JUST A DRILL: LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES SEIZE 'METH LAB'

Officers were moments away from storming the largest known methamphetamine
lab in Moore County.

There were snipers in the woods on both sides of the compound, observing
the movements of several foreign suspects. Intelligence leading up to this
point seemed to indicate that there might be a link to terrorism.

Suddenly, two well-known Southern Pines men -- Police Chief Gerald Galloway
and Town Manager Reagan Parsons -- strolled up to the first building and
stuck their heads in the door.

"Over here," Jack Donovan said.

Galloway and Parsons quickly moved to the vantage point near the livestock
barn where they could easily watch the first-ever training exercise in
which county and Southern Pines special response teams (SRT, sometimes
better known as S.W.A.T.) worked together.

Donovan and his company, Tarheel Training, put together this training
exercise for law enforcement for free.

The scenario that Donovan put together went like this: There has been a
recent upswing in drug manufacturing in central North Carolina (which
happens to be true).

Raids on methamphetamine labs in Pittsboro and Robbins led police to
believe that more people may be engaged in similar illegal activities. Most
of those involved seem to be new residents of North Carolina, some with
ties to gangs and terrorists.

Rival drug dealers have begun raiding homes, and the violence has led the
groups to arm themselves heavily.

News reports and tips from informants led police to a rural compound (the
Moore County Fairgrounds for this exercise), where four leaders are running
the drug traffic (played by actors from the Sandhills Community College
theater class and the Sandhills Theater Company).

Investigators formed a multi-agency task force to surround and storm the
compound.

Tuesday morning, shortly before 10 a.m., officers from the Moore County
Sheriff's Department, Carthage Police Department, Southern Pines SRT, SBI,
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Immigration drove their cars
onto the fairgrounds and set up a command center.

Moore County fire and emergency medical services also pitched in.

"The biggest thing," said J. Riotte, who's also with Tarheel Training, "is
the coordinating and leasing of the agencies. In the future, Moore County
may not have all it needs. They know where to go to get it. If you spread
the knowledge, you spread the wealth."

Sheriff Lane Carter observed from the vantage point along with several
other people, including a fake news team made up of journalism students
from UNC-Pembroke.

Carter said he wanted his team to be a part of this training to improve on
the five "P's."

"Proper preparation prevents poor performance," he said.

Working with other organizations is important, he said.

"There may come a time when we need all the help we can get," he said.

Carter took a chance in working with this new training group, Donovan said.
Tarheel Training has been around for less than a year.

Tarheel Training is made up of several former military officers, such as
Donovan and Riotte. It has access to other experts should the need arise,
Donovan said. The company works with the military and law-enforcement
agencies, and trains employees for companies that send people to Iraq as
part of the rebuilding process there.

Working with Moore County's law-enforcement officers was excellent, he said.

"Another thing is that you see the sheriff here standing and watching,"
Donovan said. "He's totally involved. He's got great commitment, and we're
really proud of that."

After Galloway and Parsons joined the group of observers, one of Donovan's
team members radioed to tell him that the law-enforcement teams were on the
move.

Just after 10:30 a.m., deputies dressed in all black and Kevlar, carrying
assault weapons, crept between the two buildings in a single-file line.
They hugged the wall as they approached the entrance.

"Police! Search warrant! Search warrant! Get down!" they yelled, as they
poured through the door.

It didn't take long for them to secure the building and disarm the occupants.

After the officers secured the first building, Southern Pines unit, also in
all black with body armor, entered the second building. They secured the
building and apprehended several suspects.

The training went well, Donovan said.

Jesse Tyner, a SCC student, was inside the first building playing one of
the bad guys. After a couple hours of build-up, it was over in a flash --
or, more exactly, no flash.

"There were no pyrotechnics," he said, clearly disappointed.

No one in the building had any inkling that the officers were about to
burst in, he said.

"I had no clue," he said. "The noise freezes you for three or four seconds."

Tyner fell on the ground behind a table and came up with an automatic
weapon. Soon he had a simulated gunshot wound in the abdomen.

"They shot me," he said. "I had my guts hanging out. They didn't know what
to do with me. They turned me on my stomach and searched me. So I died."

Tyner said that it was the first time that he'd gotten to play a dead
person since a performance of "Macbeth."