METH LABS FOUND LESS OFTEN IN FARM FIELDS

State Laws, County Efforts Credited With Decline

TOVEY -- It's been a while since Dennis Braeuninger has run across
anyone cooking up a batch of methamphetamine in his cornfield about
three miles south of Tovey.

About five years ago, it was a different story for the Christian
County farmer.

One day in June or July, while transferring a load of corn from a
storage bin to a truck, Braeuninger saw a small pickup speed out of
his field just yards from where he was working. The tall summer corn
had hidden the truck, and when he walked back to investigate, he found
empty blister packets from a package of pseudoephedrine tablets.

Pseudoephedrine is one of the ingredients in the production of
methamphetamine. "I started to go down the road, and decided it wasn't
worth chasing them," Braeuninger said. "I didn't want to confront
them. ... You never know what you are going to walk up on."

In 2003 and 2004, it wasn't unusual for farmers to run across remnants
of meth labs in their fields. The number of incidents picked up during
harvest season when farmers returned to the fields.

Nowadays, however, area farmers rarely find evidence of meth labs in
their fields. In Christian County, for instance, deputies have taken
three reports this year involving meth labs. In 2004, they took 29
such reports.

"I attribute the decline to laws being changed and it being mandatory
for people to disclose their identity when purchasing pills," said
Christian County Sheriff Bob Kindermann. "Also, the efforts of our
local drug task force has also helped in the decline."

The laws Kindermann referred to went on the books in January 2006, and
require a signature and ID to purchase cold medicine that contains
pseudoephedrine.

Chief Deputy Tony Sacco of the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office said
his department has also seen a decline in meth cases. He also
attributed the decline to new laws and beefed-up police
enforcement.

In Sangamon County, that often meant the Drug Investigations Response
Team, which is better known as the DIRT Team.

"Our DIRT Team has just been overwhelmingly successful in attacking
that drug," Sacco said. "I think we made a very serious impact in
Sangamon County."

Sacco added that when the DIRT team was formed in 2004, about 85 to 90
percent of its cases centered on meth. Today, the drug represents less
than 10 percent of the cases.

Unfortunately, the county team is still busy. It handles cases
involving cocaine, marijuana and even heroin.

In many instances, the meth labs discovered in cornfields were nothing
more than a few containers filled with dangerous chemicals such as
anhydrous ammonia, a chemical used on farm fields.

Braeuninger said farmers have to put on rubber gloves and goggles when
handling anhydrous ammonia, but he has heard of meth users stealing
the chemical and hauling it in an open bucket.

Anhydrous ammonia can cause chemical burns on skin as well as in the
lungs. "It's very hazardous. I can't believe they put it in their
body," Braeuninger said.

Since that initial encounter five years ago, Braeuninger said, he
hasn't seen any evidence of meth labs in his fields. He credited both
Kindermann and the Christian County State's Attorney's Office with
clamping down on the drug.

"It's definitely getting cleaned up in our county," Braeuninger said.
"I think it has a lot to do with our sheriff and our state's attorney."

While the number of meth cases is declining, Kindermann said the drug
is still around in Christian County.

He added that the figures for the number of meth cases he provided are
only for the unincorporated areas of the county.

They do not include incorporated towns like Taylorville.

"It's still a serious problem in our county. We receive information
that people are still manufacturing (methamphetamine). They are still
stealing anhydrous ammonia from the fertilizer plant. We are still
going to have to do everything possible to investigate these cases and
identify who's involved," Kindermann said.