SHERIFF'S OFFICE USES BILLBOARDS TO WARN DRUG DEALERS

LANCASTER - Drug dealers need to avoid Fairfield County, or they will
be caught.

That was the message Fairfield County Sheriff Dave Phalen wants to
get across with new billboards around the county, which he announced
during a news conference Friday.

"We are going to come early and stay late to keep drug dealers out of
our neighborhoods, schools and communities," Phalen said. Phalen said
during the recent Halloween weekend celebration in Athens, deputies
and State Highway Patrol troopers from both Fairfield and Hocking
counties patrolled the U.S. 33 corridor from Columbus to Athens.

"We arrested 40 people," Phalen said. "Most were for alcohol and
drugs that seemed to be for personal consumption. We also confiscated
one handgun."

Orman Hall, executive director of the Fairfield County Alcohol Drug
and Mental Health Board, said his agency has noticed a decrease in
overall drug use in the county.

"But we have seen very disturbing evidence that drugs are easily
available," Hall said.

In a recent teen survey, more than 13 percent of the Fairfield County
teens surveyed said it's very easy to obtain cocaine, and 47.9
percent said they easily could obtain marijuana.

"That easy availability worries me," Hall said.

Phalen said the Sheriff's Office intends to use K-9 units to search
school parking lots and schools to find drug dealers.

"We are working closely with the schools," Phalen said.

Paul Mathews, superintendent of Liberty Union Local Schools, supports
law enforcement's efforts to keep drug dealers away from schools.

"The Sheriff's Office has an open invitation to come in our schools
and parking lots anytime," Mathews said. Phalen said five billboards
featuring Deputy John Williamson and K-9 Deputy Arno are going up
around the county at a cost of $1,766. It's a warning to those
entering the county.

Phalen said the county remains a safe community.

"I don't want people to think we have this massive drug problem
because we don't," Phalen said. "We just need to be proactive. We
hope to get the drug dealers' attention by the billboards."