VALLEY ANIT-DRUG PROGRAM HONORED

Successful Efforts Will Be Recognized Next Week In Washington.

WASHINGTON -- The Central Valley's award-winning anti-drug forces will
have some friends in the Obama administration.

Incoming Vice President Joe Biden backs the High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area program, which steers federal funds to regional
anti-drug efforts. This could help the 10-county Central Valley HIDTA,
which maintains a Fresno-based staff, prevail in the inevitable budget
and bureaucratic fights to come.

"Sen. Biden was a founding father of the HIDTA program and has
maintained an interest in our operations over the years," said Bill
Ruzzamenti, executive director of the Central Valley program.

Several years ago, Ruzzamenti noted, Biden "was very active in our
defense" when the Bush administration sought funding cuts and an
agency merger. More generally, as a longtime Delaware senator, Biden
embraces the kind of targeted law-enforcement grant programs deemed
inefficient by Bush.

"We're all waiting to see what's going to happen with the new
administration," said Ruzzamenti, who will be in Washington starting
Tuesday to pick up four drug-fighting awards, but "I am optimistic
that the HIDTA program will do well."

The Central Valley HIDTA runs from Shasta County in the north to Kern
County in the south. It is one of 28 similar efforts nationwide, with
the federal government spending about $225 million annually to
coordinate federal, state and local law-enforcement campaigns.

Congress first authorized the HIDTA programs in 1988, intending to
target significant centers of illegal drug activity. Since then, urged
on by lawmakers seeking local funds, the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy has designated HIDTAs covering more than
half of the U.S. population.

The White House Office of Management and Budget cautioned against
expansion of the program without a review, so that limited resources
could be allocated where they were most needed.

"Many of them are doing a good job," White House drug office director
John Walters told a House subcommittee last year. "But the problem is,
it's got to be focused."

The critique prompted Bush's effort to cut funding and combine HIDTA
with other Justice Department programs. Bush's plan failed, and
funding remains steady.

Ruzzamenti now oversees several Fresno-based intelligence analysts and
support personnel, and an annual federal budget totaling about $5
million a year. Begun in 1999 to target the region's rampant
methamphetamine trade, the Valley program has since expanded to
include major marijuana traffickers.

"We no longer focus on the garden-tenders, but target their bosses and
the individuals ultimately responsible who are at the top of the
organizations and often living in Mexico," Ruzzamenti said.

Some notable successes helped the Central Valley program garner the
awards being presented next week by the White House drug czar's office.

Federal prosecutor Kathleen Servatius, for instance, is being honored
for her successful prosecution of the California Healthcare
Collective, a Modesto-based purveyor of marijuana. The HIDTA
organization worked with Drug Enforcement Administration agents to
investigate the case.

Officials are likewise honoring the state narcotics agents who, with
HIDTA assistance, raided a large marijuana garden in Sequoia National
Park last August. Wiretaps and undercover work led investigators to
the plot near the small town of Sugarloaf, where 12,886 pot plants
were seized.

In a related vein, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department is picking
up an award for Operation LOCCUST, which used more than 240
law-enforcement personnel to target more than 85 marijuana gardens
flourishing on Sierra Nevada public lands. The fourth award honors Elk
Grove law-enforcement officers.

Said Ruzzamenti: "We've identified, targeted and dismantled more drug
trafficking organizations than ever before."