IN ALL CANDOR

Silicon "Methamphetamine" Valley - Must Be White County

The Sheriff and his able staff of deputies have closed in on so many
methamphetamine labs in White County, one begins to wonder if anyone in the
county does anything else for a living, or have we become the Silicon Valley
of meth labs? I have to say I never realized our little Bible-thumping town
had so much corruption in it's gird. Our church-on-every-corner setting is,
seemingly, answered by the darkside's meth lab in every garage and gambling
operations as blatant as the wart on your nose. What's next?

That's right, . . . I said gambling operations, just another form of income
enhancement we have going on in the community.

It is rumored there are a lot of gambling houses scattered throughout the
county.

I probably won't be knocking on any of their doors with an investigative
report, even though most of the players are probably good natured folk - who
just don't want to drive to Tunica. I get this vision of gambling houses
being filled with good ole boys smoking stoagies, drinking beer, telling bad
stories, and keeping what they know close to their chest.

Oh yes, and there should be some floozie dressed in red satin and black lace
with blonde hair piled on top of her head and a feather plume sticking out
of the top. Her fingers are slamming the keys on a piano that's been out of
tune since the 1800's, and . . . (this must be a Gunsmoke flashback!), oh
well. I think they'd resent me coming over with my camera just to get a few
colorful shots. "Cover the news - don't become the news" - my motto.

Let me make it clear the sheriff doesn't need or even solicit my help in the
matter of his office, but I really appreciate what he has done to wake this
community to the undercurrent of criminal activity which exists here. I
sincerely appreciate his persistence in attacking the meth lab problem.

Recently, it became more difficult to dispose of meth's dangerous
components, when confiscated. That little detail has, thankfully, not
stopped the sheriff's dogged determination to clobber the meth business.

I think back to when I was a youngster growing up in this community.

I had a vague idea a few of the "wilder" kids were doing some drugs.

It seemed they were, more so, experimenting with drugs rather than hard-core
using.

I could be wrong, but the problem was, surely, nowhere near what kids are
facing these days. With the Sheriff busting a new lab every few days, it
occurs to me there must be a lot of kids growing up in circumstances where
they're in contact with the drugs mom and dad (or any of a multitude of
variations of partner arrangements) are cooking up in the kitchen, bathroom,
garage, car trunk, etc. I feel sorry for these kids, and I think that must
be what's going through Sheriff Goff's mind as he and his uniformed deputies
work so hard to make the druggees and druggers completely uncomfortable in
our county.

I wholeheartedly applaud their efforts.

Goff has taken a lot of criticism lately on the numerous inmate escapes from
the White County Jail, for poor jail conditions, and for spending on inmate
medical expenses.

Sheriffs are in a strange position, as I see it. While it is their job to
see to it the jail is administered and the facility is operated, it is not
their job to appropriate monies for the upkeep and maintenance - that is the
job of the county commission at the urging and support of the taxpayers.

I believe, given the pay level of jailers, the lack of effective maintenance
dollars for the jail, and the lack of interim funding for the timeframe
existing between now and when the new jail is finished, which will be some
18 months from now, Goff is doing a pretty good job. And, probably the thing
I appreciate most about the sheriff is he seems to be honest.

Honest is important.

Sometimes citizens only "get" half the story.

They hear only the parts which will support their own prejudices and serve
their own purposes. That's not fair, especially when they can sit back and
criticize from the luxury of not having the responsibility. This elected
sheriff has the responsibility, and while he may handle some things
differently than some would, he's impressive because his heart is in
clearing drugs from this community so children and adults will have a decent
community in which to thrive.

And, as for what folks will do for employment after all the meth labs have
been shut down and they've served their jail terms, I hear there's a little
country 90 miles south of Miami where they've lost a lot of their own
countrymen. Maybe they would welcome a select few of ours. It's a short
swim. . . .