BUSINESS OFFERS CHOPPER SERVICE TO POLICE TO FIND DRUGS, PEOPLE

GREEN -- Sheriff's deputies and police chiefs from several counties
descended Friday on a small warehouse at the Akron-Canton Regional
Airport where illegal marijuana growing operations were a hot topic.

But no one was arrested.

The event was an open house at Redhorse Aviation, a business formed by
three Stark County businessmen who want to lend a hand from the sky to
law enforcement agencies.

Armed with a 1967 OH6 Cayuse Vietnam-era helicopter that flew with the
101st Airborne, a Humvee and a single-engine Cessna 182, Herman
Valentine, Joe Gild and Bill Bird plan to fly over Stark, Carroll,
Tuscarawas and 19 other Ohio counties in search of drugs, lost people,
and for aerial photographs, observation, rescue operations and
anything else the crime fighters need.

Valentine said they are waiting for approval from State Attorney
General Betty J. Montgomery's Office, which is negotiating
dissemination of grant money from the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration. Valentine did not know how much money was allocated.

But, he said, his company is ready to serve 22 Northeast Ohio counties
with drug eradication and other law enforcement services from the air
for 8 hours per county. When that time and money runs out, police and
sheriff's departments can pay for more work from their respective budgets.

Six pilots have signed on to fly with Redhorse Aviation's law
enforcement efforts. Some are deputies who are military-trained
National Guard pilots.

James Siebenaler is one of the Cobra pilots with the National Guard
who will work with Redhorse to supply aerial support, a mission he
believes is especially important in fighting crime.

"It's a high-profile type operation that just says, 'if you're going
to be doing things that you shouldn't be doing, there are eyes out
there that are ready to stop you,'" Siebenaler said.

Sheriff Tim Swanson said he is looking forward to the company helping
Deputy David Jackson, the Sheriff's Department photographer, obtain
aerial shots of all of the schools in Stark County.

Valentine said the sheriff, who was on hand for the open house Friday,
wants the aerial shots, "because of Columbine," where two students
last year killed a dozen classmates and a teacher before turning the
guns on themselves. The photos would prepare and assist police if
something similar takes place here.

Valentine and the other pilots with the National Guard unit flew drug
interdiction operations for the counties from 1989 to 1996.

Local law enforcement agencies haven't had use of helicopters since
the 107th Armored Cavalry regiment disbanded in 1996.

All military-trained pilots, Valentine, Gild and Bird bought this one,
a Vietnam-era craft, for about $170,000, he said.

The three men recently traveled skyward in their Cessna 182 and, in
one hour, spotted 11 separate locations where marijuana was being
grown outdoors, he said.

Valentine said Stark County commissioners turned down the idea of
buying a chopper.

"But the first time you find a lost kid, it pays for itself," he said.