OFFICIALS FEAR METH COULD MOVE INTO AREA

Isolated Instances Are Coming Into Greater Frequency, Police Say

Methamphetamine is a dragon of a drug -- dangerous in the making, dangerous
in the taking.

It's a dragon that is stalking the land, moving from the west coast toward
the east.

It is a scourge that prefers the rural to the urban. Farm country provides
one of the major components for its manufacture -- the fertilizer anhydrous
ammonia. Farm country also provides seclusion to hide the toxic, noxious
fumes produced by a meth lab.

So far, the dragon of methamphetamine hasn't laid waste to the local
landscape, but the hot breath of its approach is being felt and its arrival
is dreaded.

A drug sweep of Wayne County this week produced 27 arrests for illegal drug
sales and possession, but none were for methamphetamines.

"Thank God," Sgt. Tom Porfidio of the Wayne County Drug Task Force said.
"Cocaine and pills and marijuana are still our main problem. But meth is
coming."

A concurrent drug sweep adjacent Preble County, Ohio, did turn up one meth
arrest.

"We've got some pretty big players over here," Sheriff Mike Simpson said
after the sweep. Two other multiple arrests earlier in the year involved
methamphetamine production in Preble County.

Union County to the south uncovered an abandoned meth lab under a bridge in
March. In Randolph County, a Saratoga woman was arrested on meth-related
charges last Tuesday.

The isolated instances of meth in the region are coming with greater frequency.

Very nearby, in Franklin County the beauty of the hilly countryside
provides an ideal setting for hiding the illicit production of
methamphetamine. There were three meth busts within 10 days in March. Last
year, 16 clandestine labs were found in Franklin County.

But the beast is creeping here. In Vigo County (Terre Haute), they
uncovered 166 meth labs in 2004. There were 99 in Posey County near Evansville.

Even when the methamphetamine isn't here, the crime it spawns crime
problems here.

Farmers and farm supply outlets have to protect their supplies of the
dangerous and volatile anhydrous ammonia from theft. Often, the thieves are
strangers to the area who came here only to steal. But in April, it was a
local man found with canisters in his car apparently on his way to siphon
off the fertilizer from a tank near Boston.

The hiss of the dragon is being heard here. The fear that is growing is
justified.