METH ADDICTS STEAL FROM FARMS

Although your recent article in the Sunday farm section, "Copper
wiring thefts rattle farmers" came from the AP describing the problem
in Michigan, the story could have easily been done locally.

The recent assessment done by the Butte County Meth Strike Force
regarding the impact of methamphetamine addiction on our local
communities included an earful from the Farm Bureau folks regarding
its relation to copper thefts. Like others around the country, Butte
farmers are experiencing copper theft in epidemic proportions due to
its increase in market value, now at $3 per pound. It's no
coincidence that meth addiction has also reached epidemic proportions
across the country. (The good news is, Butte County is no longer No.
1 in the United States. Mercifully, Jackson, Mo., has taken that title.)

A meth addict thinks nothing of risking death by electrocution for
$100 worth of copper, or wiping out an entire crop by taking down the
water system, for that matter. Of course, construction sites and
power companies are victims too, but unlike farms, they are easier to protect.

So while legislators are busy trying to pass laws to make it harder
for people to sell copper, and impose stiffer penalties for those
caught stealing it, there was one person quoted in the article that
said in essence, "How about trying to stop an addiction before it starts?"

How about it? Ask your local school board members why we have had no
meth prevention education for a cheap, highly addictive drug that law
enforcement acknowledges is responsible for 80 percent of crime.

- - Lynne Bussey, Chico