METH CLEANUP MONEY RUNNING SHORT

A fund used to assist crews that clean up methamphetamine labs is running
on an unexpected windfall, but nobody is sure how long it will last.

"When the money is gone the problem resurfaces," said Don Mendrala,
resident agent-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Utah
office.

The DEA fund, designed to help small police agencies clean up meth labs,
ran out of money in March. In May, the U.S. Justice Department, in response
to public outcry, allocated $5 million in emergency assistance.

But when that runs out, rural law enforcement may be in a bind.

Generally, rural police forces work with countywide meth task forces, which
include DEA agents. The DEA involvement ensures the federal agency will pay
for the cleanup.

If DEA agents aren't involved and local agencies stumble on a meth lab,
local police can apply for help from the DEA fund -- but that money is
running out.

"The danger is having a lab discovered completely inadvertently," Mendrala
said. "If a local police officer finds a lab during a car stop or a fire or
a domestic dispute, these types of discoveries would fall outside of our
legal ability to pay for their cleanup."

For rural agencies the result could be dangerous.

"We just can't afford to fund or budget for cleaning up meth labs," Emery
County Sheriff Lamar Guymon said.

"For us it would be a waste of money. We leave it to the DEA people who
specialize in that stuff."

Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said his agency also doesn't have the
money to pay for the meth cleanup.

Most federal budget analysts expect the emergency money will be gone before
year's end, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson,
R-Ark.

In an effort to prevent future budget shortfalls, Hutchinson has introduced
a bill that would earmark $10 million for rural agencies needing DEA
assistance for fiscal year 2000. The bill would allocate $20 million for
rural cleanup efforts in 2001. Hutchinson's bill is under review by the
House Subcommittee on Crime.