FUNDING FOUND TO FIGHT WAR ON DRUGS

Sheriff Cecil Reed announced the county has been awarded a grant that
will aid law enforcement officers in combating methamphetamine.

Reed was informed by District Attorney Mike O'Dell that the county
would receive the $67,000 grant, that was part of a statewide $3
million award to local district attorneys.

"O'Dell and I have been working on securing additional federal funds
to assist us in beefing up our drug task force for some time now,"
Reed said. "I am very pleased that this money has finally come
through, and that another agent can be added to the task force immediately."

According to Reed, the county received $100,000 for a methamphetamine
emergency response vehicle about two years ago. The vehicle would
assist agents in fighting labs in the community. The vehicle is now
nearly completed and ready for service.

"This grant will give us another meth investigator to put on the
streets to stop the influx of meth being transported from areas
outside our community to our neighborhoods," Reed said.

The statewide meth grant was the work of district attorneys all over
the state seeking to help the DTF overcome the devastating loss of
funding caused by the reduction of the Federal Byrne Grant that funds
task forces all across the nation. Several task forces across Alabama
had to shut down due to the funding losses. Locally, the district
attorney's office, Fort Payne Police Department and the sheriff's
department, increased their local contributions to the DTF to keep it
operational until a stopgap-funding source could be found.

Reed announced that he would be hiring another DTF agent as soon as
possible. Craig White is scheduled to join the three current
full-time task force investigators, bringing the total to seven
members when part-time agents are considered.

"Craig is already lab certified and ready to hit the road running,"
Reed said. "DTF members must undergo extensive training and
certification due to the explosive and poisonous nature of
methamphetamine. We are very fortunate to have four full-time agents
so qualified in a jurisdiction our size. Fighting methamphetamine is
my number one mission, because its impact on nearly every are of
crime in our community is obvious. This is a battle we must win, and
we are committed to provide every ounce of energy and all the
resources we can muster to defeat this scourge."

County officials are currently working on a legislative proposal to
increase the $3 million awarded this year to $5 million statewide
next year, a move that would allow for the hiring of another much
needed agent for the county DTF.