CHOPPER WITH 2 ON BOARD MISSING IN TENN.

An Army National Guard helicopter with two people on board was believed to
have crashed after flying into bad weather during a search for marijuana
plantings in the rugged east Tennessee mountains, officials said Thursday.
The pilot reported deteriorating weather conditions just before contact
with the OH-58 Kiowa was lost Wednesday evening, said Randy Harris of the
Tennessee Army National Guard. He said search efforts for the craft were
halted at dark and resumed Thursday, but were being hampered by fog. He
said the craft carried a Guard pilot and a federal law enforcement official
who was scouring the remote area for illegal marijuana fields.

Search efforts were centered in Carter and Sullivan counties east of
Johnson City near the North Carolina state line.

Checked-by: Richard Lake