of the ingredients
for cooking meth -- lithium batteries, matches, cold medication and liquid
solvents -- in a kitchen junk drawer and a medicine cabinet.

Anhydrous ammonia can be deadly. Federal regulations govern its use,
requiring specific procedures and equipment for handling. Farmers use it
regularly as a fertilizer ingredient and know how to handle it safely.
Some, like Parmley, use tens of thousands of gallons during a planting
season, storing it in 30,000-gallon railroad tanker cars and transporting
it to the field in 1,000-gallon "wagon" tanks.

The pressurized liquid can produce more than 200 pounds of pressure per
square inch. It feels like minus 160 degrees on the skin. It turns into a
gas when exposed to air and, although it evaporates quickly, can cause
serious skin and respiratory burns and even death if exposure is direct or
prolonged.

Frequently, the chemical ends up spilled or abandoned by amateurs who are
either reckless or looking to hide evidence, authorities said.

Rodney Donald said it "seems like just about every week" thieves hit the
1,300-acre farm he owns with his brother.

They have reinforced valve coverings with steel and installed heavy- duty
locks that can't be broken with bolt cutters. Other farmers have mislabeled
their anhydrous ammonia tanks as propane, installed barbed- wire fencing
and moved their tanks closer to their barns and homes.

Nothing has worked.

Parmley, meanwhile, said he'll stop storing the chemical at his farm and
buy only what he needs, when he needs it.

"Let's see them steal what I ain't got," he said.