FEDERAL GRANT HELPS FIGHT METH USE

Saying a methamphetamine problem persists in Shasta County, its law
enforcement leaders plan to use a federal grant to fund a crackdown
on dealers and users.

More than half of the $449,559 grant -- $237,600 -- will be used to
cover overtime for Redding police officers and Shasta County
sheriff's deputies, according to a budget provided by Police Chief
Leonard Moty.

The overtime, which will be used to "increase and enhance enforcement
efforts and do compliance checks on offenders on probation," equates
to an extra shift per week for each agency.

"I've never seen a drug so damaging to lives and family lives," Moty said.

He said meth use often leads to other problems and crimes.

"There is a 'methademic' in Shasta County," said Sheriff Tom Bosenko.

McGregor Scott, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of
California and former Shasta County district attorney, was in Redding
on Friday to announce the grant. Meth was the No. 1 problem while
Scott was district attorney, he said.

"The thing we always struggled with here was that there was no
funding," he said.

The grant, which covers two years, is the first of its kind targeted
at the county's meth problem, Scott said.

Along with the overtime, the grant will cover $40,000 in education,
$17,000 in travel and training for officers and $54,000 for a project
coordinator.

With the number of meth labs found in Shasta County having dropped
from 17 in 2000 to one last year, the drug now is being smuggled into
the county rather than made here, Scott said. With tighter
restrictions on cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine -- a
primary meth ingredient -- in the U.S., he said meth is now usually
made in Mexico and smuggled across the border.

Scott says the illicit marijuana plantations that dot the north state
are a result of a tighter border and the abundance of publicly owned
backcountry here. But without the availability of pseudoephedrine,
the area isn't as inviting for meth labs.

Although the number of meth labs and other figures used to gauge the
meth problem are down, the grant was needed to keep the decline
going, said Shasta County District Attorney Jerry Benito.

"This is not the point to stop, it's the time to accelerate those
things that have been successful," he said.

The Redding Police Department and Shasta County sheriff's office
received a $449,559 federal grant Thursday to fight meth. Here's how
they plan to spend the money:

• Overtime: $237,600.

• Community education:$40,000,

• District attorney prosecutor:$37,000.

• Youth violence prevention court coordinator: $8,800.

• Assistant youth peer court coordinator: $13,200.

• Project evaluation: $23,000.

• Supplies: $16,150.

• Officer travel, training: $17,809.

• Project coordinator: $54,000.

• Laptop computer for coordinator: $2,000.