DRUG-LAW ENFORCEMENT

Guntown's unexpected withdrawal from a cooperative drug law
enforcement task force that includes all other Lee County
municipalities and extends into the region needs re-examination and
renewed conversation with the Lee County Sheriff's Department.

There's no reason to doubt Guntown's claims that its drug-law
enforcement needs have increased, and that is unfortunate. But it is
equally necessary to view enforcement in the larger regional
framework of available resources and demands.

Illegal drug sale and manufacturing is a big problem across
Northeast Mississippi, and it just plain makes sense for all the law
enforcement agencies to pool information and share resources in
common enforcement ventures. The problem is larger than any
individual town, and beating the problem requires full interaction.

It doesn't make sense for any municipality, regardless of size, to
use its own resources in enhanced drug-law enforcement when the full
financial burden can be a regional undertaking.

If Guntown has a growing drug problem, a way to devote more of the
regional narcotics task force's energy to that area can be worked out.

Guntown is growing in all directions, and its police energies and
resources needn't be spent on a challenge that's already funded at
another level.

We hope the two sides sit down very soon and work out whatever
difficulties lie underneath this break in cooperation and communications.