LINN TRACKS METH LABS

In partnership with local law and code enforcement, Linn County
Geographic Information Systems since 2005 has been tracking and
logging homes known to house drug labs.

A map created by GIS covers the years 1992 to 2008, and shows
countywide 96 green homes, or those identified and cleaned up during
that time, most of them about three to five years ago. Ten homes
remain listed as unfit to live in and are shown in red.

The homes in green were cleaned to the point of livability and
issued a certificate of fitness.

Chairman Roger Nyquist of the Linn County Board of Commissioners
said one of the issues preventing homeowners from fixing the problem
was that cleaning cost more than the home was worth. Rising home
values in the last five years solved that problem, he said.

Another positive step was the establishment of a self-funding system
at the county planning and building department that gave more local
authority to enforce code violations.

"Fining them wasn't really working," said Butch Skoien, Linn County
code enforcement officer.

Now there is a process for the county to initiate a cleanup, with
the offender getting the bill. A notification process for property
owners was also established.

"A lot of these properties were rentals," Nyquist said. "The
property owner didn't know about the drug activity, until the house
is burning down and DEQ is condemning it."

The county has dozed two problem properties that were chemically
saturated and in disrepair.

Arguably, the most effective measure came in 2005 when changes to
Oregon law made cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a main
ingredient in meth, more difficult to acquire.

Though local meth cooking has been nearly eliminated, meth from
other countries such as Mexico is still widely available, according
to Linn County Sheriff Tim Mueller.

Two years ago the sheriff's office worked with federal drug agents,
U.S. Marshalls and other federal agencies to serve 13 search
warrants at the same time.

"For about three and half weeks you could not buy methamphetamine in
Linn County," Mueller said.

The sheriff said the federal agents were able to take down several
kingpins of the drug cartel and combined with the local sweep dried
up the meth supply -- but only temporarily.

"Like any corrupt organization, as soon as the lieutenant is in jail
there's always somebody else that can replace him," he said.

One of the greatest successes of meth lab closures has been keeping
children out of dangerous environments. Mueller recalled one
incident where three children under the age of 5 were removed from a
home where meth was being cooked. All three tested positive for the drug.

Another benefit of the near elimination of local meth labs is that
neighbors and community members no longer have to contend with dump
sites containing meth lab waste.

"The win for us is they are not manufacturing it here anymore," Mueller said.